It’s Friday. Mic drop.
As much as I’m tempted to leave it there, I do have some thoughts for the day. They are non-serious and sweet, totally suitable for an some lighthearted end-of-the-week fare. I think we could all use a little break from the heaviness. I know I certainly need one.
If you’ve been here a while, you know that I’m not a big candy person.
Since it’s October and we all have Halloween on the brain…for me (back in the day when trick-or-treating was a thing) this holiday was more about competition than consumption. In other words, I wanted to get as much candy as possible to be able to say that I “won” when my friends and I returned home to compare our respective hauls.
And yes, we did count it out – piece by piece.
But when it came time to actually eat my booty, I wasn’t terribly interested in much of it, with the exception of anything that was homemade, like cookies, popcorn balls, cupcakes etc. – which, at the time, was still a thing – and (in no particular order) Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Mr. Goodbars, Almond Joys, Peanut M&M’s, and Butterfingers.
You see the trend here, I’m sure.
Tier 2 candy, so to speak, would be things like Sugar Babies, Milky Ways, and plain M&M’s. For the record: Peanut and plain. Those were the only options back when I was a youngster and we walked to school uphill both ways and barefoot in the snow. Nothing like the 61 flavors that are available to kids today.
By the way, if anyone out there has tried the special edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M’s or the Crunchy Raspberry version and has intel on whether they’re worth it and where to get them, hit me up. I’m intrigued.
If you’re wondering why I’m going down this path it’s because the interwebs inform me that today is National M&M Day. There is no historical significance of this date, as far as I can tell. The patent for M&M’s, for example, was issued in March – not October – of 1941. But since I was looking for some light and easy fodder, I was willing to bite – as it were – on this opportunity.
M&M’s were inspired by (or ripped off, depending on your point of view) a British candy known as Smarties Chocolate Beans, produced by a company called H.I. Roundtree and Co., which is not to be confused with the sugary U.S. Smarties roll candy.
M&M’s were the brainchild of Forrest Mars (Sr.), the son of Frank Mars, who was the founder of the Mars Company. Forrest Mars formed a company called Mars & Murrie (get it, M&M!?) with Bruce Murrie, the son of the president of Hershey’s Chocolate, William Murrie.
The two sons disagreed with their fathers about how to run a candy company, and found a kindred spirit in one another. Forrest Mars had seen soldiers eating Smarties during the Spanish Civil War, and was amazed about how the candy-coated chocolate drops held up in the heat. (Remember: They melt in your mouth, not in your hand).
M&M’s were initially sold only to the military to be included in soldiers’ MREs (meals ready to eat), since they traveled well and didn’t melt at high temperatures. GIs who returned home from the front spread the word about the tasty and convenient candy treat.
The collaboration between Mars and Murrie didn’t last. Mars ended up buying out his partner and to this day, M&M’s are manufactured by the Mars Wrigley Confectionery division of Mars, Incorporated.
There’s a lot more history to delve into here – like the controversy that led to the decade-long discontinuance of the red M&M, or why red and green candy seems to taste better, or whether green M&Ms truly make you horny.
But we’re running out of space.
If you are really interested in going further down those rabbit holes, click here, here, and here.
The weekend forecast is looking much better than it was earlier in the week. Again, I’m reminded of that old upstate standby saying: If you don’t like the weather, just wait 15 minutes.
If you’re able to get a jump start on the weekend, today will be your best bet for outdoor activities, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s. Saturday will be cloudy with a slight chance of a shower, and Sunday will be will be mostly cloudy. Both days will see temperatures in the mid-to-high 50s.
In the headlines…
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) yesterday dropped out of the race for Speaker, just one day after he won the Republican nomination for the role.
The withdrawal was as shocking as it was predictable, after a band of Republicans almost immediately blocked his path and said there was no way they would vote for Scalise as speaker.
“It’s been quite a journey. And there’s still a long way to go. I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee,” Scalise said when leaving a GOP conference meeting last night.
Embattled Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos was one of the Scalise “no” votes, saying he was irked that Scalise did not make a personal pitch for his support in the speaker fight and hasn’t reached out at all since he took office.
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said the fight to name a speaker is so divisive that one Republican member said they didn’t think “Lord Jesus himself” could get the 217 votes needed to win.
Now that Scalise has pulled out, what happens next is up in the air.
Israel’s military has ordered the evacuation of more than a million civilians from the entire northern half of Gaza, a move the UN warned would be impossible and potentially calamitous amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the blockaded coastal strip.
Fearful residents flooded U.N.-run schools seeking shelter from explosions as Israeli troops moved toward the border for a possible ground invasion to dismantle Hamas.
The United States and Qatar have agreed to deny Iran access to $6 billion recently transferred to the nation as part of a deal between Washington and Tehran that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans from Iran last month.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his day-long visit in Tel Aviv, where he reiterated the U.S. government’s unreserved support for Israel and met with families of American citizens that he said Hamas has killed or taken hostage.
Blinken arrived in Amman, Jordan, early today, local time, where he planned to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II.
A spokesman for Delta Air Lines said that it was partnering with the U.S. government and “setting up flights to get U.S. citizens home.”
President Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia today to discuss his economic agenda, and will be in Colorado this coming Monday.
