Good Thursday morning. It’s hot. very hot.

After carping about the lack of summery weather, I am now getting my wish – and then some.

Two back-to-back 90+ degree days is nothing compared to the extreme heat being experienced in the Northwest and the South and Southwest. But it’s such a big switch from the rain and seasonally cool temperatures that we saw just a few short days ago that I might be experiencing a little bit of a shock to the system.

A heat advisory is in effect from noon to 8 p.m. today, with heat index values of values 95 to 99 expected. You know the drill here – hydrate, stay inside and out of the sun if you can, keep the AC on (not too high), maintain a watchful eye on pets and young children and the elderly, etc. and so forth.

Aside from drinking lots of liquid, eating foods that have a high water content – usually fruit and raw veggies – can also help keep your hydration levels up. Examples: Apples, melon, watermelon, mango, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, iceberg lettuce, radishes.

Conversely, consuming hot, spicy food can also help you cool down by increasing your body temperature and your pulse, making you sweat more. You feel cooler as a result, because it decreases the difference between your body temperature and that of the air around you.

My problem is that when it gets this hot, I don’t have much of an appetite. I sort of pick at things and lose interest after a few bites. One thing that never fails to pique my interest is ice cream, though I long ago confessed my love for Only 8 Frozen Yogurt, which can only be found at a few select Capital Region locations.

It turns out that I’m not alone. The U.S. is No. 2 in the world when it comes to ice cream consumption. No. 1 is New Zealand, where each person consumes about 8 gallons a year all on their own. Americans clock in at just under 7 gallons, which is still a lot.

The most popular flavor in the WORLD is vanilla. Whomp, whomp. No thanks. So bland and boring…why? Apparently, here in the U.S., we’re more likely to opt for chocolate, which I guess is better.

But what about all the mix-ins? Peanut butter, chocolate chips, caramel swirl. The list goes on and on. Just not strawberry, thanks. Unless it’s gelato or sorbet or sherbet, I generally skip on the fruit flavor.

Now is a good time to review the difference between ice cream (no egg yolks) and frozen custard (has egg yolks, which gives it a richer, thicker, and creamier consistency). A few other terms to know:

  • Sherbet and sorbet are frozen desserts made with fruit purée or juice, sugar, and flavorings. Sherbet also contains a small amount of milk, and possibly egg white or gelatin.
  • Gelato usually contains less air than ice cream, resulting in a denser texture.
  • Granita is a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and flavor. It’s originally from Sicily and tends to have an icier more crystalline texture than sorbet.
  • Dole Whip, for all you Disney fans out there, is a (usually) pineapple favored soft serve dairy-free frozen dessert.
  • Soft serve – very big in upstate New York – is similar to ice cream, but softer and less dense due to air being introduced during freezing. It tends to contains 3-6 percent of milk fat, while ice cream must contain at least 10 percent by federal law.

I could probably go on, as I’m sure I’ve not hit every possible frozen delicacy out there. But this post is getting a little out of control, and I’m feeling peckish. Happy National Ice Cream Month, all!

In the headlines…

When federal student loan payments finally restart in the fall, the Biden administration will offer borrowers some elbow room.

The U.S. Department of Education will institute a 12-month “on ramp” to repayment, which will run from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024. During that period, borrowers will be shielded from the worst consequences of missed payments.

 Biden is launching another effort to forgive at least some federal student loan debt after the Supreme Court last week struck down his initial proposal to wipe away as much as $20,000 for borrowers.

The White House’s new approach is based on the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, which provides government-backed student loans and grants the U.S. Education Department the ability to “compromise, waive or release loans.”

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal regarding a federal court ruling that would limit Biden administration officials’ communication with social media companies, a blow to the administration’s efforts to combat disinformation.

Biden told Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden that he was “anxiously looking forward” to the country’s acceptance into NATO, reiterating their shared goal of strengthening the Western alliance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Lin Wood, an attorney who worked for former President Trump during his challenges to the results of the 2020 presidential election, has decided to retire ahead of his potential disbarment over Trump’s attempts to overturn Biden’s victory. 

Former President Trump lashed out at President Biden, his son Hunter Biden, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith and the media after a suspicious white powder found at the White House over the weekend came back positive for cocaine.

Biden has been briefed on the investigation into the discovery of cocaine on the lobby floor of the White House West Wing, and thinks it is “incredibly important” for the Secret Service to determine how it got there, officials said.

