Good morning, it’s Monday.
The calendar turned over this past weekend, shifting us from July to August, which means we have officially entered into the home stretch of summer.
If you want to feel really optimistic, you could go with the astronomical measuring method, which gives us 51 more days until the autumn equinox on Tuesday, Sept. 22. But the sad reality is that for most people, summer ends after Labor Day, (Monday, Sept. 7), when most K-12 kids are back in school. That hews closer to the meteorological definition, in which fall begins on Sept. 1, leaving just 29 days of the summer season remaining.
So, that’s the bad news, although I am nearing the end of my rope with the heat and am honestly looking forward to fall. But this might be an unpopular opinion at the moment and will be the subject for another post.
The good news is that August brings some peak summer produce moments, including for watermelon – an iconic summer treat. At 92 percent water content by weight, watermelon is the perfect hot weather treat. It’s refreshing, low in calories, and contains an amino acid called L-citrulline, which some studies show might help support vascular health and maintain healthy blood flow.
Though local regional harvests of watermelon can last into September, the sweetest and juiciest watermelons in the Northeast can be found in August. There are more than 1,200 varieties of watermelon ground around the world, and they are usually divided into categories based on the color of their flesh and wether or not they contain seeds. (The so-called “seedless” variety is actually bred to have soft, sterile and edible seeds instead of the hard black ones you encounter in a traditionally grown melon).
Watermelon is a member of the same family (Cucurbitaceae) as cucumber, squash, pumpkin and musk melon, and it is technically classified as a vegetable, though it is consumed by humans as a fruit for for thousands of years. It dates back to southern Africa and made its way to Egypt where it was believed to have been vastly improved by plant breeders who worked to make its traditionally bitter flesh sweeter.
China leads the globe in both watermelon production AND consumption, accounting for up to 80 percent of the fruit eaten every year around the world. China has a long history of eating watermelon, which was once reserved only for royalty but has since become a staple of diets at every socioeconomic level.
We cannot leave the subject of watermelon and celebrate National Watermelon Day, which is the last hurrah after the end of National Watermelon Month, without addressing the controversial history of what is otherwise a widely loved treat. How watermelon became known as a racist stereotype is a long and complex story that dates back to before the Civil War and sadly continues to this day, which is, of course, the fault of small-minded humans and has very little – if anything – to do with watermelon itself.
More rain is in the forecast, with thunderstorms in the morning giving way to scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. Potentially heavy rain is possible, which isn’t great for the area’s already waterlogged lawns and full-to-bursting streams, rivers, and lakes. High temperatures will flirt with 80 degrees.
In the headlines…
Key senators unveiled a short-term spending bill on Sunday that would keep federal agencies funded past the midterm elections and into early December as they look to avoid a government shutdown during the middle of campaign season.
The Senate is likely to vote on the measure before leaving Washington at week’s end for its traditional August recess, a period that many lawmakers want to spend shoring up their reelection prospects rather than working in the nation’s capital.
Acting AG Todd Blanche confirmed in writing that the DOJ would abandon elements of the deal it struck with President Trump to resolve his IRS lawsuit, conceding to demands from GOP senators who had threatened to block his nomination as attorney general.
President Trump said late Saturday that he had canceled a potentially massive U.S. military assault on Iran, opting to pull back from the brink of renewed war in the Middle East for the second time in two weeks.
The president said Iran and other governments in the region asked the US “to hold off any attack” because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”
Trump said in a social media post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to refrain from military action. He also said that the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The president said that he is “not looking to kill people” as he seeks a deal with Iran, telling reporters that negotiations with Iranian officials are set for today.
Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims.
Pirro’s office, in a court filing Friday, moved to drop criminal charges against a former Olympian, David Hearn, who was accused of deliberately damaging the pool after it underwent a renovation ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration last month.
Democrats are reacting to the Justice Department’s move to drop its Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against Hearn, saying the move validated their longstanding criticism that the administration is weaponizing the Justice Department.
Trump’s poll numbers are at or near the lowest they have ever been in some nonpartisan surveys. He is at the nadir of his presidency, with support from just around a third of Americans as a stalemated war in Iran and high gas prices take a political toll.
Ohio GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno broke his silence about a yearslong family drama involving domestic abuse allegations against his former son-in-law, Rep. Max Miller of Ohio, saying in an emotional statement that Miller was not fit to hold public office.
Moreno, saying the dispute had put his family through “pure hell,” scathingly denounced Miller, whose ex-wife, Emily Moreno, has accused him of abusing her and their 2-year-old daughter.
The gunman who fired into a busy In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls, Idaho, on Saturday, sending customers scurrying for cover in the restaurant and behind cars in the parking lot, was a 24-year-old man who acted alone, the authorities said.
Twenty-five years after a young legislative staffer named Elizabeth Crothers reported being assaulted by the late Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s top aide, Michael Boxley, her lawsuit against the state is finally headed to court.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lawsuit to block the hot prediction market Kalshi could deprive the Empire State of as much as $10 billion, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman said Sunday.
Hochul announced a week-long speed enforcement effort for New York State that starts today and lasts through Aug. 9.
