Good morning, it’s Monday and I accidentally wrote “Friday” in the headline of this post – wishful thinking. It’s also almost a brand-new month.
Summer is moving along far to fast for my liking. Though as I have written many times before in this space that fall is truly my favorite season, I am enjoying the warm weather more than usual this year. Maybe because we bought a high-quality grill? (More on that in a future post).
A few things worth mentioning today – the first of which is the strawberry full moon, which will rise just before 8 p.m. this evening. It’s the first full moon of the summer, and the last full micromoon of the year.
Some definitions are in order here. First, a micromoon is a full/new moon that occurs when the moon is at or near its apogee, which is the point in its elliptical orbit when it is farthest from Earth, making it appear both smaller and dimmer than a standard supermoon).
A “strawberry” moon sounds like it might be red in color, but it is not (that would be a blood moon, which occurs during a total lunar eclipse when the Earth moves directly between the sun and the moon). A strawberry moon is the traditional name for the full moon that takes place in June.
The name originated with Native American people, who used the arrival of the June full moon to mark the start of the wild strawberry season. Other places in the world have other names for this phenomenon. It’s known as a “mead moon” or a “honey moon” in Europe, because June traditionally was the month when honey was harvested and mead – one of the world’s oldest alcoholic beverages, which is made by fermenting honey with water – was brewed.
The word “honeymoon” has its roots in mead, because back in the day, newly wedded couples were gifted with enough mead to last them one lunar cycle to promote fertility and happiness. Also, los of weddings take place in June.
Today also marks the feasts of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, (AKA the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul), observed by both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches to honor the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles, who were two significant founders of the early Christain Church.
It’s traditional for the Pope to bless and confer a liturgical vestment known as a pallium – a narrow band of white wool that is decorated with six black silk crosses worn around the neck, breast, and shoulders, with two hanging pendants, and is decorated with six black silk crosses – to newly appointed metropolitan archbishops on this day.
I know I said up top that I was enjoying the heat more than usual, but that sentiment is about to be challenged mightily. Prepare yourself for a heat wave, as we’re headed into a period of very hot – dangerously hot, truthfully – temperatures, much like what has been gripping much of Europe, if you’ve been paying attention to the headlines across the pond of late.
A so-called “heat dome” is forecast to move across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, the Mid‑Atlantic and the South during the week leading up to the Fourth of July, sending the mercury soaring into the 100 degree range. Daily records could be broken on Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C., New York City and Philly.
More on that to come.
For today, however, expect mostly sunny skies and high temperatures flirting with 90 degrees.
In the headlines…
The U.S. and Iran have agreed to “stand down for now” and allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after renewed fighting in the past few days, a U.S. official said.
Iran doubled down on its control of the Strait of Hormuz yesterday — declaring on state-run TV that all ships must get permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps before sailing through the critical choke point.
Two weeks into a cease-fire agreement, Iran and the United States once again engaged in hostilities yesterday, with the Iranian foreign minister declaring that his country alone had the authority to manage commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The four-day cycle of attacks that Iran set off with the United States over the Strait of Hormuz has risked derailing the newly reached cease-fire in a war both sides are eager to end. Yet for Iran, analysts say, it was a necessary gambit.
Former President Joe Biden called Donald Trump “a loser” in a pugnacious speech on Saturday that invoked his presidential successor’s attempted makeover of Washington DC to portray him as incompetent, corrupt and vain.
Trump has ramped up his threats and demands on Republicans to change how elections are run as he openly grows increasingly worried about the investigations and impeachment that could come if Democrats win control of Congress.
Trump announced Saturday that he’s nominating Lance Schroyer, a longtime law enforcement officer from Oklahoma, to be his nominee for Immigration and Customs Enforcement director.
Trump said that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will be drained shortly after the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations wrap up, accusing criminals of both damaging the lining and creating algae.
The gloomy, overcast weather Saturday didn’t disturb visitors at the first weekend of Trump’s Great American State Fair, an event commemorating America’s 250th anniversary on the National Mall.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said that large technology companies want to have “totally unchecked power” and should be split up.
“The problem that we have is that these big companies, they think they are governments, they want to be governments,” she said in an interview with Fox News posted Sunday, discussing tech companies and artificial intelligence (AI).
