Good Monday morning.
It’s the time of year when many people are trying to eat a little healthier to shake off the excesses of the 2022 holiday season. This often means introducing more fruits and vegetables into your diet, which is a good idea any time of the year, to be honest.
What I’m about to say might not seem obvious from the selection at the average local grocery store, but there are more than 2,000 different types of fruit in the world. (This doesn’t include the many varieties of a single fruit – like, say, apples, of which about 7,500 varieties are grown around the world).
The traditional Western diet only includes about 10 percent of the aforementioned different fruit types, which is really quite limited. We do not, for example, as a rule eat durian – the world’s smelliest fruit, the odor of which some people say is reminiscent, when completely ripe, of rotting flesh. Consuming it has even been banned in public in some parts of the world.
Yum, right?
I’ve never had durian, but I’ve heard it’s delicious, once you get over the stinky part. It’s native to southeast Asia, and it is used in all manner of dishes – both sweet and savory. (Side note, if you’re interested in trying durian, but aren’t planning to travel abroad any time soon, you might have a hard time finding it, as China reduced imports in 2022 of the fruit for the first time in many years).
Fruit is often categorized into six main groups: berries, those with pits, those with cores, citrus, melons and tropical. The stone fruits (the ones with the pits) have an outer skin and a soft, fleshy inside that surrounds the pit, which contains the seed. Varieties of stone fruits include, but are not limited to: Cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots.
To be honest, I don’t often think about apricots as an option. I love apricot flavored anything, though, especially jam and juice, which tastes like sunshine in a glass – I drank a lot of that when I lived in France. But since I’ve been back in the states, I don’t see apricots available all that much, unless they’re dried.
This is a shame.
The apricot, which is actually a member of the rose family, along with almonds, plums, and peaches, is botanically known as Prunus armeniaca. The Romans called it “praecocum“, which translates into “precious one.” Apricots were cultivated in China and Central Asia at least in 2000 BC, and perhaps earlier. They likely traveled to Europe along the Silk Road.
If you happen to dream about apricots (I’m not sure why this would happen, but maybe you might have eaten one before bed?), you’re in luck – maybe.
The fruit represents optimism and hope for the future, and is symbol of confidence, joyfulness, courage, and abundance. (Be aware that this isn’t universally agreed upon, and some suggest that the appearance of apricots in dreams is foreboding. Personally, I’ve never put too much stock in dreams…and if you’re interested in why I say that, click here).
Apricots are in season from early May to July, so it doesn’t make too much sense that today is National Apricot Day, but there you are. You might have to make do with the dried version, or jam or perhaps a slice of Sacher-torte, if you’re interested in observing.
There’s nothing much to report in the weather department – low 40s and cloudy skies. Blah.
In the headlines…
Bulk carrier Glory ran aground in the Suez Canal this morning, according to shipping agency Leth, which said efforts to refloat the vessel were underway.
President Joe Biden yesterday made his first visit to the border since taking office, arriving at a city swamped by migrants amid a historic surge in illegal immigration and anger from both parties about how he is handling it.
As Biden arrived in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott hand-delivered a scathing letter to the president, criticizing his border policies.
Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales called out the Biden administration for not inviting him on the president’s trip to the border.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced that his state will stop sending migrants to New York City and Chicago after those cities’ Democratic mayors told Polis they were becoming overwhelmed with the number of people arriving in their jurisdictions.
New York Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a letter on Saturday to Polis argued that “overburdening other cities” isn’t the solution to the burden of the wave of asylum seekers.
People who arrived in New York from the border describe the help and hardship they have experienced as the city prepares for more migrants to arrive.
Biden condemned “the assault on democracy” in Brazil after supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.
“I condemn the assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power in Brazil,” Biden tweeted yesterday evening. “Brazil’s democratic institutions have our full support and the will of the Brazilian people must not be undermined.”
Latin American leaders also condemned the protests as undemocratic. The leaders of two neighboring nations, Argentina and Uruguay, assailed the demonstrations.
Biden is quietly pivoting to the middle as he prepares for a 2024 run.
Republicans gave Biden a late Christmas gift with their messy, drawn-out struggle to elect a House Speaker.
