Good morning, it’s Monday.
When summer vacation time rolls around, I am reminded that one of my biggest failings in life is my inability to relax. As a textbook anxious and Type A person, I am very bad at doing nothing.
This is unfortunate because, as it turns out, doing nothing is good for you, both physically and mentally.
Stepping away from stimulation – even for just ten minutes – lowers your stress level, which is good for your heart, reduces cortisol and inflammation, and allows the brain to process emotions and store memories. The reality, which is hard for people like me who feel like success is tantamount to always “doing” something, taking a pause fosters better focus, productivity, and creativity.
Many people, myself included, find it easier to unplug and do less when they remove themselves from their everyday settings. Surrounding yourself with nature also can be helpful – especially if you leave your phone and other e-devices at home.
Beaches are far and away America’s most popular vacation destinations. A survey by Beach.com (yes, this exists, and given the name, you should take these findings with a grain of – ahem – salt), found that 70 percent of U.S. adults said they planned to take a beach vacation in 2026. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is the No. 1 coastal destination for 2026, according to Trip Advisor.
I personally am not a big fan of sand, which seems to get everywhere and makes your feet feel gritty in a way that is difficult (for me, anyway) to shake. But walking barefoot on the sand – anywhere, really, as long as you don’t step in or on anything dangerous – is also good for your health.
These days, of course, going to the beach can be a risky experience, thanks to the high levels of garbage and contamination in the water and on the sand – not to mention erosion. In 2024, 453 American beaches were potentially unsafe for swimming on at least 25 percent of days tested, according a report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center.
Which brings me to the overall state of our oceans, which cover about 71 percent of the planet’s surface and contain about 97 percent of its water, NOAA says. Oceans generate about half of the oxygen we breathe, absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide, regulate global weather patterns, and provide food and jobs for billions of people.
You would think that given the vast size and importance of oceans, we would be a little more careful about how we treat them. They remain largely a mystery to humans, with less than 30 percent of the global seafloor mapped to date and considerably less than that actually explored.
Maybe the fact that it oceans are just so damn vast and mysterious causes us to be so dismissive of them, treating them as dumping grounds for all manner of pollution – from oil, gas, and a variety of chemicals to all manner of plastics and other detritus.
Today, World Ocean Day, provides an opportunity to recognize the crucial role that oceans play in our daily lives and to mobilize support for their conservation. There are small steps you can take as an individual to help the ocean – including conserving water, reducing your own waste stream, using less energy, fishing responsibly, and practicing safe boating.
Today would be a great day to hit the beach – or lake, or mountain trail, or maybe just the park for lunch. Skies will be clear and sunny, and the highs will top out in the low 80s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a central promise to keep the United States out of overseas wars, denied in an interview aired yesterday that he’d ever made the pledge.
“I didn’t guarantee no war,” Trump said in a lengthy interview with Kristen Welker, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” taped during his trip to Wisconsin on Friday. “Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?”
Iran and Israel traded strikes and threats of further retaliation today as an uneasy two-month truce that had suspended the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran appeared to break down.
Israel struck several military targets in Iran yesterday, hours after the Islamic Republic launched a barrage of missiles at the Jewish State.
The Israeli Defense Forces said its air force struck targets “belonging to the Iranian terror regime” in western and central Iran in a statement on X Sunday evening.
A political activist and a Vietnam vet represented by an anti-corruption organization filed a lawsuit challenging what it called the “night of cage fights” that Trump planned to hold at the White House as part of the celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary.
A judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that the Kennedy Center filed against a jazz musician for canceling a performance after the center’s board added President Trump’s name to the building.
Associate Judge Tanya Jones Bosier wrote that the Kennedy Center failed to prove that Chuck Redd had signed a contract to perform at the performing arts center’s holiday party.
A visibly agitated President Trump stormed off his interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” after a testy exchange with a reporter who grilled him over his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
In his first sit-down interview since he was fired, Scott Pelley discussed the specific incident he viewed as interference, about his experiences at CBS News over the past weeks and months, and about what he hopes will come of this very tumultuous time there.
After a blitz of congressional redistricting, a national battle for partisan control enters a new phase that could affect representation on everything from tax rates to social safety net programs, teacher salaries, housing regulations and local road repairs.
Climate change. Gun violence. War. Generations of young people have organized over issues they fear threaten the future. Will housing be the next cause?
New York lawmakers just wrapped up their least productive legislative session since the pandemic lockdowns.
The six-month legislative session ended Friday with lawmakers scrambling to get their priorities to the finish line after Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top policy wishes consumed months of negotiations that delayed passage of the $268 billion state budget.
New York is the only Democratic bastion to weaken emissions reduction targets enacted in a wave of optimism about state-level climate action during President Donald Trump’s first term. It’s a marked shift for Hochul and the state.
