Good morning, it’s Friday.
I’ve been dragging all week, feeling unusually tired and also a more than a little gaslit by Mother Nature. No matter how long I have lived in upstate New York, which is to say most of my adult life, I have yet to come to terms with the wild weather swings that constitute late winter/early spring in this region.
Trying like mad to stave off the usual sickness I encounter around this time of year, I have been washing my hands, taking extra Vitamin C and doing my best to stick to a regular sleep schedule, which the whole Daylight Savings thing is not at all conducive to.
Before you come at me, it is NOT in fact a figment of my imagination that extreme weather fluctuations leaves you more prone to illness. Data show that dramatic temperature changes and barometric pressure shifts, combined with low humidity, can stress the body, dry out nasal passages and weaken immune systems, leaving us more susceptible to viruses.
The best way to guard against that is to do everything you can to stay healthy and support your immune system, which includes prioritizing sleep. And THAT is a particular challenge when you have lost an hour to the aforementioned Daylight Savings Time.
Experts say that it can take up to a week for your body to adjust to the time change, and suggest preparing for it by gradually adjusting your sleep and waking times by 15 to 20 minutes a day in the days leading up to the actual switch. You could also set your clock one hour ahead BEFORE you go to bed on the day of the switch and then go to bed at your “normal” time.
Sadly, I did none of these things, which might explain why I am still dragging almost a week after the fact. It is possible to make up for lost sleep, sorta.
A few days of extra, high-quality sleep on the weekends, for example, can help make up for the deficit you might develop during the workweek. However, it cannot undo the damage inflicted by chronic sleep deprivation, which approximately one in three adults across the nation suffer from, according to the CDC.
Sleep is as integral to life as water, air and food. It is when the body repairs itself by clearing brain toxins, but it also supports good cognitive function overall, allows us to regulate our emotions, our metabolisms and our immune systems, and store our memories.
Adults are supposed to be getting between 7 and 8 hours a night, but up to 70 million people across the nation struggle with sleep due to a variety of disorders and life factors – namely stress, but also menopause – but also lack of physical activity and irregular works schedules.
I’ve read countless books and articles about how to sleep better, practice good sleep “hygiene”, as the experts call it. I am still searching for that holy sleep grail. If you know it, please point me in the right direction.
Today is World Sleep Day, established by the World Sleep Society to be held the Friday before the Spring Vernal Equinox (March 20, almost here!!) to highlight the importance of sleep health, prevention, and treatment of sleep disorders.
It looks like it’s going to be a while before we get to experience spring-like temperatures again. This weekend’s forecast is downright depressing, I’m sorry to report. Today will be cloudy with temperatures in the low 40s and the likelihood of a mix of rain and snow developing in the afternoon.
Tomorrow, Saturday, will start out with a glimmer of sun that will quickly be replaced by more clouds, and wind, with gusts of 30 MPH or more possible. Temperatures will only top out in the high 30s. Sunday, the forecast says we’re “watching a potential winter storm”, which sounds downright ominous, and highs will be in the low 40s.
In the headlines…
A suspect is dead after ramming a truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, yesterday, in what the FBI said was a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” No victims were killed inside the synagogue, officials said.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Temple Israel said “all 140 students” in its early childhood center, the staff, the teachers and “our heroic security personnel” are safe and accounted for.
The wannabe car bomber, who died after smashing through the doors of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, was ID’d as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, the Department of Homeland Security said.
President Trump said he was fully briefed on the attack, which he called “a terrible thing” and pledged to get “right down to the bottom of it.”
Trump issued a new threat against the “deranged scumbags” of the Iranian regime, warning of “unparalleled firepower”.
Trump’s message came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei delivered his first public remarks and after two extremists attacked a synagogue and a college in the US.
A former Army National Guard member who had spent eight years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire on a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University before ROTC students subdued and killed him, authorities said.
When a convicted ISIS supporter entered an ROTC classroom at Old Dominion University and opened fire, the group of students barely hesitated before leaping up to subdue the attacker. By the end, the shooter was dead, but so too was one of their peers.
The instructor who was fatally shot by convicted ISIS-supporter Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a decorated chair of Old Dominion University’s military science department who served several tours in the Middle East.
Two violent attacks left communities in separate states on edge, with investigators searching for answers.
The war with Iran entered its 13th day yesterday, as Iran issued what it said was the first message from its new supreme leader, while attacks on commercial ships spread to Iraq’s waters and oil prices climbed back above $100 a barrel.
The statement was read out by a presenter on Iranian state television and accompanied by a photo of Khamenei, but no audio or video of the new leader.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed as a “tool to pressure the enemy” — as US officials admitted the crucial shipping lane could remain closed for weeks.
The U.S. is temporarily removing sanctions on Russian oil currently stranded at sea, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced late yesterday – the latest move by the Trump administration attempting to stymie soaring energy prices amid the war with Iran.
A day after the state Legislature called for higher taxes on the wealthy, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s worried that the move could drive the highest earners out of the state.
Hochul touted what she called the Democratic Party’s “deep bench” of governors who could run for president in 2028 — singling out leaders like California’s Gavin Newsom, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear and Maryland’s Wes Moore.
