Good morning, it’s Tuesday. And yes, it’s still October – for the next few days, anyway.
Yesterday when I posted this link on Twitter/X, I mistakenly said it was September. Just trying to turn back time and hold back winter. Sadly, I do not have anywhere near the power to make that happen.
We’ve been doing a lot of long distance working out of late. Lots of hours on the feet, which gets harder on the rest of the body – knees, quads, calves, etc. – the older I get. Preventative maintenance is becoming increasingly important, which means time at the PT, time on the foam roller, time in the sauna, and (when I can squeeze it in) time at the massage therapist’s office.
Massage has many benefits – both physical and mental.
On the physical side, massage is a widely accepted technique for improving circulation, flexibility, and range of motion; speeding muscle recovery, and even boosting white blood cell counts to help ward off infections.
On the mental health side, massage can help you relax, boost neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine to help improve your mood, and calm the nervous system to release tension and help combat depression. One white paper I read said the following: “massage does not just feel good—it changes the way the brain and body communicate.”
It’s not unusual to feel sore after a massage – especially if you go in for deep tissue work, which is my preference. You can manage this by drinking a lot of water to flush out metabolic waste.
There’s also Rolfing, which is not massage, but rather a form of bodywork that focuses on manipulating the fascia, which is the thin, fibrous connective tissue that separates all the body’s bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and internal organs. It can be painful, but also very effective, in my experience.
There are more than 80 different kinds of massage – from the aforementioned deep tissue and hot stone to Swedish, aromatherapy, Shiatsu, Thai, prenatal…the list goes on for quite a while. The practice of massage dates back centuries and was linked to religious, medical, and spiritual practices in India, China, and Egypt.
We are currently in the middle of National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, which is observed annually during the last week of October (Oct. 25-31). It was created by the National Massage Therapy Association (NMTA) as a “dedicated week for massage therapists across the U.S. to promote the health benefits of massage therapy and their practices.”
It will be a hair cooler than it has been, with temperatures topping out only in the mid 50s.
This is back to seasonable temperatures, where it has been a bit on the warm side these past several days for mid-to-late fall. (There might be yet be a few more Indian Summer-type days in the not-too-distant future, so don’t give up hope quite yet). Skies today will again be partly cloudy.
In the headlines…
Federal prosecutors have brought new charges against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, accusing him of mishandling national security information in October 2016 that they said ended up in a New York Times article, according to court papers.
It’s the third time the Trump administration has mounted a criminal case against the former FBI director — a prominent political foe of the president — since last year.
“Well, they’re back again. It would almost be funny if it weren’t such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to,” Comey said in a video on Substack after the charges were made public.
A Manhattan judge on Monday ruled that Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor and the daughter of one of Trump’s best-known critics, was unlawfully fired last year.
President Trump doubled down on his criticism of Barack Obama even as he struggled to keep his voice amid a nearly nonstop midterm campaign rally blitz to keep his Republicans in control of Congress.
Democrats hold an 8-point lead among likely voters in the fight for control of Congress with one week until Election Day, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. And Democratic voters are more eager to turn out than Republicans.
Republicans’ small-dollar donor base has contracted in recent years, leaving the party more dependent on a tiny group of wealthy megadonors for support.
Israelis headed to the polls in large numbers today in a national election that many see as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one that is widely described as the most consequential in the country’s history.
It’s Israeli voters’ first chance to hold Netanyahu accountable for the security failures that led to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks — or to reward him for what he claims were unprecedented military successes in the three years of war since.
The Central Election Committee said that the voter turnout at 10 a.m. reached 16.68 percent – about 1.2 million people and an increase from the 15.9 percent turnout at the same time in 2022. That’s the highest voter turnout at this time since the 1981 elections.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has nearly 10 times more cash on hand than GOP rival Bruce Blakeman going into the final week of the campaign, according to the candidates’ latest campaign finance reports.
New York law enforcement leaders from across the state endorsed Blakeman for governor on his Nassau County home turf — calling him the “common sense” choice over Hochul.
Hochul announced that more than $8 million in new grants have been given to food banks and emergency food assistance organizations across New York as part of a broader effort to combat food insecurity statewide.
