Good Wednesday morning. And just like that, the middle of the week is here already. I, for one, am glad.
With everything going on in the world these days, I’m not sure if you followed the dust-up over the July 4th Nathan’s hot dog eating contest?
Actually, it was two mini scandals wrapped up in one – sort of like a mashup of mixed meat stuffed into a bun. (See what I did there – rather ineloquently, I admit, but you get the idea).
First, the reigning champion, Joey Chestnut, a competitive eater who is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating, (yes, this is a thing, and if you haven’t read “Horsemen of the Esophagus“, go out and buy it right away), was barred from defending the famed Mustard Belt due to a sponsorship deal with the plant-based meat substitution company Impossible Foods.
Apparently, the hot dog people don’t take kindly to the prospect of being muscled out by faux meat.
The loss of the event’s star eater put a damper on things, causing the contest to produce the lowest ratings in more than a decade for ESPN. Then, to make matters worse, there was a post-contest cheating scandal involving a competitor named Nick Wehry, who happens to be engaged to be married to Nathan’s 10-time women’s champion Miki Sudo.
Sudo, by the way, not only won this past Nathan’s contest, but set a new world record for women, consuming 51 hot dogs, which is three more than her previous best of 48 and 13 more than her 2023 score.
Wehry finished fourth, but allegedly moved plates around during the hot dog consumption count to make it look like he ate more than he did in order to put him over the 50-dog mark, which is apparently what separates the amateurs from the serious eaters. He subsequently asked MLE to lower his score, which it did, though that didn’t change his fourth-place standing.
Oh, the drama! And all over a hot dog. Or a wiener. Or a frankfurter. Or a sausage. All these names are interchangeable, which is kind of confusing, and begs the question: Where did the name hot dog come from, anyway?
The sausage is one of the oldest forms of processed food (!). The practice of stuffing minced meat into some kind of casing (usually animal entrails) dates back centuries. However, the frankfurter, which is perhaps the precursor to the hot dog, is widely accepted to have originated in Germany (maybe in the city that bears its name and lays claim to the origin, but, then again, maybe not), while the wiener has its roots in Austria.
Either way, the so-called “dachshund” or “little-dog” sausage that German immigrants brought with them when they moved to the U.S. turned out to be wildly popular. When the whole “hot dog” thing started is a bit unclear.
There’s some speculation that it was coined because people were unsure what sort of meat was inside the casing, and though perhaps it might hide something unsavory – like dog meat. (Not true, though the consumption of dog meat was, sadly, not unheard of in certain corners).
There’s also a story about a cartoonist named Tad Dorgan who is said to have doodled a dachshund in a bun with the caption “hot dog!” while working for the New York Journal. Scholars these since debunked this myth, but it has persisted over the years.
No matter what you call them, or how you like them prepared – grilled, boiled, fried etc. – or what you like on them – mustard, ketchup, relish, onions, meat sauce, and so on – or what your preferred version – pork, beef, chicken, tofu, carrot – it’s safe to say that hot dogs are here to stay.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that the U.S. eats around 20 billion of them each and every year. Happy National Hot Dog Day (and month, for what it’s worth).
If you’re in the Capital Region and looking for a place to celebrate, click here for a list of local options. Even if you’re not planning to indulge, it’s an interesting read, as the writer – Susie Davidson Powell – notes that there are a number of local purveyors that have been dishing up dogs for decades, earning them landmark status.
The aforementioned Nathan’s Famous has some deals on tap, too, if you happen to be near one of its locations – the bulk of whcih actually appear to be virtual. More potential dog day deals can be found here.
The relentless heat is forecast to ease – but only slightly – with temperatures in the low 80s. It will be partly cloudy, with the potential (again) for severe thunderstorms developing later in the day.
In the headlines…
US authorities reportedly were warned about a potential assassination plot against former President Donald Trump by Iran weeks before the deadly shooting at Saturday’s rally — underscoring concerns about the level of protection he was given.
