Good Tuesday morning.
I have come to terms with the fact that it is officially fall. I just turned on the space heater for the first time. (I’m holding off for as long as possible on using the house-wide system…but the gas fireplace might be next). I wore tights and a long-sleeved shirt on my weekend long run. I am craving everything apple.
Yes, apple is my flavor of choice over pumpkin this season. I wouldn’t necessarily turn down pumpkin pie, bread, or other related treats. But I would opt for apple any day, if apple was available.
Apples might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of New York – other than, of course, the Big Apple, AKA New York City. But the Empire State is actually America’s top apple grower, after the state of Washington. (As an aside, the nickname “the Big Apple” has nothing to do with fruit, but rather has its roots in horseracing).
While New York does clock in at the No. 2 apple-producing spot, the amount we grow here pales in comparison to what the state of Washington is churning out. Of the 4.5 billion pounds of conventionally grown apples last season, 2.6 billion were shipped domestically from Washington, compared to 378.3 million pounds from New York.
And despite the whole “apple a day” saying, the U.S. doesn’t even come close to the world’s top apple eating country – that distinction goes to China, which accounts for just under half of the annual global consumption of the crunchy fruit.
If you’re in to apple tourism, which I guess is sort of a thing, since farms these days offer a whole suite of activities other than pick-our-own – from corn mazes to cider doughnut eating – perhaps you’ll be willing to road trip to Central New York to visit what USA Today has deemed the nation’s third-best orchard.
When it comes to how apples were spread across the nation, the kudos go to a guy named John Chapman (otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed), who was indeed a real person, born on this day in Sept. 26, 1774, in Leominster, MA.
Appleseed is described as a “missionary nurseryman”, which is a term I hadn’t come across before. He was definitely an apple farmer, who apparently believed so strongly in the power of the fruit that his goal was to produce so many trees that no one would ever go hungry again.
(This is a lovely sentiment, leaving aside the fact that I don’t think anyone could survive on apples alone for very long – it’s not a terribly balanced diet).
Anyway, Johnny was something of an apple evangelical, carrying a bag full of seeds with him wherever he went and sowing them wherever he found a spot he thought would make a good orchard. Legend has it that he would go back and visit his orchards to check on their progress.
The real Johnny Appleseed became a folk hero, and as is the case with such characters, was featured in a lot of tall tales. He supposedly never wore shoes, preferring to walk barefoot – even through the ice and snow – and also opted to sleep outdoors when he could. He spent 50 years wandering across the country and spreading the gospel of the apple, dying of pneumonia at the age of 71.
Though eating only apples might not sustain you, consuming them with regularity does have health benefits and could even help you live longer. Just be careful about those potentially poisonous seeds.
It will be mostly cloudy today with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s. Perfect apple picking – and eating – weather.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden has offered $40 million in economic aid to Pacific islands at a White House meeting with leaders from the region aimed at bolstering US engagement in the face of a growing Chinese presence.
Biden told leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum that he has heard their warnings about the impact of climate change on their region and that his administration is committed to helping them meet the challenge.
There’s a creeping fear inside Biden’s circle that the greatest threat to his re-election may come less from the Republican nominee and more from minor-party spoiler candidates.
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips still hasn’t ruled out mounting a potential Democratic primary challenge against Biden.
Biden will be in Michigan today to stand with striking UAW auto workers. His decision to stand with them on 12th day of their strike against major carmakers underscores an allegiance to labor unions that appears to be unparalleled in presidential history.
Ford Motor, in the midst of tense contract negotiations with striking UAW workers, said that it was suspending construction of a battery factory in Michigan because of concerns that the plant might not be able to make products at a competitive price.
Biden praised the tentative agreement to end the Writers Guild of America strike, saying that it showed that workers “deserve a fair share of the value their labor helped create.”
Biden noted the agreement, which has yet to be finalized by lawyers after a 146-day strike, contained provisions on the use of algorithms, commonly referred to as artificial intelligence.
With screenwriters reaching a tentative agreement with the major entertainment studios on a new labor deal on Sunday night, one big obstacle stands in the way of the film and TV industry roaring back to life: ending the strike with tens of thousands of actors.
Biden is set to arrive in the California Bay Area later today to attend several campaign fundraising events, according to White House officials.
With the House in chaos over its spending plans, senators of both parties were deep in negotiations over efforts to head off a government shutdown through a stopgap measure and whether to include additional aid to Ukraine in the legislation.
With six days until the government runs out of money, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a choice to make: Does he risk a shutdown to keep his job or does he cross his Republican hardliners by working with Democrats?
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is due to try to advance steep spending cuts this week that stand no chance of becoming law and could force a partial shutdown of the government by Sunday.
