Good morning, it’s Wednesday. These four-day weeks just fly by.
Something about when the temperature rises makes people get a little loopy – especially when you live for five-some-odd months a year in the dark, wet, and cold. Those first warm days hit and rational thinking goes out the window as we all rush to make up for the lost Vitamin D and spend endless ill-advised hours in the sun.
Inevitably, our winter-weakened skin takes a hit. If you’re like me, the burn (depending on how significant it is) fades within a few days and you go on your merry way, thinking that you have a “good base” on which to build for the rest of the season.
Au contraire. Your skin does, indeed, have a “memory” as it turns out, so it “recalls” past injuries that accumulate over a lifetime.
The bad news is that you cannot fully erase your skin’s bad memories.
The good news is that you can reshape the history of stress – inflammation, sun damage, and stress – by encouraging cell turn over in your skin (the body’s largest organ, in case you forgot). You can do this by staying hydrated and eating a well balanced diet; forgoing harsh lotions, soaps, and creams; and engaging in treatments like microneedling that help encourage collagen production.
But probably the most effective thing you can do for your skin – especially once you’ve successfully hit the reset button – is protecting it from further damage.
You do that by staying out of the sun. If you are going to be outside, which is something most of us enjoy during the warmer months, you can cover up with light-colored layers, or, at the very least, wear – an regularly reapply – sunscreen.
You can get sunscreen with a “sun protection factor” (AKA SPF) of up to 100, which protects against 99 percent of UV rays, which are actually made up of two different types:
- Ultraviolet A (UVA): The most common; causes premature aging of the skin (age spots, wrinkles etc.)
- Ultraviolet B (UVB): The most dangerous; causes sunburn
The effectiveness of sunscreen basically levels out around 30 SPF, which blocks at least 97 percent of UV rays. Any higher and you’re basically increasing your protection only incrementally, at best. Also, despite what manufacturers may claim, no sunscreen is either waterproof or sweatproof, so you really do need to stay on top of re-application, especially if you’re going to be in the water.
Ideally, reapplication every two hours is the best, and you should apply the first coat about 15 minutes BEFORE you go outside, because it takes a minute for your skin to fully absorb sunscreen. About one ounce – or shotglass full – of product will generally do the trick for most adults.
Mineral sunscreens – those white ones that sit on top of the skin – are generally accepted as safe, as they deflect rays and aren’t absorbed into the blood stream. The jury is still out on whether chemical sunscreens can cause long-term damage. But this much we know: The harm done by NOT using sunscreen at all is considerable.
By the way, you DO need sunscreen on cloudy days, too, because clouds don’t block UV rays. That will be helpful to remember on days like today, which will bring partly cloudy skies and high temperatures topping out in the mid-80s.
In the headlines…
Attorney General Ken Paxton, endorsed by President Trump, defeated Sen. John Cornyn in the Senate GOP runoff yesterday, cementing the influence of the far right in Texas and potentially putting the seat in play for November.
Republicans spent $100 million in what became the most expensive primary in Senate history. Cornyn, 74, and Paxton, 63, made it to yesterday’s runoff after each failed to garner a majority of votes in the state’s March primary.
Paxton now faces off against state Rep. James Talarico — a rising star in the Democratic Party — in the general election in a race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their slim 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Many Democrats and some Republicans said the scandal-plagued Paxton’s victory could turn Texas into a battleground state that will determine Senate control.
Rep. Chip Roy lost the GOP runoff for Texas attorney general after a challenger to his right painted him as insufficiently loyal to MAGA. State Sen. Mayes Middleton’s victory proves that loyalty Trump continues to be the defining issue for primary voters.
Progressive sex therapist Maureen Galindo lost the Democratic runoff for Texas’ 35th District after being accused of antisemitism and facing condemnations from within her own party.
Former Rep. Colin Allred defeated Rep. Julie Johnson in a runoff that pitted two of the Democratic Party’s rising stars against each other in Texas’ newly redrawn 33rd District.
The Trump administration plans to send to Kenya U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus rather than bring them home for observation and treatment, according to three people with knowledge of the plans.
The Trump administration wants to roll out a uniform nondisclosure agreement across the federal government that would bar employees from sharing internal government information, citing the need to stop leaks to media organizations.
Trump could make the trip to New York to watch his hometown Knicks play in the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a video of himself wrangling live snakes on the patio at Dr. Oz’s Florida beach house, grabbing the two or three hissing North American racer snakes in the corner of the deck as his TV star wife Cheryl Hines tried to get him to stop.