The governor also pledged to keep school breakfast and lunch free despite federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Two top Mamdani administration officials argued that tackling the cost-of-living crisis requires more than one-time payments — just as the governor’s $1 billion energy rebate checks are landing in millions of New Yorkers’ mailboxes.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hochul announced the groundbreaking of a multimillion-dollar project that aims to reduce flooding in Harlem and East Harlem while conserving the city’s drinking water supply.
Hochul was ranked the worst state leader in the US for protecting constituents’ freedoms, a scathing new study from the Cato Institute found.
The state attorney general’s office is appealing two recent federal court decisions that struck down New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act and determined the statute is preempted by federal law.
New York ranks second, behind California, in quantum computing, according to a newly released study commissioned by a division of Empire State Development.
A state technology worker who had been accused of a yearslong overtime billing scheme is now fighting for back pay after the criminal case against him fell apart.
Should she win re-election next week, Hochul said that intends to seek a full third term as governor in 2030. If she prevails, she’ll match the likes of Rockefeller, Dewey and Cuomo. Mario, that is.
Mayor Mamdani and a group of fellow basketball enthusiasts have been secretly using the NYPD Police Academy’s gymnasium in Queens to play pickup ball, disrupting recruits’ workout schedule and one time forcing them into the hall.
At hundreds of public ballfields and soccer pitches, casual pick-up players are feeling the squeeze as demand surges for organized games, practices and sports clinics. But even those with the persistence and resources to score a permit don’t feel like winners.
The city is dragging its feet on a requirement for all city agencies to upload records requests and data to an online public portal, further delaying transparency from city agencies, good-government advocates said.
New York City’s elected Democratic district attorneys are bending over backwards to keep illegal immigrants in the US, instructing prosecutors to downgrade charges to those considered “a non-deportable offense,” according to a House Judiciary Committee report.
Despite inflation that has pushed up prices in the New York area by 4%, low-wage workers won’t see an expected increase in the city’s $17 an hour minimum wage on Jan. 1 because of a quirk in the state law that linked the wage to the consumer price index.
A group of elected officials and community leaders are expected to join the former chancellor under Mayor Adams in calling for admissions reform at the specialized high schools, putting further pressure on Mamdani to address segregation in the school system.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing a $295 million budget deficit next year that could explode into a $900 million hole by 2030 — while the cash-strapped agency continues to hike fares and fees.
A national Jewish legal rights group is calling on the Trump administration to probe the city Department of Education over reports parents are pulling their kids out of public schools because of rampant antisemitism.
A Manhattan Supreme Court judge has temporarily halted the city’s after-hours construction on a new neighborhood jail in Chinatown.
In a Republican stronghold in northern New York, the race to replace Representative Elise Stefanik has had something of a carnivalesque feel, driven by Anthony Constantino, the Republican heir apparent.
A Norway spruce nestled in a rural hamlet in Central New York will soon be on display in one of Manhattan’s busiest tourist destinations.
New York State Police asked the FBI to take over a case involving Lt. Col. Jared Duffy, who is now suspended without pay.
Albany Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs says that the Common Council is refusing to use what she calls the correct version of the proposed 2027 budget.
Crews are battling a nearly 200-acre wildfire in rural Rensselaer County, days after a 21-acre fire spread in Hamilton County, as abnormally dry weather continues across parts of upstate New York.
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy has vetoed a measure allowing a supermajority of councilors to expel a colleague after more than three months absent — a month more than already allowed for medium-sized cities under state law.
Troy is set to begin a major overhaul of the Frear Park playground after City Council approved the project, which will include new equipment, a splash pad, ADA-accessible resurfacing, fencing, grills, traffic calming measures, parking changes and sidewalks.
A state commission admonished an Ontario County judge who urged another judge to set bail for a friend’s daughter because the younger woman was severely addicted to drugs, a risk to run if released and in need of drug rehabilitation.
Jay-Z will headline the next Super Bowl halftime show, the N.F.L. announced on Monday, putting at center stage the man who is in charge of selecting the artist for the United States’ most-watched television event.
The game will be held on Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles; it will be aired on ABC for the first time in two decades, and simulcast on ESPN and Disney+ for the first time.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
