Good morning, it’s Thursday.
We weren’t a terribly musical household while I was growing up. I was more familiar with classical pieces, thanks to multiple years of piano lessons, than with the Top 40 hits. I did, however, somehow learn multiple Beatles standards by heart.
I’m not entirely sure how that happened – osmosis, maybe? To this day, I can sing the entirety of “Let It Be”, “Yellow Submarine” and “Hey Jude” without much trouble. I could probably also do “I Want to Hold Your Hand“, “Yesterday” and “All You Need is Love“, “With A Little Help From My Friends“, and “Ticket to Ride” in a pinch.
The Beatles canon is pretty much ubiquitous, which stands to reason, as the Fab Four are widely considered to be one of the most famous and successful musical groups of all time, with more than 600 million records sold worldwide. They had 20 Billboard number-one hits in the US – the most of any artist in history – and in 1964, they occupied the 5 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
By some metrics, The Beatles are even more successful than today’s most famous musical juggernaut, Taylor Swift. They continue to beat her when it comes to global record sales and cumulative weeks at No. 1, though she does hold modern records for touring revenue, streaming, and chart-topping output over a longer timeline.
Today is Global Beatles Day, which commemorates band’s historic 1967 live broadcast of “All You Need Is Love” at Abbey Road Studios in London. The song, performed by John, Paul, George, and Ringo, was broadcast as part of the BBC’s Our World program, reaching an estimated 400 million people.
Only two of the original four Beatles are still alive today.
John Lennon was assassinated in 1980 by Mark David Chapman, who remains imprisoned for that crime in Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman, New York. His next parole hearing is scheduled for February 2027 after he was denied parole for the 14th time in 2025.
George Harrison (AKA the “Quiet Beatle”) died at the age of 58 after a battle with metastatic cancer in 2001. He had a successful solo career after The Beatles broke up in April 1970 (BTW, it wasn’t actually Yoko Ono’s fault, according to none other than Sir Paul McCartney himself) and also founded the Traveling Wilburys alongside Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne.
McCartney, though 84, continues to record and perform music. He recently released his 20th solo studio album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, and spearheading an archival celebration for his post-Beatles band, Wings.
Ringo Starr, The Beatles drummer, is 85 and also still touring with his All Starr Band and promoting his 22nd solo album.
More rain is in the forecast, which I’m sure the grass and plants in the yard will be happy about. Me, not so much. It will be partly cloudy early on with clouds increasing as the day progresses and the chance of showers growing into the evening.
In the headlines…
The strongest earthquakes in over a century rocked Venezuela today, causing widespread destruction in the capital of Caracas and leading to fears of high casualties.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes toppled dozens of buildings, killed at least 32 people and injured at least 700 others, the authorities said. A frantic rescue effort was underway.
A rural area of Northern California experienced its strongest earthquake since 1940 this morning, but it caused only mild shaking with no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 struck northeastern Japan on Thursday, injuring at least four people, disrupting bullet train services and forcing schools to temporarily close.
President Trump criticized the previous administration as a “total disaster,” touted anti-transgender policies, and praised immigration agents implementing his deportation push during a National Mall rally tied to American’s 250th anniversary.
An explosive meeting in the Senate turned into a win for President Trump and his administration as key Republicans flipped on another bid to handcuff the administration’s authorities in Iran.
President Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) got into a shouting match during a lunch meeting Wednesday over the US war with Iran, according to sources and lawmakers who were in attendance.
Speaking to reporters after the president’s lunch with the Senate GOP, Cassidy, who helped pass a war powers resolution intended to prevent the president from resuming hostilities with Iran, said Trump asked: “Why would anybody vote for the War Powers Act?”
The U-turn came when two Republican senators changed their positions after Trump lashed out at Republican lawmakers during a closed-door lunch on Capitol Hill.
The Trump administration yesterday sent Congress a long-awaited supplemental funding package to help cover the cost of the Iran war.
The administration is asking for about $87.6 billion to address “urgent needs” related to the Iran war, as well as other funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and provide support for American farmers.
President Trump abruptly canceled his plans to sign a bipartisan bill aimed at improving housing affordability, upending a celebratory moment for lawmakers who had been eager to promote the measure as evidence they were trying to bring down costs.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking to lower the temperature in a dispute between the MTA and Amtrak over the federal government’s push to rebuild Penn Station.
Hochul this week announced the completion of the 100-mile Smart Path Connect transmission project, a major grid upgrade expected to deliver over $438 million in annual savings to consumers.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman decried the stunning socialist sweep by Zohran Mamdani-backed candidates during Tuesday’s primaries, casting it as another failure of Hochul’s leadership.
