Good morning, it’s Thursday.
Merriam Webster offers three different definitions of the word “unicorn”:
- “A mythical, usually white animal generally depicted with the body and head of a horse with long flowing mane and tail and a single often spiraled horn in the middle of the forehead.”
- “Something unusual, rare, or unique.”
- A privately-owned start-up business that is valued at $1 billion or more.
That last one is the most recent, and was a term coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013. It was intended to signify the rarity of successful ventures falling into this category, but they’ve actually grown from just 39 at the time of Lee’s writing about the phenomenon in TechCrunch to more than 1,500 in 2025.
These business unicorns tend to be high-risk and high-reward. Lots of ink has been spilled by people much smarter than I am in trying to explain the “myth” of the unicorn company.
Since I am not a venture capitalist nor a start-up founder, I generally think of definitions No. 1 or 2 when the word “unicorn” is mentioned.
I was a big fan of them when I was a kid, and maybe even had a stuffed unicorn or two? From what I can tell, they remain very popular with the 11-and-under set – especially girls – although they might have been temporarily supplanted by llamas for a hot second.
The mythical unicorn traces its roots back centuries, with descriptions of a beast with a single horn appearing during the Bronze Age, which was actually probably an Indian rhino, which definitely has one horn, though it’s most certainly not gold.
Unicorns are typically associated with peace, love, healing, and purity, with some suggesting they have magical qualities – particularly in their horns, which are often depicted as gold or multi-colored. In medieval artwork, the unicorn was sometimes used as a metaphor for Jesus Christ, and they often appear in fantasy and/or science fiction literature.
Today, for no particular reason that I can discern, today is National Unicorn Day, which I guess you can celebrate with a lot of glitter and rainbows?
A little PSA – and a detour from talking about things that are warm and fuzzy: April 15, the deadline for filing your tax returns, is fast approaching, and the U.S. Postal Service is reminding those who prefer to file by mail to do so early, preferably by today, April 9.
Last year, the Post Office said that it could no longer guarantee that mail would be postmarked the same day it’s dropped off due to changes in the distribution and processing system.
This impacts time-sensitive documents like mail-in ballots and, of course, tax returns. The Post Office is VERY sensitive about this issue and has produced a whole “postmarking myths and facts” page on its website. Personally, I think you’re better safe than sorry, as anything that is postmarked AFTER April 15 will be considered late and subject you to penalties and interest.
The vast majority – about 94 percent – of people are filing electronically these days, but for you luddites who are holding out, better get a jump on this ASAP.
Another nice day is on tap as the warming trend continues. We’ll see clear and sunny skies with high temperatures reaching into the low 60s. Get out there and soak up the Vitamin D!
In the headlines…
President Trump faces new diplomatic tests as he prepares for weekend talks with Tehran amid doubts about the durability of his day-old cease-fire with Iran and the prospects for building it into a broader peace settlement.
Israel launched a barrage of attacks without warning in Lebanon yesterday as a fragile ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran hangs in the balance.
Lebanon was in mourning after Israeli forces killed at least 182 people in strikes against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group. Disagreements have surfaced over whether the cease-fire applies to Lebanon.
In a week in which Trump has veered from threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization to declaring a cease-fire, Congress is out of session and lawmakers with the power to declare war are mostly in the dark.
French President Emmanuel Macron criticized recent Israeli strikes in Lebanon and said he’s spoken with its leaders, following a U.S.-Iranian ceasefire being on shaky ground do to the strikes, condemning them “strongest possible terms.”
The people logging into Truth Social each day tend to count themselves among the most ardent supporters of President Trump and his MAGA movement. In recent weeks, though, even some in the echo chamber have turned against his actions in Iran.
Trump, rebuffed by the federal courts in his attempt to prosecute longtime foe New York Attorney General Letitia James, is asking a state court to wipe away the last remnants of a victory she once secured over his family business.
A federal appeals court has rejected Anthropic’s bid to temporarily halt the Pentagon’s labeling of the artificial intelligence company as a supply chain risk, finding the firm failed to meet the strict requirements for an emergency stay.
The order, issued yesterday by a three-panel judge in Washington, D.C., blocked Anthropic’s bid to pause the designation but granted its request to expedite the case. Oral arguments are slated to begin May 19.
The chairmen of two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives have requested a briefing from the Internal Revenue Service on how the agency is addressing “threats to our political institutions” from tax-exempt nonprofits.
Former Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos, who had a brief but notable stint in Congress in 2023, said he is becoming a parent for the first time.
A federal judge handed down a sentence of 15 years in prison to a woman who pleaded guilty to selling “Friends” star Matthew Perry the ketamine that killed him in 2023.
The sentence for Jasveen Sangha, who prosecutors say was known to customers as the Ketamine Queen, is the stiffest yet for those charged in the “Friends” star’s death
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s press office mocked Trump’s plan to share Strait of Hormuz shipping tolls with Iran, comparing the proposal to another transit pricing scheme the president has vehemently opposed: congestion pricing?”