After 15 rounds of voting, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy early Saturday secured the House speakership that he had long desired, cobbling enough support among the party to finally break the impasse that had effectively frozen the lower chamber for days.
It took five days and 15 rounds of voting for him to seize the gavel just past midnight. Republicans from the Tri-State Area are being credited with helping end the stalemate.
A video of Democratic Leader and Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries handing the post of speaker to McCarthy has gone viral on social media, being viewed more than 2.4 million times.
Jeffries’ speech focused on how Democrats would differ from Republicans in Congress, going through the alphabet and alluding to everything from a strong defense of the Constitution to former President Donald Trump’s continued influence within the GOP.
After taking the gavel, McCarthy promised to carry out a conservative, America-first agenda, tackling the immigration crisis at the Mexican border, cutting back funding at the IRS and fixing “woke indoctrination in our schools.”
History suggests that the procedural plans of the new House Republican majority are likely to lead to more gridlock and legislative instability, not less.
Newly empowered House Republicans are preparing a wide-ranging investigation into law enforcement and national security agencies, raising the prospect of politically charged fights with the Biden administration over access to sensitive information.
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace called fellow Republican Floria Rep. Matt Gaetz a “fraud” for fundraising off of his efforts to block McCarthy from winning the position last week.
COVID-19 is defined as a respiratory infection, but the effects of the novel coronavirus are certainly not confined to any one organ, autopsies reveal.
Even mild COVID-19 cases can have major and long-lasting effects on people’s health. That is one of the key findings from our recent multicountry study on long COVID that was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Using machine learning to track symptom clusters in around 35,000 COVID patients, researchers have identified four distinct types of long COVID. The findings suggest long COVID is a diverse disease with a wide variety of clinical manifestations.
Thailand today rescinded a policy announced at the weekend requiring visitors to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, its health minister said, citing sufficient immunisation levels in China and globally.
Hong Kong is discarding its Covid contact tracing app, one of the most visible components of its pandemic infrastructure.
The New York State Department of Health announced on Friday that the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron, now makes up over 50 percent of COVID-19 cases in the state.
COVID deaths in New York state spiked 30% last month — to the highest tally since early 2022 — nearly three years after the virus first ravaged the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is attempting to avert a nurses strike at two of New York City’s largest hospitals as negotiations remain unresolved on the eve of a threatened walk-out.
“There remain outstanding issues at Montefiore and Mount Sinai and I am now calling for binding arbitration so that all parties can swiftly reach a resolution,” Hochul said.
Roughly 7,000 nurses across Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center were poised to strike this morning, even as the union representing them announced tentative agreements with two other Mount Sinai facilities yesterday.
Both hospitals are back at the bargaining table with New York State Nurses Association nurses, but if a tentative agreement is not reached, then approximately 3,625 nurses at Mount Sinai and approximately 3,500 nurses at Montefiore Bronx will strike at 6 a.m.
A New York State judge on Friday blocked regulators from raising the pay of ride-hail drivers, saying that the Taxi and Limousine Commission had not sufficiently justified the increase.
Hochul is personally lobbying key Democratic state senators to back her controversial nomination of Judge Hector LaSalle for top New York jurist — warning at least one she will “remember” who’s with her.
LaSalle is “highly unlikely” to get a confirmation vote from the full state Senate, Senate Democratic spokesperson Mike Murphy said.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Friday that she doesn’t see a path forward for LaSalle, adding: “I do not see this ending in the way that the governor wished it would.”
Provisions meant to strengthen protections against abuse in the foreclosure process are set to take effect after Hochul’s approval of a law addressing a top court ruling lawmakers have argued weakened safeguards for consumers.
State regulators should exercise stronger oversight of New York’s utilities after ratepayers were slammed with higher energy costs last winter, a report released by the state Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee found.
Republicans in the state Senate called for oversight hearings of the response to the blizzard in Buffalo that led to the deaths of dozens of people in western New York.
Hochul announced the promotion of Denise Donnell who is the first woman to command the New York Air National Guard, to the two-star rank of major general.