Moody’s Investors Service, the only remaining major credit grader to assign the US a top rating, has signaled that its confidence is wavering ahead of a potential government shutdown.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) announced the seven GOP candidates who qualified for the second Republican primary debate – and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not make the list.
“I will continue our campaign to bring out the best of America with events scheduled in Iowa, New Hampshire, and across the country in the next several weeks,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
The debate lineup: Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott.
Defiantly presenting himself as a champion of his constituents and the target of unfair prosecution, Sen. Robert Menendez, who was charged with bribery and corruption in a federal indictment, said he wouldn’t resign while waging his “biggest fight yet.”
“The allegations are just that, allegations,” Menendez said at a press conference without taking questions. “When all the facts are presented, I’ll be exonerated and still the senior senator of New Jersey.”
Sen. Pete Welch, of Vermont, has called on Menendez to resign from his position amid the longtime senator’s recent indictment on federal charges, becoming the third Democratic senator to do so.
A spokesman for former President Donald Trump posted a video showing him at a gun shop in South Carolina, declaring that he had just bought a Glock pistol. It immediately set off an uproar, prompting questions about whether the purchase would be legal.
Trump did not actually purchase the gun, but did say that he wanted to buy it and posed for photos with it. The video has since been deleted.
Trump is coming under intense criticism for a social media post late Sunday in which he threatened to investigate Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, NBC News and MSNBC, over the outlet’s coverage of him should he be elected president again.
Trump pushed back at prosecutors’ request to curb some of his public statements about people involved in the federal court case accusing him of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The former president’s legal team said that an order limiting his public statements about the case would strip him of his First Amendment rights.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced an additional 150 National Guard members will be deployed to address the migrant crisis and help get asylum seekers work permits – particularly Venezuelans who now qualify for temporary protected status.
The addition will bring the total number of National Guard service members assisting the migrants to 2,050, and will position the state to task 250 troops with case management as New York rushes to help the migrants file work permit applications.
“You’ll be helping them get a job, helping them support themselves, helping themselves leave the shelters,” Hochul said at the National Guard 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem.
Lawmakers and first responders called on Hochul and the state Department of Transportation to fully fund a crash gate on Interstate 84 that could improve access to the busy roadway and reduce emergency response times.
Scores of migrants have been sleeping on the floor of an old bar at the Big Apple’s Roosevelt Hotel shelter “for days” — as the first wave of asylum seekers were being booted from city sites under its stay-limit rule.
Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are more aligned than ever ahead of a court hearing today on the city’s right-to-shelter provision.
New York City is extending its contract with local hotels to help house migrants for up to three more years at an added cost of more than $1 billion.
One item wasn’t on Adams’ official schedule last weekend: a ceremony where the mayor, along with the NYPD commissioner and top uniformed officer, became Freemasons.
The Prince Hall Masonic Temple — also known as African American Freemasonry — posted the photos of the event on its Facebook page over the weekend and celebrated Adams’ ascension.
Adams’ campaign is returning more than $31,000 in donations made by criminally indicted ex-Buildings Department boss Eric Ulrich, his six co-defendants and a myriad of relatives.
A woman and a 14-year-old girl were found dead inside a Brooklyn apartment yesterday, the authorities said, prompting an investigation into the killings that are the latest to unsettle New York City.
A third person has been charged in the death of a 1-year-old boy who died after being exposed to fentanyl at a home-based Bronx day care, federal prosecutors said.
As New York City’s budget tightens, its wealthiest universities are bigger and richer than ever. Now, some officials think it’s time for the schools to pay more in taxes.
A boost in subway ridership at key Manhattan stations this fall suggests many workers have returned to the city post-pandemic — and that companies’ push to return white-collar employees to their desks is sticking.
Many rural New York counties are facing difficult economic and quality of life conditions due to population loss, aging residents, a shrinking labor force and a lack of access to housing, health care, food and broadband, according to a state comptroller’s report.
Many air-polluting facilities across New York are not properly monitored for their compliance with regulations, according to a state comptroller’s audit.
Spectrum News is eliminating its morning TV shows in Syracuse and Rochester/Buffalo, replacing them with its “Your Morning” show, hosted by Albany-based anchors Julie Chapman and Dan Bazile since 2018.
Citing “an incorrect legal standard” that passed over his client’s rights, the attorney for a Saratoga Black Lives Matter leader once again sought a dismissal of a summons and misdemeanor charge against his client.
A Vermont driver yesterday pleaded not guilty to a charge in the June crash that killed actor Treat Williams.
A project to upgrade two Mohawk, Adirondack, and Northern Railroad (MHWA) bridges for higher-capacity freight cars and restore a decommissioned bridge received up to $3.3 million from Biden’s infrastructure law, according to federal officials.
