Good Wednesday morning.
I am old enough to remember the near-hysteria caused by news in the spring of 1985 that three British scientists had discovered a recurring hole in the ozone layer over Antartica.
As a reminder: The ozone is Earth’s protective shield – basically its sunscreen. It shields the entire planet, and everything and everyone on it, from the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet (UVB, specifically) rays. Without the ozone, we would all be in for a world of hurt, literally and figuratively.
The ozone layer, which made up of oxygen molecules joined together (technically, O3 is an ‘allotrope’ of oxygen), is actually several DIFFERENT layers – the troposphere and the stratosphere, the former being located closer to the Earth’s surface, while the latter is located roughly 6 to 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) ABOVE the Earth’s surface.
Most of the atmosphere ozone is concentrated in a sub-layer of the stratosphere that is about 9 to 18 miles above the Earth. This ozone is constantly being created and destroyed and the total amount of it overall hasn’t changed much in the decades that it has been measured.
However…
In 1985, as mentioned above, scientists Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin revealed that the protective ozone layer above Antarctica was disappearing every spring. This wasn’t truly a hole, but rather a significant thinning of the ozone in this specific spot. The depletion was tied directly to human-made industrial chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) – is this starting to ring a bell for those of you of a certain age?
CFCs were sold under brand names like “Freon” and used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants in things like refrigerators and cans of hairspray and paint. They were also deployed as solvents to clean electronic circuit boards.
The discovery of the ozone “hole” triggered some significantly life-changing events and regulations. Most notably, nations signed the Montreal Protocol in 1987 to phase out ozone-depleting substances. At a far more utilitarian level, people started getting very concerned – and rightly so – about sun protection, and the practice of oiling yourself up in an effort to acquire as dark a tan as possible came to an end.
The good news is that the preventative steps we took collectively to address the alarming news about the ozone hole worked, and the ozone layer is expected to be back at1980-era levels by 2066 – a testament to nature’s amazing ability to heal itself, if we only get the hell out of its way.
Today is the International Day for Preservation of the Ozone Layer, proclaimed by the UN to commemorate the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol.
Another great day is on tap, with the forecast calling for intervals of clouds and sun and temperatures topping out near 80 degrees. We already closed the pool for the season, though. Oh well.
In the headlines…
The people building and governing A.I. increasingly fall into camps: Those who want to slow down and regulate the technology’s development, those racing to speed it up and those in between or with shifting stances.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, took aim at rival A.I. start-up Anthropic and its chief executive, Dario Amodei, on Tuesday amid a contentious debate over whether to slow down artificial intelligence development.
In a social media post, Zuckerberg said leading A.I. labs should be focused on safety rather than improving their own technology. He did not name Amodei or Anthropic but said that calls to pause A.I. development industrywide were the wrong approach.
Trump posted on Truth Social this week that artificial intelligence and the data centers that power it “will be the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet.” Many of the commenters on his A.I. posts disagreed.
Trump’s longtime pollster is offering Republican candidates a detailed playbook for neutralizing Democratic attacks over AI data centers — down to what language they should and shouldn’t use.
The House voted for a third time to direct Trump to end the war in Iran or seek explicit authorization to continue it, delivering another bipartisan rebuke to his handling of the conflict as fighting continues and American voters increasingly disapprove.
Vice President JD Vance told The NY Post that the Trump administration’s agenda is on the line in the 2026 midterms and Republicans will need their voters to turn out like a presidential year— in order to keep the “crazies” at bay.
Senate Democrats grilled FBI boss Kash Patel on whether the bureau hires people who had sex with animals, blasted him as a “thug,” and accused him of being a drunk during an off-the-rails Judiciary Committee hearing.
Simmering turmoil over the future of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts boiled over as the center abruptly closed to the public and Trump threatened to cancel a planned $257 million renovation if his name isn’t returned to the front of the building.
The center aggressively tested a judge’s order not to close by shutting its doors in what officials called an emergency action designed to protect people from deteriorating conditions inside the building.
The Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025, part of the president’s plan to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy and government spending, according to a new estimate from a congressional watchdog.
The European Union has invited Canada to work toward becoming the bloc’s first “associate member,” a title meant to underscore Canada’s growing closeness to the 27-nation union in a world of rising geopolitical risk.
At least five people were dead in Los Angeles after back-to-back accidents in which a van broadsided a bus and then an NBC news helicopter, apparently hovering nearby to cover the story, plummeted to the ground and burst into flames, the authorities said.