The widow of an Adirondacks-based environmental conservation officer is slated to get a little over $2 million by March 1 after Hochul signed legislation deeming her eligible for an accidental death benefit.
Participants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol would be barred from holding office in New York under a new bill being introduced by Sen. Brad Hoylman.
Democratic Assembly leaders in New York decided not to try to expel a Republican, Lester Chang, over residency questions, but his rent-stabilized apartment may now be at risk.
New York City’s subway crime rose by 30% in 2022 from a year ago, outpacing the 22% jump in major crimes across the city during the same period, despite the deployment of thousands of additional police patrols in the transit system.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa spent yesterday trying to drum up support from Mayor Eric Adams’ Brooklyn neighbors to use feral cats to combat the local rat problem — as two cops kept him under their watch.
Sliwa claimed Saturday he was on the receiving end of a serious tongue lashing from Adams, after the Guardian Angels founder and former mayoral candidate was spotted by cops near a Brooklyn apartment house the mayor owns.
Roughly 900 people have applied to become New York City’s rat czar, and Adams said that he’s getting close to making up his mind on who to hire.
Adams had dinner with Cindy Adams, during which the self-professed vegan reportedly “inhaled thrown-together deviled eggs and tuna.”
Adams will at some point visit the Staten Island school connected to a Port Richmond bus stop melee that led to the suspension of an NYPD officer.
Disgraced former lawmaker and city Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich, who resigned in November in the wake of a gambling probe by the Manhattan district attorney, is now pushing different kinds of policies — insurance ones.
Complaints of contraband in New York City jails city including drugs and weapons soared in 2022 — and many of the illicit items were smuggled in by Correction Department staff, according to a city agency.
Americans collectively spent at least $350 million to treat gunshot wounds in New York City hospitals alone over the course of a decade — with Brooklyn and the Bronx accounting for more than 70% of the city’s medical bill.
The NYPD saw 3,701 cops retire or resign in 2022, the most since the post-9/11 exodus in 2002, when 3,846 cops said goodbye to the job.
Tenants living in Manhattan’s largest apartment complex, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, won a battle to keep their rents insulated from potentially sharp increases, after a judge ruled against their landlord, the Wall Street private equity firm Blackstone.
Though Biden campaigned against capital punishment, Attorney General Merrick Garland is charting his own course in pursuing the death penalty against Sayfullo Saipov, who plowed a rented pickup truck down the crowded West Side bicycle path in 2017.
Matt Shultz, the lead singer of the indie rock band Cage the Elephant, was arrested at a Manhattan hotel last week on weapons charges, law enforcement officials said.
New York State is hosting its first-ever high school girls wrestling invitational tournament this month — without female student-athletes from NYC’s public schools.
Over the last decade, Capital Region police and sheriff’s offices have sharply curtailed the number of traffic tickets they write.
The Colonie Planning Board will host a public meeting Tuesday to discuss a proposed 18-acre multifamily complex in Latham that some community members worry will impact the town’s trail system.
An Albany High School teacher implored the Board of Education to reinstate an attendance policy, saying that without consequences for skipping class, absenteeism has skyrocketed.
The Town of Chatham is fighting over the future of its dwindling dirt roads.
The sight of the football fluttering through the sky and nestling into the arms of Nyheim Hines signaled the return of some normalcy to the reeling universe of the Bills, as they beat the New England Patriots in the first game since Damar Hamlin’s collapse.
Hamlin tweeted more than a dozen times reacting to the Bills 35-22 win over the New England Patriots yesterday, and expressed his desire to be out on the field with his teammates.
Hochul attended the Bills-Patriots game in her hometown.
Hamlin, 24, has shown continued progress with his recovery after his cardiac arrest and on-field collapse, and expects to be released from the hospital in the coming days.
Adam Rich, a former child actor who starred in the hit television series “Eight Is Enough,” died on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 54.
Danny Deraney, Rich’s publicist, confirmed the death. On its website, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner did not immediately list a cause.
Russell Banks, whose vivid portrayals of working-class Americans grappling with issues of poverty, race and class placed him among the first ranks of contemporary novelists, died of cancer yesterday at his home in Saratoga Springs. He was 82.