The World Health Organization said yesterday that more than 1,300 excess deaths had been recorded in Europe since June 21 in connection with the record-breaking heatwave roasting much of the continent.
Former President Bill Clinton expressed confidence in Democrats’ prospects after three socialist candidates won key New York primaries, stating he believes the Democratic Party is in “good shape” to be successful in November’s midterm elections.
Republicans are in a strong position to pick up congressional seats in New York in November, a defiant new GOP analysis claims — while Dems laughed off the notion as “fantasy.”
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman blasted Gov. Kathy Hochul for enabling Mayor Zohran Mamdani — calling the pair “dangerous” as he said New Yorkers should vote for him to restore sanity to the state.
“I want to make people happy in New York by providing good, high-paying jobs with benefits,” Blakeman said. “Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani want to tax us.”
Hochul announced a series of new investments and initiatives Sunday aimed at expanding support for New York’s LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month.
Hochul said the Supreme Court’s decision last week to eliminate temporary protected status to immigrants from Haiti and Syria will “cripple” the state’s healthcare system.
Local, state and federal law enforcement are now banned from covering their faces in New York State while interacting with the public in most encounters under a new law that took effect on Friday.
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers will lose their health insurance coverage this week after cuts set in motion by Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” last year.
State University of New York students looking for community service opportunities are in luck. Hochul announced Friday that she is doubling the size of the Empire State Services Corps, a paid civic engagement program.
Negotiations over New York City’s next budget have hit a late snag as city councilmembers mount a pressure campaign to convince Mamdani to boost funding for the city’s rental voucher program.
Mamdani laughed off the idea of changing the US Constitution so he can run for president when he’s done with New York City during an ABC News’ “This Week”interview.
While showering praise on Darializa Avila Chevalier, the DSA member who won the Democratic nod in NY-13 and has called to abolish prisons — Mamdani dodged revealing if he agrees with her on the issue.
The Legal Aid Society on Friday took Mamdani’s NYPD to task, charging that it has maintained the same “aggressive enforcement” of fare evasion carried out by the previous mayoral administration of Eric Adams.
New York city outdoor pools are open for the season. On Saturday, Mamdani, fully dressed in a suit with a coat and tie, jumped into the Thomas Jefferson Pool in East Harlem with kids to celebrate the big day.
State Democratic Party Leader Jay Jacobs admitted it was voters’ anti-Israel sentiment that helped fuel the success of DSA candidates in last week’s primaries.
Residents of a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing complex in the Bronx contend they are being blindsided by a proposed 31% rent hike over the next four years, while other residents of affordable housing stand to reap the benefits of a first-of-its-kind rent freeze.
This year’s Pride March in New York City drew thousands of marchers along a route that stretched from 26th Street and 5th Avenue, through Greenwich Village and past the legendary Stonewall Inn.
The annual celebration took place in a city where many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community are optimistic about their local leaders but face challenges from the Trump administration.
Aqueduct’s time is up. This past weekend marked the last days of live racing at the track, though simulcast races will run through Labor Day. Its racing schedule will be moved to the newly renovated Belmont Park.
Four pedestrians were listed in critical condition after a motorcycle struck nine pedestrians in a Brooklyn park last night, according to police.
The demolition of an iconic Manhattan steam plant that served as the filming location for several Marvel streaming series has been halted because the city violated its own asbestos rules.
A Venezuelan New York City Council staffer has been released from ICE detention after five months in custody — but he may still face deportation.
West Nile virus was found in Massachusetts a mosquito sample for the first time this year in Berkshire County, state public health officials said late last week.
IBM announced it made a major breakthrough in computer chipmaking at Albany NanoTech, producing chips with sub-1-nanometer architecture, the smallest features ever made on a chip.
Repaving at the intersection of McCarty Avenue and Interstate 787 in Albany may cause delays today, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Eighty-three people were arrested by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies as part of a coordinated operation targeting violent crime in three counties, First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III announced on Friday.
Officials in North Greenbush want town residents to vote a second time on whether to extend the terms of town supervisor, highway superintendent and clerk from two to four years.
The former chair of the Saratoga Springs Republican Committee is preparing to sue Ballston Spa Mayor Frank Rossi over alleged defamation.
A partial power outage halted rides at The Great Escape Friday afternoon, requiring attendees to be evacuated from rides that stopped in mid-air.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
