As you've probably heard by now, today is Tax Day and millions of people today are frantically filing for their taxes as the yearly tax day is today April 18th rather than the usual April 15th. Y'all got til midnight tonight to get them done. Today also happens to be national animal cracker day, so do yourself a favor and grab one of those circus carts while you do your taxes.

To begin, the New York Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers last night in overtime with a score of 4 to 3. We had a few good men attend the game where they where able to catch a pic of Rick DiPietro answering nature's call. Once inside they could only describe the atmosphere as, "this place is fucking live, holy shit." Thomas Hickey was the man behind the final goal in OT putting the Isles ahead in the series 2 to 1. Game four is scheduled for Wednesday night at the Barclays center in Brooklyn. Moving over to Manhattan, the New York Rangers coming off of a win in Pittsburgh, will be squaring off against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Game starts at 7:00 pm with the series tied 1 to 1. The Rangers even looking to call up Raphael Diaz from the AHL in an effort to ensure victory against the Penguins. Staying in New York, tomorrow is New York's Democratic and Republican primaries. This could be the deciding state for the democratic race as Senator Bernie Sanders is now only 194 delegates behind Secretary Clinton and New York has 291 delegates up for grabs. On the Republican side, coming off of loss due to a corrupt system as The Donald has said. Ted Cruz swept Wyoming's delegates forcing Donald Trump to win big tomorrow and in the coming weeks to clinch the nomination before the GOP Convention. Regardless of your political affiliation, make sure you get out and exercise your right to vote.

For news in neighboring states, the 120th Boston Marathon will be taking place today with over 30,000 runners participating. Just three years after the Boston bombings, the city has employed over 5,000 officials to monitor the marathon route to ensure safety during the event. It's a shame that something as innocent as the Boston Marathon has been subject to these malicious attacks. Moving through New York to Penn's woods. On Sunday afternoon Pennsylvania became the 24th state the legalize medical marijuana. This comes only three days before 4/20, a day that many marijuana enthusiasts take part in. On a more serious note, Democratic Senator Daylin Leach was quoted in saying "marijuana is medicine and it's coming to Pennsylvania". The authors of the bill state that it still can take up to two years to write regulations and get retailers open. But children in need of cannabis will be able to acquire forms of the drug within a few months. This bill allows patients to have cannabis administered in pill form, oil, vapor, ointment or liquid form. The bill does not include permission to smoke or grow cannabis. Officials are hoping that with the new legislature, the states opioid abuse problem will see a decrease. I do not think there will be a true decrease in the use of opioid due to this but this is one more step taken to end the federal marijuana prohibition. Slowly but surely the country is accepting some of the misconceptions it's had about the drug.

Something almost everyone has noticed in the past few months has been the fall in oil prices around the world. Oil-rich countries failed to reach an agreement on Sunday regarding the freeze of production on oil. This caused numerous shares and currencies around the world to decrease in value. Prices of oil hit a 12 year low in January with prices going under $30 a barrel. Prices have since then climbed back to above $40 a barrel. Some are stating that regardless of OPEC's decision prices of oil will soon rise. Be it due to the start of the summer season or an agreement being reached I think a gallon of gas will hit three dollars by mid June. Oil should remain low as an initiative to stop funding the fossil fuel industry and move towards cleaner renewable energy sources.

Moving to plate tectonics, known as the ring of fire, this area encompasses the Pacific rim and is known for it's geological activity. Late Thursday and early Sunday the island nation of Japan was shook to its core by powerful earthquakes registering a 6.4 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. I don't know if this is coincidence with the new Shin Gojira trailer released by Toho last week or if they are trying to tell us something. Authorities are stating that at least 42 people died and over 1,100 were injured during the two quakes. The U.S is sending aid to Japan in an effort to help in repairing the city of Kumamoto which was the most severely affected. Across the Pacific, the South American country of Ecuador was struck by 7.8 magnitude earthquake leaving thousands homeless and at latest estimate 350 people dead. The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa in Italy at the time, cut his visit short and on the flight back declared a state of emergency in the country. Global climate change cannot be blamed for these events but irregular weather patterns as seen even today in Colorado and the Midwest can only make these sporadic events worse.

And with that the minute is up.

#Min