Good morning, it’s Wednesday and a brand-new month is upon us.
You know what they say about April showers (they bring May flowers and all that)? I know it certainly seems like that adage is true, given the day we had yesterday and the considerable amount of rain in the forecast for the next week or so. But it turns out that June, not April, is the rainiest month, thanks to the fact that there’s more heat in the atmosphere, which can spark storms.
Spring, generally speaking, is the rainiest season, in the Northern Hemisphere, due to the rapid changes in temperature that tend to occur around this time of year. As the ground slowly comes out of its winter hibernation and heats up, it warms the lower atmosphere, causing less dense air to rise into colder upper-level air, which, in turn, creates heavy rain and clouds.
All this rain can be problematic, depending on how saturated the ground is and how much snowmelt is around, potentially causing floods. But it’s also good for the crops, ushering in a season of green growth – most welcome after a long and frigid winter. It’s also, sadly, very good for bugs – especially ticks.
Experts are predicting a particularly bad tick season this year, as all the snow cover provided ideal conditions for the little blood suckers to winter over. Basically, as soon as the temperatures rise above freezing, the ticks come out. I’ve already found one on my dogs, and I’m sure there are more where that came from.
I mentioned the forecast briefly, but didn’t get into specifics. Today will be cloudy with temperatures peaking in the high 50s. There will be rain showers, but they won’t be developing until much later in the day. Still, better safe than sorry – make sure to keep that umbrella hand.
I guess I could have said here that you shouldn’t be “fooled” by the forecast, which would have been on brand for April Fools’ Day. For the record, that is the appropriate placement of the apostrophe, with the plural possessive indicating multiple fools and not just one.
This day historically was known as All Fools’ Day and though hits origin story is murky, it might have its roots in the ancient Roman festival Hilaria, held at the end of March, for which participants would wear disguises and mock or imitate others. There are other theories as to where, why, and how April Fools’ Day got started. If you want to go deep on that, click here.
Also worth noting is that the Jewish holiday of Passover, which commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, starts at sundown tonight and will last through Thursday, April 9.
Depending on how observant you are and where you are in the world, this holiday might be celebrated for two days or the full week. Traditionally, though, everyone who celebrates will do so by holding or attending a Seder (Hebrew for “order”) on the first night – a ritual 15-step meal at which the story of the Exodus is retold using the Haggadah.
There are five rules to observing Passover: Abstaining from eating and/or owning chametz (any food made with wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and allowed to rise); removing all chamtez from your house; eating matzah (unleavened bread); conducting the Seder; and passing on the story of how the Jews were liberated from Egypt to your children.
Happy Passover (Chag Pesach Sameach!) to all those who celebrate!
Since we dispensed with the weather already, let’s get right down to business.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump is set to attend today’s Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, according to his public schedule, making him the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.
The case, Trump v. Barbara, challenges Trump’s executive order that redefines citizenship to exclude children born to parents who either do not have legal status, or hold temporary legal visas.
The Trump administration petitioned the high court in December after multiple lower courts struck down the executive order, finding it violated the Constitution.
The Trump administration was within its rights to demand that the University of Pennsylvania turn over information about Jews on campus as part of a federal investigation into discrimination at the school, a federal judge decided.
A federal judge ruled that Trump’s executive order barring the federal funding of NPR and PBS violated the First Amendment.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said Trump’s order, signed last May, was unlawful because it instructed federal agencies to refrain from funding NPR and PBS because the president believed their news coverage had a liberal viewpoint.
The ruling will not reverse the Trump-led campaign to strip NPR and PBS stations of federal funding. Last summer, Republicans in Congress rescinded federal support over objections from public media advocates. Nevertheless, it is a First Amendment victory.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to suspend its construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House, barring construction work from proceeding without congressional approval.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington granted a preservationist group’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts Trump’s White House ballroom project.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had illegally demanded that groups seeking homelessness grants comply with its agenda on immigration enforcement, transgender rights and other unrelated issues.
Trump stepped up efforts to promote his false claims of widespread voting fraud, signing an executive order of questionable constitutionality seeking to create a national list of citizens that would determine voting eligibility and restrict mail ballots.
Trump said he’s strongly considering pulling the US out of NATO after the alliance failed to get behind Washington’s operation in Iran as he branded the defense pact a “paper tiger.”
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen is kicking off the American leg of what he called a “political and very topical” tour today in Minneapolis, Minn.
“We are living through some very dark times,” Springsteen told the sold-out Target Center. “Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before.”
In his first public statement since his DUI arrest, Tiger Woods announced that he is “stepping away” for an undisclosed period of time to “seek treatment.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead over Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in this year’s gubernatorial race narrowed by 7 points over the past month, according to a new Siena Research Institute poll released yesterday.
Blakeman, a Republican, remains largely unknown to the greater electorate, the poll found. But in a head-to-head matchup, 34% of registered voters said they prefer him over Hochul, who maintained a commanding 47% lead.
