Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
Happy Bastille Day, or, if you’re feeling your Francophileness, Bonne Fête Nationale! (French speakers refer to this day as le 14 juillet, it’s just us Americans who use the “Bastille Day” nomenclature).
In case you have never seen Les Misérables (AKA Les Mis) and you cannot recall your high school Social Studies curriculum, on this day in 1789, a mob of angry everyday Parisians attacked a medieval royal fortress called the Bastille, which was being utilized as a prison, and had some to be seen by the populace as symbolic of the monarchy’s absolute power.
There were only seven prisoners being held at the Bastille at the time, but the mob’s target was something else entirely: Gunpowder, about 30,000 pounds of it, which was being stored inside the prison, along with several canons.
Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the Bastille, and his men surrendered to the mob, and were taken into custody. (De Luanay was supposed to be tried by a revolutionary council, but ended up getting murdered instead). The fall of the Bastille signaled the end of the so-called ancien regime (basically the monarchy) and triggered the start of the French Revolution.
It took three years of bloody revolution, but the monarchy was officially ended in 1792, and democracy was born in France.
King Louis XVI (AKA the Sun King, ho was infamously smelly because he eschewed bathing and is also reportedly related – quite distantly – to Taylor Swift) was stripped of his title and his power, tried for treason and condemned for death. He was executed via guillotine at the age of 38 on Jan. 21, 1793, at what was then known as the Place de la Révolution, but has been renamed the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Louis’ wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, was also convicted of treason and executed – also by guillotine – on Oct. 16, 1793. (FWIW, she probably never uttered those infamous words that have been attributed to her, “let them eat cake”).
The French traditionally celebrate le 14 juillet and their motto, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, with much pride and enthusiasm. This national holiday is commemorated with a military parade, led by the president, from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
The day before the holiday, firehouses around the country open their doors to the public for a night of dancing, drinking, and revelry known as the Bal de Pompiers. There are also fireworks, of course, and a lot of very good food, because, well, France.
It has been very hot in France and across Western Europe this summer, causing a large number of heat-related deaths and even forcing the closure of some popular tourist attractions and even curtailing the Tour de France. The heat is also curtailing Bastille Day celebrations – much to the disappointment of the thousands of tourists who are traveling abroad at thie moment.
Here at home, we are headed back into a spate of dangerously hot weather. Today is the last day for a short period that we’ll see temperatures in the 80s (assuming the forecast is correct). We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds and, as per usual for this time of year, there will be the chance of a stray shower or thunderstorm.
High temperatures across the state will be followed by severe storms today in the Adirondack Mountains, with high winds, hail and even tornadoes possible, meteorologists said.
In the headlines…
Oil prices continued to climb today as an escalating pattern of strikes and counter strikes between the United States and Iran rattled markets. Brent crude, the international benchmark, breached $85 per barrel for the first time in a month.
The US and Iran were sliding back into open conflict, trading strikes for a third straight day after President Trump said he would restart a blockade of Iranian ports, take control of the Strait of Hormuz and charge heavy fees for ships to transit the waterway.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nordone, the younger sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham, to serve the remainder of the late Republican senator’s term, which ends in early January.
Nordone accepted the appointment, saying it would be a “privilege to get to finish” some of her brother’s work over the next several months.
Still shaken by Graham’s sudden death, Senate Republicans returned to Washington yesterday and were immediately forced to confront the policy and political complications caused by his absence.
President Trump yesterday endorsed seven Republicans seeking election to the House for the first time, as the GOP clings to a narrow majority in the lower chamber ahead of the midterms.
A federal judge ruled that President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was an improper exercise in self-dealing and barred him from claiming that the extraordinary tax protections he received were part of a legitimate settlement agreement.
In the 56-page order, the judge, Kathleen M. Williams, also referred the lawyer who brought Mr. Trump’s case against the I.R.S. to the Florida bar for potential disciplinary proceedings.
An ICE agent fatally shot a driver in Biddeford, Maine, while serving a deportation order, the state’s attorney general said Monday afternoon. Federal authorities have said little about the shooting, which drew dozens of impassioned protesters to city streets.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said he federal immigration officer who fatally shot a man in Maine did so out of fear for “public safety.”
The department wrote on X that ICE officers were conducting “targeted surveillance on the last known address” of an undocumented migrant in Biddeford, Maine, at about 7 a.m. EST, when an individual departed the residence in a vehicle.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is imposing the nation’s first-ever statewide freeze on new “hyperscale” data centers, pausing state-level environmental permits for “up to” a year to create a framework to protect the environment, the energy grid and electric bills.
That framework includes a “Generic Environmental Impact Statement” to create consistent standards for companies, assess data center energy demand, water use and quality, and air quality.
The order, the first of its kind to be enacted in the United States, will temporarily bar the state from approving permits for so-called hyperscale data centers, which use 50 or more megawatts of power to operate.
“New York will lead the way in creating the strongest standards in the nation for data center development,” Hochul said in a news release. She said that would address concerns about rising utility bills and the depletion of natural resources.
Hochul is urging New Yorkers to prepare for dangerous heat and the potential for severe thunderstorms as temperatures soar and storms move across parts of the state today.