New York State is giving municipal governments a roadmap to secure millions from technology companies building local artificial intelligence data centers.
Before a landmark AI safety law has even taken effect, Gov. Kathy Hochul and key Democratic lawmakers are saying New York needs to go further — as fears about increasingly powerful AI intensify and President Trump resists calls for new federal restrictions.
A day after announcing plans for sending $200 energy rebate checks to more than 8 million New York households, Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched a new effort to try and enroll millions of residents in a recently expanded state program to reduce utility costs.
Speaking on the Lower East Side, Hochul highlighted the State’s Energy Affordability Program, which offers qualifying residents discounts of up to $500 annually on their utility bills.
Hochul crowed Tuesday that 2.5 million more New Yorkers are eligible for up to $500 a year in utility bill discounts – a savings her gubernatorial rival Bruce Blakeman waved off as “peanuts.”
New York’s correction officers endorsed Blakeman for governor in a landslide vote — as Democratic Hochul continues to take heat for conditions at state prisons following last year’s massive strike.
Hochul is being accused of conducting a “hit job” on free speech on behalf of teachers unions after she signed a law giving the state AG the power to fine groups deemed to be engaged in deceptive communications that falsely appear to be authorized by a union.
A 2016 executive order blocking New York from doing business with entities supporting the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel doesn’t apply to countries like Canada and the UK, which are set to boycott Israeli settlement products.
Sheriffs, lawmakers and immigration reform advocates spoke out in support of a legal challenge of a new state law banning congressionally authorized agreements governing civil immigration enforcement coordination with local, state and federal agencies.
Mamdani announced that the city’s emergency snow shoveling program has raised its hourly rate to $30, bumping to $45 after the first 40 hours worked in a week.
About 38% of likely voters have an overall favorable opinion of Mamdani, compared to 30% for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a New York Times-Siena University poll.
Modern Orthodox high schools are sending their students to demonstrate outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of Mamdani and his wife, on Friday morning.
Mamdani on Tuesday unveiled “Vision Zero Reimagined,” a wide-ranging plan to eliminate traffic deaths within 10 years — including by boosting “pedestrian-only” zones across the city.
City lawmakers will take NYPD officials to task today over crime figures that haven’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels — and disturbing reports of cops allegedly refusing to take complaint reports.
Amid a reckoning on digital devices in the classroom, the New York City Council called for further reforms to reduce screen time in public schools during a hearing yesterday.
Senior members of the City Council called for the broad removal of technology in New York City’s public schools and expressed alarm over the widespread use of digital devices in classrooms.
In lieu of federal action, the City Council’s 51 members are coming together for a rare “Committee of the Whole” to probe the swirling existential questions and more recently explosive concerns about AI safety, misuse by bad actors and a lack of oversight.
New York City officials have selected Brooklyn-based company it’s electric to expand the city’s curbside electric vehicle charging network to 700 charging points from the current 88, the company announced.
New York City is taking steps to reduce the number of teens in juvenile detention following years of overcrowding.
A legal battle over an East Village co-op’s proposed $30-million parking lot sale is escalating, with a shareholder going to court to pry loose financial records as he questions a nearly $16 million plunge in the complex’s reserves.
A NYC triathlete died when he was found unconscious during the swimming portion of a race in the Hamptons — less than two weeks after a married father of two died in a suspected drowning in nearby Shelter Island.
A judge has dismissed a special hearing on a proposed project to test howitzers in the northeastern Adirondacks and has recommended the Adirondack Park Agency board vote down the permit application.
Over the next two months, temperatures and daylight will decline rapidly. That also means the developing Super El Niño will soon begin to have a greater influence on our weather.
A Town of Colonie contract for removing leaves and brush has come under scrutiny after the cost of the service climbed to nearly $1 million annually over the last three years.
A former Lake George inventor of household goods, whom prosecutors said preyed on investors so he could spend lavishly on fine dining, wine and prostitutes, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York to 10 years in federal prison.
A Town of Niskayuna Republican leader has a message for the League of Women Voters: we don’t trust your group to hold a debate at this moment, and therefore, our top candidate won’t show up for one.
A California company is crying foul over an insurance claim made shortly after the 2023 fire that destroyed the former Kenwood Academy and convent.
A state trooper shot a man after he allegedly brandished a BB gun that appeared to be a handgun Monday night at a private campsite in the Catskills.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