Biden is heading to South Carolina today to make the case that economic measures he pushed through Congress despite stiff Republican opposition are helping to keep the deep red state — and others that voted for Trump in 2020 — humming.

The Justice Department (DOJ) released a slightly less redacted version of the affidavit that convinced a judge to approve a search warrant of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last year.

Trump posted on his social media platform what he claimed was former President Obama’s home address on the same day that a man with guns in his van was arrested near the property, federal prosecutors said in revealing new details about the case.

The prosecutors included the details in a detention memo that urged a federal magistrate judge in DC District Court to keep the defendant, Taylor Taranto, detained pending his trial for charges related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.

The air quality index yesterday reached the “unhealthy” benchmark in cities across the United States including Seattle, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, likely due to a combination of Fourth of July fireworks, stagnant air and, in some areas, West Coast wildfires.

A new federal study estimates that toxic “forever chemicals” can be found in 45 percent of U.S. tap water.

To prevent a repeat of last winter’s “tripledemic” of respiratory illnesses, Americans will be encouraged to roll up their sleeves not just for flu shots but for two other vaccines, one of them entirely new.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a state law making it illegal for the NCAA to prohibit a New York school from facilitating name, image and likeness arrangements for its athletes and forbids it from punishing schools for any rule violation that involves an NIL deal.

The Hochul administration has put the brakes on a plan that would allow licensed marijuana growers and retailers to sell weed and other cannabis products at farmers’ markets and festivals — another expensive setback in the slow rollout of the legal pot industry.

Republicans are pointing to Merriam Webster’s dictionary and a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upending the student loan forgiveness plan as reasons why Democratic lawmakers shouldn’t be allowed to redraw New York’s congressional lines.

The Business Council of New York State joined a litany of elected officials who have urged federal officials to reduce the 180-day waiting period for work approval as thousands of migrants have entered the state over the last several weeks.

NYPD car chases have reportedly skyrocketed under Mayor Eric Adams, part of a deliberate but unofficial shift in enforcement tactics that puts civilians and cops in harm’s way.

The Adams administration is eyeing the use of public school buildings that will be empty over the summer to temporarily house migrants.

Property owners with lower or fixed incomes are scrambling to fund renovations to comply with a city climate law that requires buildings to reduce their carbon emissions.

Yusef Salaam, one of five Black and Latino men whose convictions were overturned in the 1989 rape and assault of a female jogger in Central Park, cemented his victory in a highly contested City Council primary race in Harlem, according to The Associated Press.

The New York City Board of Elections began tabulating ranked-choice votes yesterday, and the new ranked-choice tabulation now shows Salaam with almost 64 percent of the vote to Inez Dickens’s 36 percent.

Preliminary ranked choice voting results released by the city Board of Elections show Democrat Tony Avella and Republican Kristy Marmorato on top of their respective tight races.

Dozens of apartments that are reserved for seniors and managed by New York City have been left vacant for years amid a citywide housing crisis, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli revealed in an audit released yesterday.

East Harlem residents moved a step closer to having subway access after the MTA announced it was soliciting the first contract for a long-awaited continuation of the Second Ave. Subway.

The decades-long dream of bringing subway service directly into East Harlem is slowly inching forward as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority released stunning renderings of the line’s future stations and put out the first key contract out for bid.

The number of filming permits issued by New York City declined in June from previous months and fell sharply from a year ago amid a WGA strike and continued uncertainty over the status of SAG-AFTRA. 

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik tried to strong-arm a Staten Island man who is suing a personal protection equipment company, intimidating the plaintiff and his associates to discourage him from going public, according to court documents.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCary, are separating and plan to date other people, though they are – for now – continuing to share their Brooklyn town house.

Sierra, an outdoor equipment and apparel store owned by the parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s, is setting up shop at the Colonie Center where an REI was initially planned. 

A wastewater treatment worker who was fired by the city of Amsterdam after testing positive for marijuana was awarded $191,762 by a jury that found officials discriminated against him when they ignored he had been prescribed the drug for chronic back pain.

Former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones is seeking to return to Congress. The Democrat announced he will run for New York’s 17th Congressional District seat in 2024, currently held by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the U.S. Department of Justice to pay millions of dollars in owed money to local police departments for their assistance to the Westchester County Drug Enforcement Administration task force.