Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to the middle of the week.
We’re going to keep the fall/spooky theme going here and dedicate this post to everyone’s favorite gourd: The pumpkin.
First let’s get one thing straight, a pumpkin is, in fact, a fruit. Pretty much anything that starts from a flower is a fruit, botanically speaking. And all edible, seed-filled squash and/or gourds are considered fruits.
It is also both a squash and a gourd. Are you confused yet? Yes. Me too. The pumpkin actually belongs to the melon family (Cucurbitaceae), which also includes cucumbers, honeydew, watermelons, spaghetti squash. You get the idea.
Most of these grow on vines, have hairy and rectangular stems, and large flowers – either yellow or white in color.
There are about 975 different species of Cucurbitaceae, and most have a fairly low nutrient content (lots of water), with the exception of winter squashes.
And if you want to get really complicated about things, which, of course, I do, there are really two categories of squash – summer (thin-skinned, like zucchini) and winter (hard-skinned that enable sustainability through colder temperatures, like our friend the pumpkin as well as butternut, acorn, and hubbard).
If you just want to keep things simple, think of it this way – there are edible squashes, mainly grown with the intent for human consumption, and decorative gourds, which are pretty to look at but not intended to be eaten.
Speaking of eating, did you know that the pumpkin pie you usually enjoy around the holidays, (assuming you are a fan, and if not, what is WRONG with you??), often contains no pumpkin at all? True story. It’s usually some other brand of squash, which is sort of splitting hairs if you actually made it this far and read the aforementioned paragraphs.
If you’re truly diehard about a verifiable pumpkin pie, then you’re better off buying one and steaming or baking it to make your own puree. But in my experience, it kind of trends on the watery and tasteless side.
Pumpkin is kind of a funny name, isn’t it? It actually started out as “peopon,” which is Greek for (what else?) “large melon.” Later on, that evolved into “pompon” in France, and “pumpion” in the U.K. The addition of the “k” and loss of the “o” were American inventions.
Scientists think that pumpkins originated about 9,000 years ago somewhere in North America. The oldest known seed dates back to somewhere between 7000 and 5500 B.C. and was found in Mexico.
The whole carving of the pumpkin into a Jack O’Lantern is an Irish tradition, that actually started with turnips and potatoes and has something to do with the myth of a guy named Stingy Jack. Click here if you want to go down that rabbit hole.
Today, for no particular reason that I can discern, is National Pumpkin Day, not to be confused with National Pumpkin Spice Day, which, sadly for you, has already passed (it was on Oct. 1). But I’m sure your local barista would be more than happy to indulge your desire for a nice pumpkin space latte if you ask nicely.
I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather these days, but it is most notably NOT lending itself to hot drinks and flannels. Most unseasonal. Today will be more of the same, with temperatures in the high 60s and showers in the morning and early afternoon.
In the headlines…
The US Geological Survey (USGS) is reporting a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in Seven Trees, near San Jose, California.
While many people in California felt the moderate earthquake, some smartphone users actually got a heads-up before it happened thanks to technology developed at the University of California, Berkeley.
Countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change, pointing Earth toward a future marked by more intense flooding, wildfires, drought, heat waves and species extinction, according to a report issued by the UN.
Progressive House Democrats retracted their call for President Biden to engage in direct diplomatic talks with Russia over a Ukraine cease-fire, an abrupt retreat that exposed Democratic divisions and the first public hints of dissent in Congress over the war.
The reversal underscored the sensitivity of the issue on Capitol Hill, where Congress has approved more than $65 billion in aid for Kyiv, and Biden and party leaders have said that any peace talks or terms of a cease-fire should be driven by Ukraine’s government.
Biden has directed the DNC to immediately transfer an additional $10 million to the House and Senate Democratic campaign arms and offered an additional $8 million for the two groups through fundraising in the lead up to Election Day.
In a CNN op-ed, Biden wrote: “(A)ll of our progress is at risk. The American people face a choice between two vastly different visions for our country.”
Hillary Clinton has claimed Republicans “already have a plan” to steal the 2024 presidential election, the latest in a series of wild charges by the former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state.
Biden said that Russia would be making a “serious mistake” by launching a “false flag” nuclear attack in Ukraine and that it’s unclear if such an operation was underway.
Biden said he was still uncertain if Russia was trying to put together a “false flag operation” in which it would detonate a dirty bomb and blame the Ukrainians. A dirty bomb is not a nuclear weapon, but a conventional explosive wrapped in radioactive waste.
Rishi Sunak officially took over as Britain’s 57th prime minister, vowing to fix the mistakes made by his predecessor, Liz Truss, and quickly worked to form a cabinet with an emphasis on continuity and stability.