Hochul’s administration defended the integrity of New York’s $124 billion Medicaid program in a response to a letter from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Ozaccusing the state of allowing fraud, waste and abuse.
A cringy post about potholes by Hochul’s press office has such a dirty double meaning it would make a porn star blush. “It’s hole filling season,” the State of New York posted on X with zero context — sparking a wave of wisecracks from critics.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes will not run for reelection this year, putting an end to the powerful Buffalo lawmaker’s time in the state’s lower chamber. Peoples-Stokes said she will be undergoing a medical procedure shortly.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman and his running mate are suing the state’s Public Campaign Finance Board after its members voted along partisan lines to deny him millions of dollars in matching funds.
Blakeman’s suit is asking the court to declare that decision “arbitrary and capricious,” letting the candidate be eligible for matching funds again. “The partisanship” of that vote “is exceeded only by the baselessness of the action itself,” the lawsuit claims.
As budget negotiations continue in overtime, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, county leaders and advocacy organizations are asking state leaders not to forget the hungry.
Just under half of New Yorkers approved of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s performance during his first three months in office, according to a poll published yesterday by Marist University.
The poll, which was released two days before Mamdani’s 100th day in office, also found that 30% of city residents disapproved of his job performance, while another 23% were still unsure.
His 48% approval rating, with 30% disapproving and 23% replying they were unsure, is below both former Mayors Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio at the same points in their leadership.
Staten Island stands apart as the only borough where the majority of those polled disapproved of the mayor’s work, with 57% of borough residents giving Mamdani unfavorable marks against just 27% who approved.
In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Mamdani sought to affirm his control over the Police Department, saying he would overrule its commissioner if he felt it necessary.
In the same interview, Mamdani acknowledged that New York City is facing a difficult labor market, even as he insisted that he is optimistic about certain economic trends, despite the fact that the city lost 19,500 private-sector jobs last year.
Mamdani conceded he won’t be able to deliver his promise of free buses this year, making a U-turn on one of the cornerstones of his campaign.
The mayor said “was not aware” that his nominee to lead the city’s Department of Investigation (DOI) had donated to and canvassed for his mayoral campaign after City Council members raised concerns about her independence.
Food delivery platform HungryPanda will pay more than $875,000 after an investigation found it illegally overcharged hundreds of restaurants for delivering meals.
Amazon is squaring off against New York City legislators over a bill that could force the e-commerce giant to hire thousands of delivery workers across the five boroughs — a rule that could send customers’ bills soaring by several hundred dollars per year
The city is denying permits for the six weeks around the FIFA World Cup, which will also see America’s 250th anniversary turning a summer of opportunity into a summer of missed opportunities for event planners and city business improvement districts.
About a dozen home care workers – all elderly women and immigrants – have vowed to camp outside City Hall on April 13 and then go on a hunger strike beginning April 16 until City Council Speaker Julie Menin brings the No More 24 Act to a vote.
Rep. Dan Goldman is slated to announce the backing of former New York City Council Speakers Adrienne Adams, Christine Quinn and Gifford Miller in his quest for re-election.
A New York City mental health nurse has been fired after she filmed herself harassing a group of Israeli men in Times Square, calling them “baby-killers” and “terrorists” in a rant that only ended when a performer dressed as Spider-Man intervened.
Long Island Rail Road workers are prepared to go on strike as early as May 16 if they can’t agree on a new contract with transit officials, which would be a major blow to America’s busiest passenger rail service.
Rex Heuermann, the architect accused of killing seven women and hiding their remains in Suffolk County, pleaded guilty to seven murders and admitted to killing an eighth woman, ending one of the most chilling serial murder cases in New York history.
When Heuermann pleaded guilty to murdering eight women, he did more than admit that he was the Gilgo Beach killer. He also took a step that could help investigators hunt down others with similarly violent minds.
Martin Gugino, the activist who was badly injured when police officers shoved him to the ground during a protest in Buffalo in 2020, died last month in Tampa, Fla. He was 81.
Union officials are accusing top brass in the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office of unfairly punishing and demoting investigators while failing to uphold professional standards.
A pilot program with the University at Albany may help City of Schenectady leaders address the vexing issue of preventing property owners from dumping large amounts of trash and bulk items at the curb on garbage day.
The former Ninety Nine Restaurant & Pub building on Wolf Road in Colonie has sat empty for nearly two years. Its property could be home to the Capital Region’s first Raising Cane’s.
The Honey Baked Ham store on Wolf Road is permanently closed, according to the parent company’s website.
After more than 500 people expressed concerns over CleanEarth’s proposal to experiment with cleaning PFAS out of soil in Fort Edward, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said it will hold a public hearing on the matter.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