Target CEO Brian Cornell met with Biden yesterday afternoon as the retailer — and the White House — try to figure out U.S. consumers.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, charged with taking bribes in exchange for political favors, faced a new accusation that he conspired to act as an agent of Egypt even as he served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Manhattan federal prosecutors filed the latest charge against Menendez and his wife, Nadine, as well as a third defendant, Wael Hana, accusing them of conspiring to have the senator work on Egypt’s behalf without registering with the Justice Department.
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling a crowd of Florida supporters that the countries’ intelligence failed, and its enemies were ”very smart.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida finally gloved up and went after his onetime mentor, Trump, after the latter called the armed group Hezbollah “very smart.”
Trump reportedly plans to return next week to the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is slowly proceeding, a reappearance that is likely to bring him face-to-face with his former fixer Michael D. Cohen.
The former president, who last week attended the first three days of his trial in the civil case brought by state Attorney General Tish James, plans to come back next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of his plans.
Trump’s lawyers renewed their push to postpone the former president’s classified documents trial until November 2024, a timeline that would move the case to the sidelines of the next presidential election.
A former IRS contractor admitted in federal court that he stole tax records belonging to Donald Trump and thousands of other wealthy individuals in 2019 and 2020 before leaking them to the press.
Prosecutors say Charles Littlejohn of Washington, DC, sent Trump’s tax returns and other data to two media outlets that “published numerous articles describing the tax information they obtained from the Defendant.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul called on “law abiding” Palestinians to reject Hamas, which she called a “terrorist organization.”
Although Hochul acknowledged Hamas and Palestine “should not necessarily be confused” with one another, she offered no words of support or sympathy for New Yorkers who may have civilian loved ones living in Gaza facing a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The NYPD will ramp up patrols across New York City this weekend to brace for mass protests and potential violence stemming from the war between Israel and Hamas, officials said.
The city braced for unrest after the former chief of Hamas called for a ‘Day of Jihad’ today.
Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams at a joint news conference yesterday, however, stressed that no credible threats had been received by officials. Both the governor and mayor encouraged people to send their children to school and attend religious services.
Hochul endorsed the New York City’s challenge to the requirement in a court filing this week, telling reporters that the mandate was never meant to apply to an international humanitarian crisis.
Hochul said the “interpretation” that the city’s decades-old right to shelter agreement applies to asylum seekers no longer makes sense to “rational people.”
The FDNY is expected order more than half a dozen migrant centers across the Big Apple be vacated over increased fears the sites could become fiery death traps.
A record number of migrants flowed into the Big Apple last week — with city officials logging nearly double the daily average of asylum seekers, new data show.
Nearly two dozen advocates, religious leaders, and a representative of one of the city’s largest unions are forming NY Sane, which is dedicated to stopping the city from convincing a judge to erode the right-to-shelter law to help it cope with the asylum seeker crisis.
New York State has rolled out a $1 billion transformative, multi-year investment to overhaul mental health care.
Hochul threatened to fine several hospital systems if they don’t quickly reopen psychiatric wards closed at the height of the pandemic, saying that those units were now urgently needed to provide treatment to homeless people with severe mental illness.
Lawmakers called on Hochul to sign the “Direct Pay” bill that would require health insurance companies to reimburse ambulance services directly.
A state Supreme Court justice has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block New York’s $455 million loan to the not-for-profit New York Racing Association to remake the antiquated Belmont Park thoroughbred racetrack.
New York officials refused to grant an additional $12 billion in subsidies to the developers of 90 renewable-energy projects, raising concerns about the state’s ability to cut its dependence on fossil fuels over the next decade.
A group of businesses, trade associations and labor unions filed a federal lawsuit yesterday challenging the legality of New York’s ban on gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings — a central pillar of Hochul’s push for green energy.
The suit claims that the state doesn’t have jurisdiction over the issue, since it would be preempted by federal energy laws under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
At an event promoting plans to expand the city’s network of outer-borough bike lanes, Adams argued that the city must “educate bicycle riders” on getting better at abiding by traffic rules amid an uptick in cycling deaths.
Adams announced the expansion of New York City’s greenway network to all five boroughs. More than 40 miles of new green space will be laid out in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.
In the wake of 26 cyclist deaths from crashes with motorists in NYC so far this year, more than 200 concerned citizens took to the streets this week in a protest hosted by Transportation Alternatives.
New York City’s crackdown on Airbnb has led to a booming black market for rentals that have “gone underground” – putting both renters and apartment owners at risk of scammers, industry experts said.
An overdue book was recently returned to a suburban New York library nearly 90 years to the day it was checked out — and only incurred a surprisingly low $5 late fee.
National Grid is predicting that home heating bills could drop by nearly 20 percent this winter compared to last season.
The Rensselaer County Board of Elections has another vacancy approaching Election Day after its deputy Republican commissioner submitted her resignation.
Neil Golub, a founding member of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority credited with restoring downtown, abruptly resigned Wednesday night at the authority’s board meeting.
The Capital Region Transportation Council is looking for proposals for initiatives to plan and improve the area’s transportation system, host sessions on safer streets and get professional guidance for projects.
Negotiations between the major entertainment studios and the union representing tens of thousands of actors have collapsed, with both sides saying they remained far apart on the most significant issues.