Sunak will not only be Britain’s youngest leader for 200 years, he is the country’s first non-White prime minister. And thanks largely to his wife Murty, Sunak will be one of the richest people to reach the top of the political establishment.
In his first speech as British prime minister, Sunak warned his country that tough economic times — and tough decisions — were ahead, acknowledged that “mistakes were made” by his predecessors and said he would work hard to earn the people’s trust.
Sunak pledged to bring “integrity and accountability” as prime minister on his first day in No 10 but gambled by restoring Suella Braverman to the Home Office less than week after she was forced to resign for a security breach.
The Justice Department asked a federal judge to force the two top lawyers in Trump’s White House to provide additional grand jury testimony as prosecutors seek to break through his attempts to shield his efforts to overturn the 2020 election from investigation.
Trump has been fighting to keep former advisers from testifying before a criminal grand jury about certain conversations, citing executive and attorney-client privileges to keep information confidential or slow down criminal investigators.
Hope Hicks, who served as Trump’s communications director, is having a transcribed interview with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
The Jan. 6 committee declined to provide a comment or any additional details. Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump and his team are eyeing a longtime Virginia operative, Chris LaCivita, to take on a senior role in his next presidential campaign, which could be announced shortly after the midterms, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The operative who ran Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, LaCivita worked for one Trump-aligned political action committee in 2020 and now runs another. He is also a consultant for Ron Johnson, a Trump-supporting Wisconsin senator fighting for re-election.
Republicans with an eye on the presidency are sending not-so-subtle signals about their plans for the 2024 cycle — and they’re not all waiting for Trump to make up his mind.
A former Steve Bannon associate was back on trial in Manhattan Federal Court yesterday, accused of stealing millions from Trump supporters who donated money to the “We Build the Wall” campaign.
Biden received an updated COVID-19 booster shot while calling on all Americans to do the same ahead of a potentially troubling COVID winter.
Flanked by his Covid team and the CEOs of several national pharmacy chains, Biden said the updated booster is “incredibly effective, but not enough people are getting it. We’ve got to change that so we can all have a safe and healthy holiday season.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed his new Government Coordination Council to hasten the country’s war efforts in Ukraine, alluding to the coronavirus pandemic as one reason to accelerate decision-making.
Men died of complications from Covid-19 at a higher rate than women in both rural and urban parts of the U.S. during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new federal report.
Though BA.5 still accounts for most U.S. Covid-19 cases, percentages are rising for the other omicron variants circulating throughout the country, per the CDC.
Boston doctors are “almost certain” that XBB, the so-called “nightmare” COVID-19 variant, is already circulating in Massachusetts.
Bivalent booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer failed to raise levels of protective proteins called neutralizing antibodies against the dominant omicron strains any more than four doses of the original Covid vaccine, according to an early independent study.
With Covid prompting more employers to consider remote arrangements, employment has soared among adults with disabilities.
The New York State supreme court has ordered New York City to rehire and pay back wages to government employees who were fired for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The judge found the city Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene’s order requiring vaccination violated the state Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine, was arbitrary and capricious and violated the equal protection and due process rights.
In their only scheduled debate, Gov. Kathy Hochul and her GOP challenger, Rep. Lee Zeldin, quarreled intensely over divisive issues such as rising crime and abortion access, while accusing each other of corruption and dangerous extremism.
Both candidates sought to align themselves with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has pushed for new and substantial rollbacks to bail law, but they predictably diverged on Trump and his successor, President Joe Biden.
Zeldin focused largely on public safety, bail reform, firing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and ending congestion pricing, while Hochul pointed out that Zeldin does not support abortion rights and is, in her words, an “election denier.”
Zack Fink: Zeldin seemed very amped up early on, whereas Hochul was calmer. As the debate wore on, both were able to make their points and highlight just how far apart they are on most issues.
Zeldin played offense, painted a bleak portrait of New York under Hochul and all but shouted as he railed against high crime rates and high taxes.
During a heated back-and-forth, Hochul asked Zeldin if he believes Trump was a great president, to which he responded by listing off “important policies” he worked on with the ex-commander-in-chief. “I’ll take that as a resounding yes,” Hochul responded.
In an interview with POLITICO in East Harlem last week, the only time Hochul hesitated to answer a question was when she was asked how she would spend a day off. (She eventually decided on taking a boat out on Lake Erie or whitewater rafting.)
Michael Goodwin declared Zeldin the debate’s winner, adding: “This wasn’t a knockout, but a victory on points because he made specific and realistic promises to improve life in New York. Hochul, meanwhile, mostly played defense.”