Committees for Hochul and Blakeman have billed their campaigns for stays in upscale hotels, swanky fundraising venues, expensive airfare and meals at exclusive restaurants – as both preach to voters about the state’s affordability crisis.
The Broome County Sheriff’s Office is pushing back against Hochul’s demand for police agencies to end agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the local level.
A lawsuit filed by the state attorney general’s office early Friday seeks to halt sports wagering on Kalshi, one of the leading prediction markets — platforms that many regulators claim are nothing more than illegal gambling sites.
The stakes are high for Kalshi on this one. James is seeking $36 billion in compensatory damages, which would include Kalshi returning funds to customers and paying a $100,000 civil penalty for each allegedly illegal bet offered in the state.
At a national summit of the Democratic Socialists of America, nervous energy and a sprawling tableau of sometimes-competing interests were on display.
ACLU chapters in NY and NJ joined with affiliates across 17 states and D.C. in filing a total of 54 administrative claims alleging harm caused by ICE agents in encounters with immigrants and their family members, as well as an array of advocates and protesters.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s vision for a free child care system for all New York City children under 5 could cost much more than he estimated, according to a new report set to be released today.
A new model developed by the Center for New York City Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with the New School, estimated that the proposed program would cost about $9 billion annually, with an average cost per child of around $27,000.
New York City Public Schools Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins is stepping down in September, she and other city officials confirmed. Her departure comes as the city prepares to launch Mamdani’s new free 2-K program.
Panicked New York City homeowners who want to apply for an exemption from Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax now have an additional month to do so, officials announced Saturday.
The Consul General of Israel in New York is calling on Mamdani to change his anti-Israel rhetoric before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the city in September for the United Nations General Assembly.
Mamdani didn’t pick one Jewish person to serve on his judicial screening panel, but he did appoint a lawyer for a domestic terrorist, a Luigi Mangione apologist – and even a former male prostitute.
There is growing discontent with Mamdani from Democratic politicians in the city’s outer boroughs, who complain that their constituents aren’t receiving the same attention as those who live in Manhattan.
The Mamdani administration re-upped a $1.86 billion contract that will see hotels across the five boroughs provide emergency space for the homeless.
The New York City Correction Department has awarded a nearly $230,000 annual contract to a Colorado-based firm, FarmBox Foods, to teach inmates at Rikers Island and other municipal jails how to “vertical” farm in an urban setting.
Brian Romero, a socialist pol who is a shoo-in to represent part of Queens in the state Assembly, whipped out his tin cup to beg the public to help pay his personal bills while he waits out the November elections.
Veteran filmmaker Mira Nair’s mother, Praveen Nair, has died at the age of 94. She was a well-known social worker and philanthropist and is Mamdani’s grandmother.
New York City parents still have time to enroll their school-age kids for $120 in summer food benefits.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to continue across the New York City region today, raising the risk of localized flash flooding, the National Weather Service said.
As the competition intensified, legal cannabis dispensaries, about 300 in New York City, have leaned into looks and vibes to set themselves apart and connect with consumers.
The health authorities reassured New Yorkers on Friday that they could walk around Manhattan’s Upper East Side without worrying about catching Legionnaires’ disease, declaring the end of an outbreak that had killed seven people and infected 92.
Vincent Pastore, a character actor who played Italian American tough guys, most notably the foot soldier turned FBI informant Salvatore Bonpensiero, AKA “Big Pussy”, on the classic HBO series “The Sopranos,” has died at his Bronx home at 80.
A new lawsuit alleges that the permits issued for the sprawling Micron Technology chipmaking complex in the town of Clay will allow Micron to pollute the air and water with toxic chemicals.
The suit, filed Friday in Albany County, says the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation failed to set safe limits on the emission of toxic chemicals into the air and their discharge into the Oneida River, including so-called “forever chemicals.”
The Adirondack Park Agency is conducting an enforcement investigation involving the company seeking to test-fire large cannons in Essex County, a public letter from an agency attorney has revealed.
Last week’s torrential rain will be to blame, meteorologists said, if overnight downpours cause a return of flooding today in the Capital Region.
Parents of disabled preschoolers say that long school bus rides left their children vomiting and crying. Schenectady County says costs and limited placements constrain options.
City Council member Noreen McKee says the Troy Police Department provided incomplete information as lawmakers deliberate how long officers can hold onto video recordings and license plate data made by Flock Safety cameras stationed around the city.
A former staffer filed a complaint against the Saratoga County Animal Shelter, criticizing management, but county leaders insist the facility is well-run.
Despite recent encounters between rabid (or possibly rabid) animals and humans, rabies cases this year in New York may not see a spike akin to last year — though that doesn’t mean there aren’t complicating factors, experts say.
The latest proposed plans for a new mixed-use complex where a now-closed Price Chopper and Burger King once operated in Lansingburgh were unveiled last week, drawing skepticism and questions from some residents.
The state will invest $25.9 million in stormwater and sewer drainage projects in Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, moves officials hope will reinvigorate manufacturing in Washington County.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
