Good morning, it’s Monday. Eight more of these are left until we hit the reset button for 2024.
After several years of writing this morning missives, (I am reluctant to look back and count exactly how many it has been thus far, but suffice it to say it’s a lot), I find I am starting to repeat myself.
This is a little concerning. Is it the sign of a lazy mind? Certainly there must be enough topics in the world to learn about and opine on that going over the same tired ground isn’t necessary. But I find that there are things I go back to time and again, and as it turns out, I do have something new to say on the same, already-visited topics.
Such is the case with candy corn.
You weren’t expecting that, were you? You were thinking I was going to lead with something weightier – like the meaning of life, perhaps? Maybe some other day. And maybe there is a deeper truth to find in the most mundane of matters, such as whether a largely flavorless tri-color confection is actually worth the calories and the effort.
Some people must like it – though I am decidedly not one of them, if you hadn’t already guessed that or recalled it from last year’s post on the matter – because candy corn has been around for more than a century.
According to the interwebs, what was first known as “chicken feed” was created in the late1880s by an employee of the Wunderle Candy Company named George Renninger. The name and shape is due to the fact that the society at the time was largely agrarian, and given the lack of machinery, it was produced seasonally to coincide with the late summer/fall harvest season.
It was first manufactured by a different entity, the Goelitz Confectionery Company, which was the precursor to today’s Jelly Belly Candy Company, which still makes candy corn though it’s better known for its many-flavored jelly beans.
The biggest producer of candy corn today is Brach’s Confections, which reportedly churns out 7 billion pieces of the stuff annually and accounts for 85 percent of the total share of the candy corn market every Halloween.
According to the National Confectioners Association, nearly 35 million pounds of candy corn is sold around this time every year. California ranks No. 1 for candy corn consumption, while New York clocks in at No. 4.
Candy corn was once made by hand, and those days are long gone. However, not a lot has changed when it comes to the recipe. It was made (more or less) from sugar, fondant, corn syrup, vanilla flavor, and marshmallow creme back in the 1900s, and continues to be made from those same ingredients today.
These five items are melted together to form a slurry, dye is added and then the whole mess goes through a cornstarch molding process to create each individual kernel.
Candy corn is fat free, but it isn’t exactly health food. Then again, what candy is? One serving (about 19 pieces) is 140 calories, mostly from the 28 grams of sugar it contains. It doesn’t rate high with nutritionists, mostly became it comes in a big bag, which makes it difficult to stick to the recommended portion size.
Some quick Googling reveals that there are actually a number of different flavors of candy corn, including funfetti, blackberry cobbler, caramel apple, and S’mores. There’s also cupid corn for Valentine’s Day (pink, white, and red), and reindeer corn for Christmas (red, green, and brown).
None. of this appeals to me, I’m sorry to say. The taste of candy corn – any kind candy corn – is sort of like a memory of candy. Sweet for sweet’s sake. I’ll take chocolate any day. But don’t let me rain on your National Candy Corn Day.
Remember how I suggested not getting too complacent about the amazing weather we’ve been having? Well, today it will be wet and cold (low 50s) and later in the week, there’s some snow in the forecast. Yep. There’s no denying it. Winter is coming.
Before we get to the news, here’s a little PSA: Early voting started over the weekend. There aren’t a lot of big ticket races this year, but local elections really impact you – and your wallet – so do yourself a favor, figure out who’s running for what and get out there.
In the headlines…
Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a U.N. agency said, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza yesterday in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began, but humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation Saturday night that the military has opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea.
President Biden called Vice President Kamala Harris his “partner” in navigating the United States’ response to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and said her “advice and counsel are invaluable.”
Harris stressed the United States has “absolutely no intention” of sending troops to Israel or Gaza, when asked about the potential for US troops to be drawn into a war in the region.
Biden will deploy numerous federal agencies to monitor the risks of artificial intelligence and develop new uses for the technology while attempting to protect workers, according to a draft executive order.
The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday.
The two sides worked out an agreement in principle to hold a meeting during the summit as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Friday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Biden will visit a family farm in Minnesota on Wednesday as part of two weeks of stops in rural America by top administration officials that are intended to highlight how increases in government spending can help improve peoples’ lives.
The City of Chicago beat out others to host Barack Obama’s presidential center. But as construction continues on the South Side, some residents fear being priced out.
Former President Donald Trump said in Iowa that he has more than $100 million in legal fees as he faces a cascade of court battles.
The judge overseeing Trump’s federal election subversion criminal case has reinstated the gag order she issued on the former president earlier this month.
In making her decision, the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, also denied a request by Trump’s lawyers to freeze the gag order for what could have been a considerably longer period, saying it can remain in effect as a federal appeals court in Washington reviews it.
Trump predicted that he would win Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses in January, tossing aside what he called advisers’ caution not to overstate expectations, even as he greeted his audience by naming a city in a neighboring state.