New York City moms appear to be one of the motivated voting blocs that are fueling Zeldin’s sudden ascendancy as he seeks to upset Hochul on Nov. 8.
Ahead of the Nov. 8 election, Republicans around the country are closing with a public safety message that follows closely to what Zeldin has argued much of the year.
Even some Democratic elected officials are starting to grumble about Hochul telling voters she worked to change bail laws as Zeldin breathes down her neck in the final two weeks of the campaign.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares says Hochul, a fellow Democrat, is focusing on the wrong matters to combat rising crime — despite efforts in recent days by the embattled governor to cast herself as tough on crime.
Republicans see a real opportunity to take the New York governor’s office for the first time in decades and are pumping money and support into Zeldin’s surging campaign against incumbent Hochul.
With exactly two weeks until the Nov. 8 election, records show the Republican Governors Association gave $500,000 to a pro-Zeldin super PAC, which has helped Republicans catch up in the money game against Hochul.
During a conference call on Monday, Zeldin urged party donors to contribute heavily to two outside political groups that can spend unlimited sums backing his campaign.
The first major New York labor union to come out in support of Hochul’s campaign for a full term, HTC, is launching a $250,000 ad spree targeting Hispanic voters on her behalf in the final stretch before Election Day.
Chris Churchill: “The governor has essentially painted herself as the candidate of the status quo at a time when voters, worried by crime and hammered by inflation, aren’t happy with the status quo — locally and nationally.”
New York state’s business tax climate continues to receive low marks from a national fiscal watchdog organization, according to a new ranking released yesterday.
The state’s overall tax climate ranks 49th out of 50 states, between California (ranked 48th) and neighboring New Jersey (50th).
In total, eight of New York’s 27 House districts are considered competitive in the Nov. 8 midterms, spanning from the eastern edges of Long Island to Syracuse’s upstate suburbs.
In what’s considered a toss-up race in NY-18, Republican Marc Molinaro is getting political support from former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie.
The Syracuse Post-Standard endorsed state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, citing his “his prudent management of the state pension fund and steady leadership of the “professional audit shop” that oversees spending at all levels of government.”
Dominican American lawmakers are fed up with state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, saying that the Puerto Rican legislator has gone too far in adopting a Dominican identity for political gain – without allying with actual Dominicans.
Mayor Eric Adams danced the night away earlier this week to Chaka Khan after giving a speech at Denise Rich’s annual Gabrielle’s Angel Ball in New York that had him sounding more like he was ready to run for Commander in Chief than fight crime in the city.
The 62-year-old grandpa who was slugged and shoved onto Bronx subway tracks as part of a possible “knockout game” wept while describing his ordeal and begged Adams to do more to combat transit crime.
“Imagine I pay $2.75 for someone to hit me and throw me on the train tracks,” the man declared. “What’s going on in New York. … We have these outlaws that are using the subway system to commit crimes.”
New York City’s transportation boss Ydanis Rodriguez proclaimed a “car-free future” as he called for an expansion of the Big Apple’s controversial COVID-era street closure and outdoor dining program.
Adams took to the 6 train Monday to show support for everyday commuters amid a recent spate of violent incidents in the city’s subway system. He was spotted clutching what appeared to be an iPad and his trademark smoothie.
After a pandemic moratorium, city leaders are letting school superintendents decide whether to bring back some admissions requirements that critics say feed racial disparities.
City officials busted up an outdoor “casino” in Lower Manhattan’s Columbus Park over the weekend.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has agreed to submit to sweeping government oversight of its operations in a legal settlement with AG Letitia James, resolving a lawsuit that accused it and its officials of a yearslong cover-up of sexual abuse.
The diocese, which declared bankruptcy in February of 2020 after a wave of sexual-abuse lawsuits, also agreed to specific time frames for investigating misconduct claims.
Capital Region hospitals are seeing an influx of children with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which has been surging across the nation since late summer.
General Electric workers from across the country mobilized in Schenectady yesterday afternoon, demanding reinvestment in American workers, stronger pay and union protections ahead of the company’s historic split.
The state AG’s office recently served a grand jury subpoena on Rensselaer County seeking a trove of absentee ballot documents that were handled last year by county Operations Director Richard Crist and also Jim Gordon, the county’s director of purchasing.
After years of debate and delays, Saratoga Springs is set to be wired with a high-speed Wi-Fi fiber optic network.
Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, is no longer a billionaire after Adidas became the latest company to cut ties with him for making antisemitic comments, according to Forbes.
The end of their nearly decade-long partnership — which one estimate said was worth close to $100 million annually to Ye — raised questions of what would come next for Ye, who has become increasingly polarizing and unreliable.
