Good FRIDAY morning.
It is shaping up to be another really lovely fall weekend, with temperatures heading back up into the 60s – like the HIGH 60s on Sunday, which is really going to be a nice reprieve.
As I age it gets harder and harder to get used to the whole getting up in the dark and forcing myself out in the cold to run thing. I’m not in decamp-to-Florida/snowbird territory….yet. But I can see where that would be appealing. Or maybe Costa Rica? Or Arizona?
I would miss the seasons, though, and fall is undoubtedly the best. I imagine people will again be indulging this weekend in all the usual fall favorites – apple and pumpkin picking, leave peeping (or, in my case, raking and blowing), hiking, cider doughnut eating, corn maze wandering etc. and so forth.
On that note, it’s National Apple Day, which is apparently more of a UK thing, but maybe we can adopt it for today?
They certainly could use the distraction right about now across the pond, and FWIW, this is really quite brutal – a case of chronic HIVES lasts longer, on average, than the six-week stint Liz Truss did as prime minister. Ouch.
So, National Apple Day is basically exactly what it sounds like – an annual celebration of apples and orchards. Celebrations might include apple eating, apple picking, the baking of apples into pies, pastries, breads, sauces, etc.; cider making, and apple sales.
As an aside, there are quite literally thousands of varieties of apples in existence around the world – about 7,500, to be exact, though only about 2,500 of them are grown here in the U.S., and of that you’re only likely to see a handful at your local grocery store, farm stand, and/or farmer’s market.
There is also a growing interest in heritage apples, (those cultivated prior to 1900), which is worth checking out.
What’s crazy is that the most-grown apple in the U.S. is the Red Delicious, which I personally abhor. I have never had one that I liked, which is to say one that wasn’t mealy and mushy and basically flavorless.
I prefer a crisp and tart apple, so Granny Smith is good in the off season and has the benefit of being easy to find – damn near ubiquitous, really – but Braeburn and Northern Spy are also good, if I can find them.
McIntosh isn’t bad, and Ida Reds are OK, too, I dislike Pink Ladys, (maybe because they’re a cross of Golden Delicious, which I also don’t like, and Lady Williams apples), though I know they have a following.
Really, it’s all a matter of personal preference. But what is undeniable is that apples are good for you, regardless of what variety you go in for. They are rich in fiber and antioxidants.
Eating them is linked to a lower risk of many chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Apples may also promote weight loss (take this with a grain of salt, of course) and improve gut and brain health.
Just before we go, this day should not be confused with International Eat An Apple Day, which occurs on the third Saturday in September. I missed that one, so I’m certainly glad to have a second bite at the…well, you get the picture.
Since we already dispensed with the weather, let’s get to the headlines…
President Joe Biden issued a statement thanking U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss for “her partnership on a range of issues” in response to the Conservative leader’s resignation after just six weeks in office.
Truss’s resignation is a stark reminder of how high inflation and rising interest rates have changed the game for politicians and narrowed their room to maneuver.
Hours after Truss announced her resignation, British Conservatives began setting out a plan to replace her in just a week — a rapid pace that matches the shortest tenure ever for a British prime minister.
Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge became a symbol of the country’s troubled infrastructure, collapsing into a ravine earlier this year, hours before Biden visited the city. He returned to the bridge in hopes of turning it into a symbol of success for his administration.
Biden also attended a fundraiser in Philadelphia for U.S. Senate Democratic candidate John Fetterman.
A federal judge in Missouri denied a request by a group of Republican state leaders to block the Biden administration’s student-loan forgiveness program, a boost for the White House as it plans to begin canceling debt in the coming days.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey of St. Louis, said GOP officials representing six states didn’t have standing to challenge the loan forgiveness because they couldn’t show they had been harmed by the Biden program.
Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid forced nationwide power cuts, deepening the misery of a people facing winter without enough light or heat, while Ukraine’s president accused Moscow of planning to blow up a dam.
The U.S. surgeon general is telling Americans for the first time that disrespectful or cutthroat workplaces could be hazardous to their health.
A federal appeals court ruled that Sen. Lindsey Graham must appear before the special grand jury that is investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn Trump’s election loss in Georgia, but limited questions he can be asked.
Among other things, a prosecutor presenting evidence to the Fulton County grand jury wants to question Graham about a phone call he had with Georgia’s top election official and talks he had with the Trump campaign on the heels of Election Day 2020.
The Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has yet to formally subpoena Trump, in part because investigators are still trying to find someone authorized to accept service of it.
Trump lashed out after a federal judge wrote that the former president knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud while he was fighting his 2020 election loss.
Lawyers for investors who claim they were defrauded by Trump more than a decade ago finally got a chance to depose the former president about his marketing of a failed videophone venture on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Trump is claiming that nine documents containing packages on pardons and immigration policies are personal property, according to new court filings addressing the special master reviewing the materials.
But the Justice Department says they are official records that should be deposited with the National Archives, according to a new letter to the special master who is overseeing a review of the materials.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remains historically low even as the U.S. economy slows in the midst of decades-high inflation.
Jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 15 declined by 12,000 to 214,000 from 226,000 last week, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average rose by 1,250 to 212,250.
A Sacramento woman has been charged with multiple counts of felony grand theft and forgery after she allegedly collected more than $145,000 in unemployment benefits using the identities of convicted killers Scott Peterson and Cary Stayner.
Sales of existing U.S. homes slid for an eighth straight month in September and will likely fall further as the housing market continues to stand out as the economic sector absorbing the hardest hit from the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes.
Sales of previously owned homes declined 1.5% in September from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.71 million, the weakest rate since May 2020, the National Association of Realtors said.