Hochul’s favorability rating squeaked up a bit, as did her lead over Blakeman in the race for governor, according to a Siena University poll of registered voters released Tuesday.
Hochul has worked with Mamdani on child care and second-home taxes. But the triumphs of democratic socialists on Primary Day could complicate her vision.
President Trump predicted that New York will “only get worse” after two socialist candidates backed by Mamdani won Democratic congressional primaries in the Big Apple Tuesday night.
House Democrats are preparing themselves for a caucus in 2027 that is significantly more outspoken and left-wing than the one they have now.
Democratic leaders in the New York primaries found that their traditional tools, from rallies to phone banks to big-name campaign events, were no match for the left’s ground game and messaging.
At the same time, the broader primary results in New York and across the nation were a reminder that Democratic voters are not moving uniformly to the left.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Mamdani has “got work to do” to mend bridges with congressional Democrats after two incumbents were swept out of office by the mayor’s preferred candidates.
Pro-Israel leaders in New York expressed alarm at the primary victories of three Democratic candidates backed by Mamdani. Progressive Jewish groups celebrated.
Tuesday’s DSA victories led by Mamdani further energized a movement of young Democrats hungry for change, but also unnerved some Black and Latino New Yorkers who say gentrification threatens to leave them politically and literally homeless.
The primary victories of leftist Democratic congressional candidates in New York came as some leaders were urging the party to move to the center to broaden its appeal.
New York Attorney General Letitia James expressed frustration with Mamdani for endorsing group of democratic socialists for statewide races following his victory last November.
New York Police Department investigators and F.B.I. agents searched the homes of current and former high-ranking Police Department officials while pursuing corruption inquiries related to Jeffrey Maddrey, once the force’s top uniformed officer.
Frank V. Carone, a Brooklyn power broker and longtime close associate of former Mayor Eric Adams of New York, was arrested yesterday on federal bribery and money laundering charges, along with his brother and a Queens developer.
Carone, 56, is accused of illegally steering nearly $7 million in federal grant money to a Queens hotel owner in exchange for a $120,000 windfall — which he hoped would grow, according to the indictment.
Carone, the former mayor’s longtime advisor and chief-of-staff, along with Carone’s brother, Anthony Carone, and Chinese nationals Crystal Chen and Yan Po Zhu, appeared in Brooklyn federal court after officers arrested them earlier in the day.
A day care operator who was the romantic partner of former Mayor Eric Adams is accused of failing to pay the center’s rent for as long as two years and possibly misusing public money, leading the Mamdani administration to sever its contract with the facility.
A freeze for rent-stabilized homes is expected when a city panel votes on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan today, but the move is likely to face legal challenges.
Housing experts warn a freeze could create an unintended crisis of its own, saying holding rents flat while building costs continue to rise could leave landlords with less money to maintain apartments, repair aging buildings, and keep vacant units on the market.
Dozens of protesters descended on a Brooklyn coffee shop Wednesday morning after it publicly vowed to refuse service to a pro-Israel politician and its owner’s social media posts comparing Israel to Nazi Germany came to light.
After weeks of speculation over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding plans, a permit has been filed for an event at Madison Square Garden over the July 4 weekend.
Swift has rented the sports arena for the July 4 weekend, suggesting plans for a days-long celebration. On July 2, the plans call for an intimate gathering of about 100 people at the Garden. On July 3, about 1,000 guests will gather there for a splashier celebration
Bronx prosecutors declined to immediately pursue a gun-possession charge against a man arrested after a police shooting in Fordham Heights, sending the case back to the NYPD for further investigation.
Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed and slashed in the Bronx Tuesday night after stepping in to stop a man from attacking a woman on the street, police said.
A proposal for ranked choice voting, which would radically transform how elections are conducted in the city, is gathering steam and a Albany Common Council bill that could put the question to voters could be introduced early next month.
The Wappingers school district violated federal special education law by failing to provide required speech therapy to a preschool student after administrators described the child’s mother as “difficult,” according to a hearing officer’s decision.
The Shake Shack location at Stuyvesant Plaza in Guilderland is now hiring ahead of its expected summer opening.
Rachael Ward conceded Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary for Albany City Council to incumbent Justin Chaires, who, according to unofficial election results, held a narrow 54-vote lead.
The operators of two Albany-area Medicaid transportation companies have been indicted on federal charges alleging they defrauded the government of nearly $5 million.
More than a year after he was arrested on drug charges and 10 months after he was issued tickets under the city’s camping ban, a well-known homeless storyteller walked out of Saratoga Springs Community Outreach Court with his case resolved.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