Trump will testify early next month in a trial that threatens the business empire that is the foundation of his public persona and informed his run for the White House. His children are scheduled to take the stand this week.
Nikki Haley criticized Trump for praising foreign strongmen and warned that his style of “chaos, vendettas and drama” would be dangerous, as the two GOP presidential candidates and their rivals addressed an influential group of Jewish Republicans.
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday dropped his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, ending his campaign for the White House after struggling to raise money and gain traction in the polls.
The former vice president tied himself to Trump in the 2016 campaign and it may have cost him a political future.
NY State Police didn’t seek an emergency risk protection order – AKA a “red flag” – after transporting the Army reservist accused in the Maine mass shooting to a military hospital three months ago over concerns about his safety when he was behaving erratically.
Law enforcement officials in Maine received a statewide alert about “veiled threats” made by US Army reservist Robert Card — weeks before he opened fire at a local bowling alley and a bar, killing 18 people and wounding 13 others.
Nearly three months before Card fatally shot 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, a gun shop declined to let him complete his purchase of a firearm silencer after he disclosed on a form that he had mental health issues, the shop’s owner said in an interview.
Residents in and around the city of Lewiston, no longer under lockdowns, spent the weekend coming together to mourn, share meals and prepare to bury their dead.
A Zoom meeting on Friday was held to urge Hochul to add the New York Heat Act into next year’s budget to relieve the wallets of already struggling New Yorkers.
The long tail of COVID is still dogging businesses, especially in New York state.
Two wonky, debt-related statewide ballot proposals await New Yorkers when they vote in this upcoming election, with one aimed at helping schools in small cities and the other centered on supporting sewage systems.
The Empire State is losing its grip as the nation’s financial services capital, a new study found.
Recent state legislation has sought to rein in medical debt collection. But the bills don’t stop lawsuits in the first place — and some patients decline care out of financial concern.
A wave of federal civil complaints filed by a small group of men against colleges and universities across the country – including 42 in New York – have forced programs or scholarships to close due to allegations of discrimination on the basis of sex or race.
The Brooklyn Bridge was temporarily shut down Saturday evening as hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors trekked across its westbound lanes into Manhattan.
The NYPD says it’s searching for a woman who allegedly made an “anti-ethnic statement” and slapped a man’s face during Saturday’s pro-Palestinian protest on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The MTA closed Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan for nearly two hours on Friday night as thousands of protesters crowded the main concourse calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which is now entering its fourth week.
Mayor Eric Adams’ new appointee for chair and executive director of the city’s Commission on Racial Equity has a history of spewing antisemitic rhetoric.
The Adams administration is reportedly forging ahead with plans to open a massive encampment to house 2,000 migrants at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in the coming days — despite safety concerns raised by the Fire Department.
Many migrants entering the U.S. southern border have been steered to New York City by relatives, politicians and smugglers, in part because of the city’s right-to-shelter policy.
“They want you to get tired so you give up, and they are achieving it,” said one migrant who has been searching for a place to stay in New York City for several days.
As migrant families are confronted with the prospect of moving, advocates warned it would have a damaging effect on the education of migrant children.
More than 200 migrants are living al fresco under stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, setting up a makeshift mini-city with its own bustling nighttime market — where asylum seekers peddle everything from food to haircuts, fed-up neighbors said.
New Yorkers’ concerns over the mushrooming migrant crisis have put Democrats on the defensive and offered Republicans a potentially powerful line of attack in next month’s most competitive City Council races.
Brooklyn Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, who is facing a tough re-election bid, is in danger of being booted off the City Council’s Italian Caucus unless he pledges his unwavering support to Christopher Columbus.
A former City Council aide with autism is accusing Brannan of being one of his tormentors while endorsing the pol’s GOP rival, Councilman Ari Kagan, in their Brooklyn race.
Outraged Prospect Heights residents are demanding to know why City Hall has thrown a curve at the long-debated Underhill Ave. redesign in Brooklyn and are pressing for the project to move forward without delay.
Sidewalks abutting all Big Apple parks would be smoke-free zones under new legislation being considered by the City Council.
The City University of New York is pausing its investigation into a faculty member, an Alzheimer’s researcher accused of misconduct, the university said in a statement.
Cornell University was on high alert last night after a series of “horrendous, antisemitic” messages threatening the school’s Jewish community were posted earlier on a public forum, school officials said.
The state plans to treat infestations of invasive hemlock woolly adelgid in the Adirondacks this fall including a new batch found in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest in Saratoga County.
All 39 seats in the Albany County Legislature are up for election this year, with 26 legislators running unopposed, including all 13 Democrats who represent the city of Albany.
Matthew Perry, who gained sitcom superstardom as Chandler Bing on the show “Friends,” becoming a model of the ability to tease your pals as an expression of love, has died. He was 54.
Perry fans flocked to Manhattan’s West Village to pay tribute to the “Friends” actor, a day after he apparently drowned at his Los Angeles home.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
