PITY THE cyclists of New York City. As well as having to slalom double-parked cars and piles of rubbish, they only get a few weeks a year without oppressive humidity or frigid cold. And this spring, even their meteorological bliss has been disturbed. The New York Police Department (NYPD) has started issuing criminal summonses for bike riders committing a slew of seemingly low-level fouls. Now, if caught running red lights, stopping in the pedestrian crossing or wearing headphones, wayward cyclists must appear before a judge, even if they are not contesting the fine. If they do not, they risk arrest.

IT WAS THE equivalent of a warning siren. The results of California’s latest auction of carbon allowances, released on May 29th, showed that prices had hit the floor. Each quarter companies shell out for credits that cover their greenhouse-gas emissions. Demand is weak, and lower revenues from the auction are bad news for lawmakers who are already trying to plug a $12bn budget deficit. The poor showing is also a signal that firms are not confident that California’s cap-and-trade programme, the fourth-largest carbon market in the world, will continue to exist.

This June may be the most harried for the Supreme Court’s justices in some time. On top of 30-odd rulings due by Independence Day, the court faces a steady stream of emergency pleas. Over 16 years, George W. Bush and Barack Obama filed a total of eight emergency applications in the Supreme Court (SCOTUS). In the past 20 weeks, as many of his executive orders have been blocked by lower courts, Donald Trump has filed 18.