Good Wednesday morning.
On this day in 1857, something significant occurred, something that would have a significant impact on the trajectory of American history – at least as far as satisfaction of its (very considerable) sweet tooth is concerned.
Milton S. Hershey, the founder of The Hershey Company, was born in Derry Township.
Despite the fact that Hershey, a Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonite, had no formal education beyond the fourth grade, he built one of the largest confectionery manufacturing businesses in the world, earning him the nickname “The Chocolate King.”
Two years after he quit school at the age of 13, Hershey apprenticed with a master confectioner Lancaster, PA. And four years after that, he opened his own candy shop in the City of Philadelphia, using $150 that he had borrowed from an aunt.
It took Hershey two failed attempts to launch his candy manufacturing business. He finally succeeded with the Lancaster Caramel Company, which open in 1894 and specialized in something called Crystal Cream Caramels. In 1894, he sold the company for a cool $1 million – a hefty sum in those days – so he could focus all his time, attention, and considerable capital on making chocolate.
The eponymous Hershey milk chocolate bar – the company’s flagship product and one of the top 10 best-selling candy bars of all time – debuted in 1900.
Chocolate kisses came seven years later. Hershey might have appropriated the idea for these foil-wrapped morsels of delight, which were based on a far less ideally named product called the Wilbur Bud.
Hershey was a big believer in the idealistic company town. He built Hershey, PA, complete with schools, housing, parks, transportation, creational facilities and more, because he believed employees needed to be happy in order to be productive and successful. Today, the so-called “sweetest place on Earth” is a major tourist destination.
The Hershey Company is the world’s largest chocolate-manufacturing plant, ballooning from a modest six acres in 1905 to 2.2 million square feet. There’s also the infamous Hersheypark, which claims to have the highest annual attendance of any privately owned amusement park in North America.
Coinciding with Hershey’s birthday, (he would have turned 166 years old today, had that been 1) humanly possible, and 2) if he didn’t died of pneumonia in Hershey Hospital the age of 88 in 1945), today is International Chocolate Day.
Don’t be confused by the fact that World Chocolate Day is July 7, which some believe is the anniversary of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550, although that’s a very difficult date to confirm. The history of chocolate, of course, dates back long before that – thousands of years, in fact.
Let’s not allow facts and debate over who created what and when to get in the way of our celebrations of chocolate, shall we?
A nice chocolate croissant might be in order, though since I just returned from Europe I’m spoiled rotten when it comes to croissant quality. It’s also a little too warm still, in my humble opinion, for hot chocolate. It’s going to be gray and rainy – which is good hot drink weather, to be sure – but also in the low 80s.
You do you.
In the headlines…
Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, working to appease far-right lawmakers who have threatened to oust him if he fails to accede to their demands for deep spending cuts that would force a government shutdown.
McCarthy said that House investigations so far “paint a picture of a culture of corruption” around the Biden family as Republicans probe the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, from before the Democratic president took office.
The White House called the effort “extreme politics at its worst.”
Republicans claim they have unearthed evidence of wrongdoing by the president and his family that could rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. In fact, there’s little to back up their allegations.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) joined the growing number of GOP senators who have expressed hesitation over whether an impeachment inquiry into Biden would move forward in in the Senate.
Biden’s public approval rating edged up this month to 42%, its highest level since March, bolstered by support from members of his Democratic Party even as House Republicans launch a formal impeachment inquiry, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
Talks between the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three picked up speed with a massive deadline looming. Progress is reportedly being made, but we have a little more than two days before that deadline at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
In her first interview, Pennsylvania fugitive Danelo Cavalcante’s mother said that her son had killed two people, but she insisted that he was not a threat to the public. He is just fighting to survive, she said, as he has for much of his life.
The search for Cavalcante which had been unfolding over nearly two weeks in the woods and the backyards of southeastern Pennsylvania, was ominously different yesterday. Now, officials said the man they were looking for had a gun.
Cavalcante is considered “armed and extremely dangerous” after he stole a rifle from the garage of a local homeowner, who fired several shots at the fugitive as he fled, police said.
An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration agreed unanimously that a common decongestant ingredient used in many over-the-counter cold medicines such as found in popular versions of Sudafed, Allegra, Dayquil and others, is ineffective.
The FDA told the committee it would take its advice into consideration, although it did not give a timeline. Pseudoephedrine, which is found in behind-the-counter products like Sudafed, is effective at clearing congestion.
Modern studies, when well conducted, are not showing any improvement in congestion with phenylephrine,” said Dr. Mark Dykewicz, an allergy specialist at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
The FDA warned CVS, Walgreens and other companies that they violated federal law by marketing unapproved eye products.
The CDC recommended that all Americans 6 months and older receive at least one dose of the latest Covid shots, the last of a trifecta of vaccines intended to prevent another surge in respiratory infections this fall and winter.
Yesterday, the House’s first day back after its summer recess, Long Island Rep. George Santos did something that he has avoided since taking office: He gave a major television interview.
Santos said he was not in talks with the Justice Department to strike a plea deal after he was indicted on 13 federal fraud and money laundering charges in May.
Fifty federal workers are set to arrive in New York starting this week to help with the arrival of asylum seekers in the state, a senior White House official said.