Nine employees remain missing after a chemical tank ruptured at a facility in Washington state, resulting in multiple critical injuries and at least one fatality, authorities said.
The state Legislature approved major rollbacks to New York’s landmark climate law after a monthslong pressure campaign from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who argued that meeting the state’s emissions-cutting mandates would increase costs for residents.
Hochul seems to have gotten just about everything she wanted when it comes to rolling back part of the state’s landmark climate law – further evidence that her budget tactic of delaying and inserting controversial policy matters late works for her.
The multitude of policy measures in the latest budget bill passed by state lawmakers includes a proposed statute to establish safety and design standards for certain social media and online platforms with the intention of protecting children from harm.
State lawmakers approved buffer zones to shield houses of worship across New York state from demonstrations— a response to pro-Palestinian protests that have unnerved the Jewish community.
Legislation that will change the emissions mandates enacted by New York’s 2019 Climate Act will include empaneling a new commission to study the causes and origins of New York’s rising utility rates and recommend ways to reduce them.
State Sen. Michelle Hinchey has proposed the AI Labor Information Act, which would require annual reporting from businesses with 50 or more employees on how many workers were fired due to AI and which positions were replaced in whole or in part by AI.
The state Legislature last week approved first-in-the-nation legislation that would regulate 3D printers to prevent them from being used to produce untraceable firearms. But questions remain about how the statute will be implemented once it goes into effect.
New York City’s short-term pension costs will fall under a state budget bill passed yesterday, but changes championed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani will increase the tab by billions of dollars for the next decade.
Mamdani yesterday unveiled a $22 billion, five-year plan to address the city’s housing crisis by building 200,000 new affordable units and preserving another 200,000 over the next decade.
Mamdani plans to pursue zoning and land use changes to speed up development, improve enforcement for housing code violations and boost housing production in neighborhoods with the least affordable housing.
Mamdani plans to tackle “inequitable” residential growth across New York City that allows many wealthy neighborhoods to add scant housing amid a massive shortage.
Mamdani’s plan to open a $30 million, city-owned grocery store in East Harlem is aimed for a site that was already approved for a $25 million public upgrade years ago – setting the stage for a bizarre boondoggle that has perplexed local business leaders.
Protesters gathered yesterday near Mamdani’s residence at Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side, accusing him of failing to protect Jewish New Yorkers. Counter-protesters also showed up to defend the mayor.
Democratic socialist Councilwoman Shahana Hanif lashed out against a pair of Muslim organizers of a massive pro-Israel protest at Gracie Mansion last night night, seething that she prays they go to hell.
Hanif, best known for her frequent anti-Israel remarks, raged in a post on X that she hopes the organizers are condemned “to Jahannam” – the Islamic equivalent of hell.
Representatives from 50 local businesses in Greenpoint are asking the MTA to revise its plans to shut down the G train this summer for critical tunnel repairs.
Park Slope Food Coop members approved a boycott of Israeli goods last night — following a years-long food fight that has turned vicious.
The winning plan to rebuild Penn Station features renderings of a new train hall with American flags at the entrance, gold-accented railings, columns and escalators — and a presidential seal featuring Trump’s name, according to materials obtained by Gothamist.
An NYPD chief entangled in an off-duty shooting incident upstate was confronting a man who police believe was harassing the high-ranking cop’s daughter, police said, as it was announced the chief has been stripped of his gun and shield and put on desk duty.
The Military Academy at West Point cannot require civilian faculty members to obtain approval before using their West Point affiliation to speak to outside audiences about their areas of expertise, a federal judge ruled yesterday.
Universities are adding a new member to the C-suite: the experience officer, who is supposed to improve the experience of everyone at the institution, including students and faculty.
Following loud protests over the use of Flock Safety surveillance cameras in Troy, activists in Saratoga Springs are voicing concerns about 12 automated license plate readers quietly installed in the Spa City and how data collected by the cameras is being handled.
Irene Sorriento was fired from her job as human resources manager of the city of Rensselaer when Democrat John DeFrancesco became mayor. Now, she says she’s the preferred candidate for the same civil service job from which she was terminated.
A regional blood bank has declared an emergency due to a seriously low blood supply as healthcare workers head into the summer “trauma season” and prepare for upcoming FIFA World Cup soccer games planned in the New York City area.
April brought continued economic uncertainty across the country, with rising mortgage rates and affordability concerns shaping real estate activity across both the Capital Region and New York state. Yet the local housing market continued to show resilience.
One person was seriously injured in a plane crash yesterday at Saratoga County Airport, according to State Police.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