Hochul said she intends to pull Democrat candidates in other New York races with her across the finish line in November. To do that, she has opened 42 field offices and hired 100 staff around the state, including 14 field offices on Long Island.
Hochul said that she learned about plans for three new or expanded immigration detention facilities in New York the same way the public did: through news reports.
The Democratic governor wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin this week, seeking information about plans to increase capacity at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Batavia, Western New York.
Republican Bruce Blakeman has raised $11 million in his underdog campaign for governor — enough money to run a competitive campaign against the Democratic incumbent, Hochul, his campaign said.
Hochul’s running mate, former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, was dinged by election officials for allegedly misusing campaign funds on travel to the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
The Trump administration deployed a federal strike team to New York on Monday as part of a crackdown on fraudsters who took nearly $1 billion in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After years in which illicit cannabis shops’ untaxed and unregulated products decimated the economic hopes of legal retailers, New York’s war on outlaw dealers is finally gaining ground.
The state Legislature is poised to have the most out-LGBTQ+ members in its history in 2027. Now, both current and likely incoming lawmakers are saying it’s time the body formed an LGBTQ+ caucus to formally advocate for issues important to the community.
New York’s share of US millionaires dramatically declined in recent years, causing a nearly $11 billion loss in much-needed tax revenue in just one year, according to a bombshell new analysis.
The study released by the Citizen Budget Commission showed the Empire State’s share of the nation’s millionaires dipped from 12.7% to 8.7% between 2010 and 2022 – the largest decline of any state.
A sweeping policy overhaul by the state Department of Environmental Conservation is changing the rules around how state personnel work in the backcountry of New York’s wilderness. It’s also sparking a debate about safety, gear and field protocols.
New York’s overall population has grown over the last decade, but many of the state’s regions are experiencing persistent population declines and have a higher share of older residents than younger ones.
The city’s housing crisis has hit “DefCon 1” — with average rents for a one-bedroom in Manhattan hitting an all-time high of nearly $5,500 last month, and Brooklyn following suit, according to new data and critics.
“We need bold action. This is a crisis,’’ New York City Comptroller Mark Levine posted on X over the weekend, along with a link to the latest figures from the inhabit blog by real-estate giant Corcoran Group.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged the hours-long security-breach-related delay for fans ticketed to see Jay-Z perform at Yankee Stadium Sunday night, saying the city would “follow up” on the matter.
Mamdani is looking to advance government efficiency – and is bringing in a new tech team to do it, a “Public Interest Technology Crew” to tackle public problems with in-house digital solutions.
What might have felt like a pep rally for the Democratic Socialists of America — a meeting of the group’s national political committee to discuss the 2028 presidential election — turned instead into a bruising, acrimonious afternoon.
Mamdani is standing by his top political adviser, Morris Katz, who is facing widespread criticism for his role in Democrat Graham Platner’s scandal-ridden campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine, pledging to continue working with the embattled consultant.
Mamdani offered few specifics about a sprawling homeless encampment that has grown near the Intrepid Museum despite repeated complaints from New York City residents.
“We are focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and on establishing a pipeline to stable housing, not just moving New Yorkers from one place to another place,” the mayor said. “To this specific encampment, we’re gonna look into that.”
The mayor cited vague “legal requirements” to explain his continued inaction to reverse his predecessor Eric Adams’s backroom decision to erase three blocks of the protected bike lane on Brooklyn’s Bedford Avenue.
The mayor activated the city’s Heat Emergency Plan with temperatures expected to feel like the upper 90s today, and the heat index climbing into the low 100s on Wednesday.
New Yorkers demanded that the city to ditch time-consuming reviews that undermine street safety redesigns — and the Big Apple’s struggling outdoor dining program — while several politicians hoped to cling to delay projects in testimony before COGE.
The Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on the Upper East Side has now sickened 59 people — with the dangerous bacteria also found for the first time across the park, in a posh Upper West Side building.
Hundreds of ticket holders for a Jay-Z concert were stuck outside Yankee Stadium in New York for hours on Sunday night, waiting to be let in for a performance that was delayed several hours.
The developer behind an office-to-housing conversion project that triggered a mass evacuation in Midtown Manhattan and a criminal investigation is eyeing its next project inside a 23-story Financial District high-rise, property records show.
Rep. Pat Ryan has established himself as an advocate for tighter regulation of AI and restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress. But his financial disclosures reveal apparent contradictions between his personal finances and his public policy positions.
The future of Levon Helm Studios, the Woodstock venue founded by The Band’s drummer, is uncertain amid a contentious management transfer that has pitted Helm’s daughter against shareholders she accuses of orchestrating a takeover.
The owner of Taste of Italy in Latham said he is postponing the opening of his second restaurant, Grazie Italian Kitchen, previously scheduled for tomorrow, and also might yet sell the location altogether.
A Corinth man is accused of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of marijuana products over a nine-month span from a Wilton cannabis processing company where he worked.
A Rensselaer County sheriff’s sergeant alleges she was subjected to repeated forms of harassment, including having sexually explicit altered images of her added to a clandestine “Book of Shame” circulated in the department during the past few years.
The pilot of a single-engine plane died in a crash Sunday evening outside an airport in the Adirondacks, which the National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