Some children’s hospitals around the country are being overwhelmed with patients suffering from respiratory illnesses. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in particular is on the rise.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week pushed back on a claim made by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who said on his show that a CDC decision was likely coming to force kids to get COVID-19 vaccines in order to attend school.
COVID vaccine uptake has plateaued in many parts of the world, including in the U.S., where 68.1% of the population is fully vaccinated. Just 49% have gotten their first booster and 39% of those individuals have received their second booster dose.
Amazon.com Inc. and the New York Attorney General’s Office have agreed to the dismissal of an Amazon federal lawsuit challenging the state’s authority to regulate worker safety in the company’s warehouses.
In a letter filed this week with the US Court of Appeals of the Second Circuit, attorneys for both sides said they’ve agreed to “cease all litigation of this matter” in New York state court and to the voluntary dismissal of Amazon’s lawsuit in federal court.
Two separate infrastructure announcements in vastly different regions of the state yesterday are meant to help New York make its broader transition to more renewable and cleaner forms of energy in the coming years.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced the successful land transfer between New York State and Suffolk County to bring a National Offshore Wind Training Center to New York.
Trying to eat into the base of her rival, Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, Hochul was on Long Island for another economic development announcement. Meanwhile, Zeldin once again called on Hochul to agree to more debates.
Hochul and Zeldin shared a stage at the annual Al Smith Dinner.
Libertarian Larry Sharpe, as well as longtime Green Party activist Howie Hawkins, has launched a write-in bid for governor. He views his candidacy as a way of giving voters a different choice beyond Hochul and Zeldin.
The man accused of attacking Zeldin at a July rally in Western New York is set to be released from custody next week and admitted to an alcohol treatment program.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian Payson agreed to allow David Jakubonis, who struggles with PTSD and alcoholism, to enter a treatment program administered by the Veterans Administration in the Southern Tier.
In a Times Union editorial board meeting this week, Zeldin said he was not primarily talking about abortion when he made his “respects life” statement about a potential DOH commissioner before New York Right to Life, the anti-abortion group.
A Survey USA-WHEC-TV Rochester poll of 702 likely voters released yesterday finds Hochul leading Zeldin 47% to 41%, with the remaining 8% undecided or backing someone else.
A federal judge in Western New York has issued a temporary stay blocking New York’s ban on guns in houses of worship amid another legal challenge to New York’s law meant to restrict firearms in areas deemed sensitive.
The stay from U.S. District Court Judge John Sinatra comes as a separate lawsuit is being played out in the Northern District.
Republicans are crying foul over Attorney General Letitia James’ openness to amending New York’s cashless bail system.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after accusations of sexual harassment, ushers in his new podcast in the month that marks five years after the #MeToo movement began. (Link to the first episode here).
A shift in the Biden administration’s border policy seems to have stanched the flow of Latin American asylum-seekers coming to New York City, Mayor Eric Adams said — just as the city brings online costly emergency shelters.
Adams U-turned and said that mental health issues — not illegal guns — are driving a months-long spate of violence underground on the subways, after dismissing the concept just days earlier.
Adams took a victory lap over what he described as a “substantial” slowdown in Latin American asylum seekers arriving in the city this week — as his administration’s newly-opened migrant tent camp on Randalls Island stands largely uninhabited.
Fewer than half a dozen migrants have moved into Adams’s controversial tent city during its first two days of operation — even though it’s set up to house at least 500.
New York City agencies tasked with removing homeless encampments from public spaces have cleared away 1,531 of the camps during Adams’ first year in office, data released Thursday by the mayor’s office revealed.
New York City is forging ahead with plans to make Diwali a school holiday, Adams said, following months of pressure from South Asian and Indo-Caribbean advocates.
The holiday, which is also celebrated by Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists, would replace Anniversary Day, or what was known for many years as Brooklyn-Queens Day, as a day off for city public school students.
Adams revealed he didn’t initially plan to fire a City Hall aide caught on camera making disparaging remarks about him — but had a change of heart after additional footage emerged of the staffer unloading on NYPD officers.
Adams is pushing the City Council to keep the DOT in charge of outdoor dining, rather than move it to the much smaller Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, a move that advocates fear would sabotage the popular al-fresco “streeteries.”
Adams responded to criticism about his late-night – and often lavish – nightlife fine dining and nightclub outings.
“My nightlife is a multi-billion dollar industry,” Adams told CNN’s Chris Wallace on an installment of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” set to run Sunday.
Adams used a new TV interview to downplay the increase in violent subway crime — and blamed the news media for creating a false “perception” that the situation underground is out of control.
Marijuana dispensaries have become a dime a dozen in New York City, and Councilmember Justin Brannan and state Senator Andrew Gounardes are calling on NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell to crack down on unlicensed storefronts selling the drug.
NYPD Chief of Department Ken Corey will step away after less than a year as the department’s high-ranking uniformed officer, police officials announced.
The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced it entered into a settlement agreement with Van Leeuwen that requires the ice cream company to comply with the city’s cashless ban law and pay $33,500 in outstanding civil penalties.
Schools Chancellor David Banks is catching heat from an education panel for his tough-love stance on entry into the city’s selective high schools.
A Manhattan jury determined Kevin Spacey should not be held liable for Anthony Rapp’s decades-old sexual misconduct allegations.
Filming of “Rust” will resume outside of New Mexico in January, the production team for the Alec Baldwin movie said, a year after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on set.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has assembled a list of more than 20 venues, including MVP Arena in Albany, that could be candidates to host the men’s and women’s basketball tournament starting in 2024, outgoing commissioner Rich Ensor said.
Rensselaer County’s tax levy will drop by 1 percent in the $379.6 million budget County Executive Steve McLaughlin presented to the Legislature.
The Northeast can expect warmer-than-average temperatures this winter but more of a mystery when it comes to snow and rain.