Frustrated by the federal response to the migrant crisis, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that New York State was considering ways to issue work permits to asylum seekers in a bid to circumvent the long wait for permits at the federal level.
“My attorneys are working on it as we speak,” Hochul said. “I spoke about this at the White House. I said I may do something at the state level.”
No state has ever tried to supersede the federal government’s role as the dispenser of work papers, and it is not clear if such a plan would withstand court challenges, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell University.
The White House stepped up its efforts to beat back criticism that it isn’t doing enough to help New York with an influx of migrants, vowing to aid those eligible find work and planning to meet with business leaders.
While White House officials said they were in constant contact with Hochul, they made no mention of Mayor Eric Adams or his remarks that the migrant crisis will “destroy New York City” during a roughly 45-minute Zoom call with reporters.
Adams said he hasn’t spoken to Biden in months — further exposing the apparent widening rift between the pair as the Big Apple and nation reel from the migrant crisis.
A group of interfaith leaders from across the five boroughs called on government officials to treat migrants compassionately and urged Biden and Congress to expedite work authorizations in order to reduce the economic strain on taxpayers.
“We are noticing that a lot of people are turning against the migrants, but it happens all the time,” said Power Malu, founder of Artists-Athletes-Activists. “Whenever there’s new people that come into a place, fear mongering plays a big role.”
A majority of New Yorkers support using federal properties as temporary migrant shelters, according to a Siena College Research Institute Poll.
Hochul has announced the deployment of 50 soldiers from the New York National Guard to make preparations on Long Island as Hurricane Lee continues to move north.
The hurricane is not currently projected to hit New York, but long-range coastal effects are possible.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected a gun shop-owning couple seeking to block New York’s background check law for ammunition purchases one day before it goes into effect.
Axel Bernabe, a top official at the state Office of Cannabis Management, announced that he will exit his role as the agency’s chief of staff and senior policy director. The move comes at a pivotal moment for the rollout of New York’s recreational market.
The Cannabis Control Board approved revised adult-use regulations for the new marijuana industry, meaning the industry will have broader avenues for entry than those offered by the conditional licenses.
New York’s existing medical cannabis companies must pay a special licensing fee of $20 million, which allows up to three adult-use dispensaries in locations where they already sell their products.
The change, meant to speed the slow rollout of New York’s legal marijuana market, has sparked an outcry among smaller growers and social equity applicants.
A public comment period lasted nearly two hours, as licensed growers, processors, retailers and other stakeholders aired concerns, criticisms and defenses of both the newly approved rules and how state cannabis regulators have handled the legal weed rollout.
Tremaine Wright, chairwoman of the Cannabis Control Board, said the vote marked a “defining moment for New York State’s commitment to entrepreneurship and fostering a truly diverse cannabis marketplace.
The New York City Department of Buildings answered some long standing questions about the city climate law that requires buildings to reduce their carbon emissions — less than four months before the law takes effect.
Mayor Eric Adams announced a new plan, Getting 97 Done, to mobilize building owners who need to comply with Local Law 97 — a measure intended to reduce carbon emissions from buildings that will take effect early next year.
Adams’ announcement on his plans to cut city agency budgets by at least 5% largely as a result of the migrant crisis was initially planned for this week, but prematurely came out after the mayor made remarks about it during a pre-taped TV interview.
Developer Mark Caller, who is expected to face charges of providing a bargain-rate apartment to Adams’ former buildings commissioner, Eric Ulrich, raised nearly $50,000 for the the mayor’s campaign.
Ulrich is expected to surrender today after a lengthy wiretap investigation of bribery that ensnared at least four other defendants, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Samuel Braverman, Ulrich’s attorney, said that Ulrich is expected to surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, although he did not yet know the specifics of the charges leveled against his client.
Democrat Sam Berger pulled ahead of Republican David Hirsch in an Assembly special election in eastern Queens last night, closing out what some Democrats worried could be a too-close-for-comfort race.
City Council members slammed the Department of Transportation at a hearing, saying the agency had continuously fallen behind on legally required bus and bike lanes.
The colorful sculpture of the word “love,” with two letters on top of the other two and with a bouncy, slanted O, has been refurbished and will reside in an alphanumeric display at Rockefeller Center for the next six weeks.
A season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers, the New York Jets quarterback, after months of hype and hope, was the capstone on a disappointing stretch for the city’s teams.
Howard Safir, who presided over declining rates of violent crime as New York City’s police commissioner in the late 1990s, but who struck many New Yorkers as tone-deaf to racial sensibilities after the shooting deaths of Black men by his officers, has died at 81.
Days after a 16-year-old was arrested for allegedly shooting a security guard at a Utica high school football game, two state lawmakers want to increase penalties for illegally possess a gun under age 18 and make it easier for them to be tried as criminals.
Drew Barrymore has been dropped as the host of the National Book Awards, the foundation that presents the prizes said, after the actress received a barrage of criticism for deciding to bring back her daytime talk show despite the strike by television writers.
Earlier this week, unionized writers from the Writers Guild of America and striking actors, picketed outside the CBS studios in New York City where “The Drew Barrymore Show” resumed filming for the first time since April — without its three unionized writers.
Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the United States, announced that it would hire a reporter to cover one of the biggest names in music: Taylor Swift.
