It's a pretty simple equation: The females in the house think it's too cold. The males think it's too hot.
And, with all due respect to all the other differences between the sexes, temperature regulation may be the biggest difference.
In the winter the problem is easily solved by those who get chilly putting on another layer of clothing.
But in the hotter weather, artificial remedies tend to win out.
And that's where the battle over the thermostat can turn nasty. He - or in my case - she who controls the air conditioner, controls the household. The power AC has become The Power.
I usually dread the summer months because of this long-simmering and long running battle. If it were up to me - the campaign to conserve energy notwithstanding - the thermostat would be at a comfortable 66 degrees 24/7. But only when I'm alone can I dare dream of such nirvana.
And now with the temperatures above 90, the battle has commenced.
I suspect it's happening in households across the Tri State and indeed, across America. And now I'm trying to bring it out of the closet. Sort of.
Seriously, the heat is here, and it will last a couple of days. Meteorologist Lee Goldberg will lead our coverage, tonight at 11.
And with New York City's budget in such a mess that teachers are being threatened with layoffs and the Mayor's looking at closing 20 firehouses, you'd think the effort to collect unpaid fines would be a front-burner effort.
But our investigative reporter Jim Hoffer has discovered - it's not. Not by a long shot. Turns out there's more than $400 million in unpaid building fines - and yet the City's buildings department keeps granting new permits to the companies that owe that money.
And some of these companies owe the money for bloody reasons. Deadly reasons. Like the crane collapse that killed seven people three years ago. The company was hit with tens of thousands of dollars in fines - and they remain unpaid, while the company keeps getting new permits for new construction.
I'm just sayin'.
And we're keeping our eye on the economy, where there's a curious and disturbing report out today about the monthly jobs report. The bottom line: if you lose your job, the odds are it's going to be a while before you get another one. The median period of unemployment is now at an historic high - 39.7 weeks. And that's the highest it has ever been since these records were compiled by the federal government.
We're also following the travails of Congressman Anthony Weiner, under siege by members of his own party after his scandal over inappropriate photos and messages he sent to women he didn't know and never met. Can he survive, politically? Much debate over that question. But late this afternoon, the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics referred to the mounting pressure on the New York Congressman to step down as a "massive overreaction." There are no criminal charges being considered, the group says, and so calls for resignation seem premature.
We'll see.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