State lawmakers rejected Hochul’s proposals to overhaul New York’s system to resolve surprise medical billing disputes, fueling a battle between insurers and medical providers over how much doctors get paid for out-of-network services.
Hochul and a coalition of business groups are pushing for changes to the state’s auto insurance laws they argue will crack down on staged car crashes and reduce ratepayer premiums. But some closest to the issue say the phenomenon won’t be ended easily.
Hochul’s push to lower auto insurance premiums has rested on her assertion that rampant insurance fraud is driving up rates, but the number of fraud investigations, arrests and convictions is laughably small, a Streetsblog investigation found.
A federal judge this week denied the U.S. Justice Department’s request for a stay pending the outcome of an appeal of her decision invalidating two grand jury subpoenas that had been served on the state attorney general’s office last summer.
Some upstate homeowners who live in their residences full time could get a property tax break under a proposed state bill aimed at helping year-round residents stay in communities whose housing markets have been warped by short-term rentals.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had paid what it owed on the Gateway rail tunnel project being built under the Hudson River and largely dismissed a lawsuit over the federal government’s temporary hold on more than $200 million.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is condemning a series of anti-Muslim social media posts by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama as “bigotry.”
Tuberville attacked Mamdani in a post shared on X, in which Tuberville said that “the enemy is inside the gates” atop two photographs — one from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and the other of the new mayor hosting iftar at city hall.
Mamdani’s nominee to lead the Taxi and Limousine Commission vowed to crack down on an illegal taxi app called Empower that she says puts both drivers and passengers at risk.
Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, created artwork for an essay book compiled by an anti-Israel activist who has described Jewish people as “vampires,” “demons” and “ghouls” – and celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.
Duwaji, a Syrian American artist and first lady of New York City, drew the lead graphic for “A Trail of Soap,” an essay published by Susan Abulhawa in the Slow Factory’s latest issue of “Everything Is Political” magazine.
Mamdani’s administration has inked a new nearly $1.9 billion contract with the city’s hotel industry to provide emergency shelter to homeless families over the next three years.
Mamdani has been reluctant to force people indoors, even in dire weather. But conditions, whether on the streets or in shelters, can be dangerous.
Emir Balat, the 18-year-old accused of lighting a homemade bomb near Gracie Mansion, was a budding entrepreneur in northern Philadelphia until he disappeared from the online marketplace he frequented to, according to prosecutors, plan something darker.
At the age of 13, Balat programmed a computer system to buy sought-after sneakers online so he could resell them to teens in his hometown of Bucks County — squeezing profits from pawning off the shoes for hundreds of dollars, according to the outlet.
This year, New York passed a slew of new labor laws aimed at protecting workers’ rights. However, labor advocates say that Mamdani’s proposed budget is gutting the very agencies that would enforce those laws.
The New York City Council is proposing growing its own budget by more than 10% compared to the previous year, fueled primarily by 57 added jobs and new legal and professional contract.
Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s billionaire former mayor, is preparing to spend millions of dollars on a super PAC boosting Assemblyman Micah Lasher in the race for a coveted Manhattan House seat, according to people familiar with his plans.
New York City’s long-running fight over foie gras is heating up again. It has received the green light to move forward with plans to stop restaurants from serving the French delicacy after legal challenges left the ban in limbo for years.
The landlord of a squalid, mouse-and-roach-filled South Bronx apartment building has been ordered to pay a whopping $2.17 million fine and finally make repairs, city officials announced.
The first-of-its-kind judgement was against the landlord of 919 Prospect Ave., who now faces the maximum penalties, including more than $2.1 million for retroactive punishments.
Ernie Anastos, the legendary Big Apple news anchor who was a trusted voice in the tristate area for decades, has died. He was 82.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has advised hikers to reconsider any imminent plans to venture into the Adirondacks and Catskills after recent warm temperatures and rainfall caused flooding in some areas.
SUNY Schenectady is closed for the second time in a week due to potential flooding. The community college shut down around noon yesterday over the threat of water inundating the low-lying campus grounds along a major river bend.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin warned the chair of the County Legislature in a letter this week that he would veto a proposal to pay contractors for costs accrued during a monthslong stop-work order at Hudson Valley Community College.
The basement of the newly reopened Jack’s Oyster House has flooded, forcing its owners to close the restaurant, city and restaurant officials confirmed.
Incarcerated individuals at a Columbia County correctional facility can now earn associate’s degrees through a partnership with Columbia-Greene Community College.
Schenectady City Councilwoman Carmel Patrick has been making steady progress since suffering a stroke in early December, but she isn’t ready to return to the governing body just yet.
St. Patrick’s Day comes early for the city of Albany this weekend, with two parades and a series of promotional events across the city.
The Salmon River Central School District violated state education regulations when it used “timeout” boxes to confine elementary school students, but did not engage in child abuse or corporal punishment, a law firm hired by the district concluded.
The Warrensburg Town Board put off a decision on a new law that would have impacted mass gatherings in the municipality just three weeks before another round of nationwide “No Kings” rallies.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
