Looking to make some sense of the news this summer? Contributing Opinions Editor Riley Goodfellow and I have got you covered. Starting this week, we’ll be weighing in on what’s happening at GW and around D.C.

Warmer weather and new stations helped Capital Bikeshare break ridership records last month, and officials broke ground on two new food vendors behind closed doors at the University Student Center.

Meanwhile, smoky skies and unhealthy air are putting a damper on the summer. We may have moved past the pandemic, but public health advisories and face masks are making a grim comeback.

Here’s the best and worst of this week’s headlines:

Thumbs Up:
After sprinkling electric bikes around the D.C. area in April and installing a docking station near the Mount Vernon Campus later that month, Capital Bikeshare hit its highest-ever ridership in May as users took more than 428,000 rides. How’s that for pedal to the metal?

A partnership between Lyft, the District Department of Transportation and several cities and counties in Virginia and Maryland, Capital Bikeshare has brought success for people-powered transportation, a good sign of the District’s post-pandemic recovery and a fun way to get around the District.

In on-campus news, officials are constructing two spaces for food vendors in the student center. Will our long-awaited Chick-fil-A return soon? And what vendor is that other space for?

While the permits posted on the doors to the building don’t say when construction will end, I do know this — it’s been quite a year for dining options at GW. If all goes well, there may be a treat for students when they come back to Foggy Bottom this fall.

Thumbs Down:
Canadian exports have made local headlines before — remember the spate of Canada Goose jacket robberies in February? If you don’t, your recall is as hazy as D.C.’s weather this week.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires is blanketing the eastern U.S., leading District officials to cancel all outdoor activities in the city’s public schools and issue a “code red” for the city’s air quality Wednesday. The situation only got worse on Thursday as smoke shrouded the National Mall. D.C.’s air quality reached “code purple” for “extremely unhealthy” levels of pollutants, triggering a separate alert from GW, shuttering the National Zoo and postponing a Nationals game.

This steep drop in air quality is equal parts noxious and nerve-wracking. For my part, I could hardly see down my block Thursday morning, and the now ever-present smell of a bonfire clung to my commute downtown that day. Outdoor masking is suddenly the fashionable, smart thing to do — I’ve certainly brought out the N95 again.

With the Canadian wilderness burning and smoke blotting out the summer sun, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a portent of a hotter, dryer world — two factors that make wildfires more likely and more destructive. And when the sky changes color, how can you expect people not to argue we’re on the precipice of a climate disaster — if not already in the throes of one?

Take care of yourself in the coming days but know we may not be able to breathe too easily once the smoke clears.

Ethan Benn, a rising senior majoring in journalism and mass communication, is the opinions editor.