The two candidates for governor are increasingly focused on convincing voters they are best suited to stem rising housing costs, utility and tax bills, child care expenses and insurance premiums, as so-called “affordability politics” dominate the race.
Ex-Gov. David Paterson rapped Hochul and fellow Democrats for a planned power grab that will allow them to carve up congressional maps — and try to reduce the number of Republican-held seats.
New York Democrats recently passed a bill that would remove the words “mother” and “father” from parts of state law, sending the legislation to Hochul’s desk for final approval.
Under the new bill, targeting state child custody and parental laws, “mother” becomes “gestating parent,” “father” becomes “non-gestating parent,” and “paternity” becomes “parentage.”
In the last week of the legislative session, the state Senate confirmed Hochul’s pick, Kathy Moser, to lead the Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Groups that run youth soccer programs in New York City say a new state initiative to rehabilitate and build more soccer fields for kids has been a long time coming.
Legislation intended to protect consumers from unfair pricing tied to their personal data passed the Legislature, prompting outcry from the business and retail sectors who say the measures could eliminate discounts across a spectrum of goods and services.
Developer David Mack will be leaving his longtime post as the Nassau County representative on the MTA Board after his nomination failed to make it to a vote in the state.
Six people were stabbed inside Penn Station Sunday evening in what witnesses and sources described as a random attack by a deranged man that sent commuters running for their lives.
A man whose identity has not been released was taken into custody by Amtrak police officers. All of the victims are expected to survive.
A watch party planned for outside MSG has been canceled, as fans braced for heightened security at the first home game of the Knicks’ extraordinary N.B.A. championship run, with both President Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani expected to attend.
Trump’s planned appearance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals is already getting a hostile home-court reception from Knicks fans—including ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman will be at Game 3 of the NBA Finals to night to cheer on the Knicks with Trump.
A police officer was punched in the face and 26 people were arrested Friday night as a Knicks watch party outside Madison Square Garden turned chaotic, authorities said.
The get-in price for Game 3 tonight — meaning the minimum price to get in the door following Friday’s win — is $10,085, according to TickPick, a no-fee ticket marketplace.
Mamdani wants answers from FIFA after the World Cup organizer reversed a policy at the last minute, meaning fans are no longer permitted to bring plastic water bottles into venues this summer.
Mamdani said Saturday that Democrats have lost sight of the important economic issues facing working-class Americans as the party works to rebuild itself after a devastating loss in the 2024 presidential election.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat has launched a damning ad demanding Mamdani-backed foe Darializa Avila Chevalier account for her nasty tweets — including one that slammed black and Arab men for “fetishizing ugly colonizer women.”
On housing policy specifically, New York’s mayor seems to be catering to two specific groups: YIMBYs and socialists.
In the crowded Democratic primary race to succeed Rep. Jerrold Nadler, there are candidates who stand out for their names, or perhaps for their visibility on television. Assemblyman Alex Bores does not match either description, yet he’s a major figure.
Queens Councilmember Julie Won, who running for Congress, owes $25,000 in back rent after squatting for five months in a luxury high-rise, according to her ex-landlord and court documents.
The hero cop who nabbed the killer behind the legendary 1983 New York Post headline “Headless body in topless bar” died Friday after a long, fittingly colorful life.
Most raccoons in the city are healthy, but some are infected with rabies. The Health Department is working to prevent the spread of the virus.
Five weeks after Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, she made history yet again when Golden Tempo followed up that win with Saturday’s exhilarating 1¼-length win over Commandment in the 158th Belmont Stakes.
Fresh off his confirmation as the chairman of the Federal Reserve System, Kevin Warsh returned to the Capital Region to take in the Belmont Stakes.
A grand jury found Syracuse City Judge Felicia Pitts-Davis should be removed from the bench after refusing to marry a same-sex couple.
The Waterford Flight, which connects the Hudson and Mohawk rivers on the Erie Canal, is closed “until further notice” due to a mechanical issue, the state Canal Corporation announced Friday.
Two upcoming public hearings on CleanEarth’s permit to treat PFAS-contaminated soil in the village of Fort Edward have been canceled after the sale of the company.
A propane malfunction last week caused a Washington County home to explode, resulting in a fire that killed two pets, according to fire investigators.
The Albany County Legislature is set to vote on a measure that would replace the county’s four elected coroners with a medical examiner’s office. The move would abolish positions dating back to colonial times in favor of appointed medical doctors.
“Schmigadoon!,” a musical comedy that lovingly spoofs the genre by imagining a bickering couple trapped in a fantastical village whose residents keep bursting into song, won the coveted Tony Award for best new musical last night.
A Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, won the Tony for best play revival, a testament to the enduring power of the classic play and a milestone in the comeback of the producer Scott Rudin.
The full list of this year’s Tony winners can be found here.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