An arm of the state Board of Elections denied campaign matching funds to Blakeman and five other gubernatorial candidates on Tuesday based on a rule change that the agency’s staffers had failed to tell anyone about.
Blakeman has vowed to slash energy bills statewide in half on his very first day in office if he’s elected governor, and is is putting his own MAGA spin on his 2026 gubernatorial campaign — vowing to “Make New Yorkers Happy Again.”
If state lawmakers want to make changes to the New York pension system, it must fully fund all costs, according to a coalition representing local government agencies.
The New York state Legislature yesterday passed a state budget extension after clear signs the budget would be late. It was promptly signed into law by Hochul.
The governor and lawmakers are still tussling over several weighty policy measures that have been swept up into budget talks despite having little effect on the state’s revenues or spending.
Three questions have divided lawmakers in Albany and delayed the state budget, which is expected to reach roughly $260 billion.
State lawmakers are announcing legislation this week to ensure health care coverage for nearly half a million New Yorkers set to lose their insurance in July as a result of federal cuts.
A former LIPA trustee whose resignation from the board last year helped trigger a state investigation of the utility is urging Hochul to order the release any findings from the probe following a year of “deeply troubling” revelations.
Federal prosecutors charged four people tied to a contractor that had provided homeless shelter services in New York City, part of a corruption investigation that is also focused on a City Council member and the husband of the Brooklyn Democratic leader.
A retired NYPD sergeant was reportedly among four people arrested in connection with a corruption investigation into a Brooklyn nonprofit that received lucrative city contracts to open homeless shelters in New York City.
Brooklyn Council Member Farah Louis — named in a recent federal search warrant — laid the groundwork last month for a $10 million lawsuit against the New York City Council that came with some unmistakable political undertones.
The Mamdani administration is launching a citywide survey for parents with young children to help shape the future of child care policy.
Mamdani is permitting city government employees and agencies to use TikTok again, reversing a ban his predecessor enacted out of data security concerns.
Now there are fewer fears around TikTok’s ownership, and New York City’s new mayor has brought use of the app back for city employees—with a lot of restrictions.
Mamdani has staked his public safety legacy on overhauling how the city responds to mental health emergencies, but in order to do it, he’ll need to fix a de Blasio-era program that has for years failed to meet its promise.
The mayor spoke at nightlife impresario Michael Dorf’s annual Passover “Downtown Seder” celebration, taking hecklers and a comic’s last-minute cancellation in stride.
Mamdani was reportedly heckled — by a critic who shouted “every Jewish organization is a target” — while the anti-Israel pol was speaking at a Passover seder event this week.
Mamdani expressed deep disapproval of the U.S.-Israeli conflict against Iran in an interview released yesterday, saying it “should be opposed on every single ground, not just procedural, but also moral, but also political.”
Mamdani will announce that his DOT will close off dozens of intersections to create car-free, Roman-style piazzas. The first wave of the plazas will be in the districts of car-championing, Italian-American GOP Council members Vickie Paladino and Joann Ariola.
The mayor wants construction workers and others around the Big Apple to stop catcalling and making unwanted verbal advances to passersby on NYC streets, announcing his demand through a new ad campaign launching today.
Videos, decals and posters promoting an end to street harassment will be displayed on subways, ferries, streets, and near work zones throughout Sexual Violence Awareness Month, which starts today.
A free preschool center in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods raises questions about Mamdani’s vow to expand universal child care.
A Manhattan judge denied Rudy Giuliani’s motion to dismiss a $10 million lawsuit brought by a woman who claims he subjected her to sexual assault, “alcohol-drenched rants” and withheld $2 million in wages, ordering the case to proceed promptly to discovery.
Mayor Dorcey Applyrs earlier this month hired Albany lobbying firm Brown & Weinraub Advisors to “provide legislative and regulatory representation” in what appears to be the first time the city has retained a lobbyist for state policy matters.
Brown & Weinraub had multiple employees or their family members who collectively gave thousands of dollars in donations to the mayor’s inaugural campaign last year, according to records on file with the state Board of Elections.
Is the Capital Region and Hudson Valley in for another smoke-filled summer thanks to wildfires? Drought conditions in regions north and west of upstate New York indicate it’s a possibility.
A now-former teacher is under police investigation after being accused of engaging in “inappropriate conduct” with a student at Cohoes High School, school and law enforcement officials confirmed.
A dozen years after the restaurant 15 Church opened with the goal of setting a new standard for local fine dining, it has been sold to and will continue under the owners of a Gansevoort company that makes control systems for entertainment explosions.
The hit HBO historical drama series “The Gilded Age” is set to return to the Capital Region for the filming of its fourth season later this spring. Ahead of filming, the show’s producers are currently seeking local talent to appear as background actors.
Though high levels of a group of harmful chemical compounds found in the city’s drinking water in November have since gone down, the Saratoga County Department of Health will study what caused it to occur and how to prevent it from happening again.
After three years, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate, Gregory Reid Wiseman, is finally set to fly to the moon.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