Although there is no known connection between the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and the Iranian republic, advance knowledge of such a threat appears wildly out of alignment with Trump’s level of protection at the rally.
The intelligence prompted the Secret Service to enhance security for the former president before his outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, officials said.
Embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle says she has no plans to resign, even after the stunning revelation that the agency decided not to guard the roof from which Crooks opened fire on Trump because it was too slanted.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican is set to subpoena Cheatle to appear at the panel’s July 22 hearing, a committee spokesperson tells Axios.
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump closed out Day 2 of the GOP convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a 20-minute speech that began by addressing the assassination attempt on her father-in-law.
Elon Musk is pledging to pour $45 million a month into a pro-Trump political group, a move that would flood the Republican nominee’s reelection effort with cash through the November election.
Trump has said Taiwan should pay the US for its defense guarantees, a statement that sent shudders through the island nation yesterday and highlighted the stakes of the upcoming presidential election for Washington’s allies and partners in Asia.
Some of Trump’s followers had long viewed him as handpicked by God. The attempted assassination has only increased such quasi-religious devotion and rhetoric.
The public calls from Democrats asking President Joe Biden to bow out of the presidential race have quieted in recent days, but private efforts to nudge the president and his top aides continue, several Democratic sources told CNN.
Leaders of the Democratic National Committee are moving swiftly to confirm Biden as his party’s presidential nominee by the end of July, according to four people briefed on the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations.
House Democrats are warning the DNC not to go ahead with its plan to formally nominate Biden through a virtual roll call a month before the August convention.
Biden is seriously considering legislative proposals that would dramatically alter the Supreme Court, including imposing term limits and an enforceable code of ethics on the justices, according to a person familiar with the ongoing discussions.
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey was convicted on all counts in a sweeping scheme to sell his office to foreign powers and crooked businessmen in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a luxury car and bars of solid gold.
A 12-person jury convicted him of all 16 counts he faced, on charges including honest services wire fraud, bribery and extortion. Menendez, a Democrat whose term expires at year’s end, is the seventh sitting U.S. senator to be convicted of a federal crime.
Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called Menendez’s conviction on federal charges of bribery and acting as a foreign agent “a dark, painful day” for the Garden State and re-upped his call for his resignation as the state’s senior senator.
“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
Menendez refused to say whether he would resign after his federal conviction on bribery charges — even as a chorus of Democrats demanded he step down.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a statewide state of emergency after powerful storms swept through much of Upstate New York.
The storms caused power outages across much of the state, with more than 100,000 customers affected last night, according to the National Grid outage map.
Transit leaders had already allocated hundreds of millions of dollars before Hochul’s last-minute reversal on the long-awaited tolling plan.
Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi and Hochul are not just political enemies-turned-allies. The two Democrats represent a broader effort by the party in New York to inch back toward the center after years of gains by progressive candidates.
Hochul announced continued progress in bringing down gun violence and overall crime on Long Island. Shooting incidents with injury decreased 44 percent as reported by the Nassau, Suffolk and Hempstead Police Departments.
Hochul raised more than $7.3 million in the first half of 2024, her campaign announced, a record-breaking amount for any governor at this point in the election cycle. Of that, $5.8 million is for her re-election bid and $1.4 million for the state party.
No one has announced a challenge to the incumbent governor, but anyone thinking about it has a long way to go in terms of the money game.
Brianna Suggs, whose Brooklyn home was raided last November by the FBI as part of an investigation into donations linked to Turkey, is still working for Mayor Eric Adams’ political campaign despite not appearing in recent filings.
Adams declined to hold Trump specifically responsible for shaping the politically volatile environment amid which a gunman tried to assassinate the ex-commander-in-chief, saying everyone has played some role in shaping the country’s intense political division.
Democratic Socialist Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani — a staunch critic of Israel — is eyeing a run for mayor, sources said.
The state legislator has reached out to multiple people to discuss challenging Adams in next year’s Democratic mayoral primary, according to eight people familiar with those conversations.
Adams has expressed pride in the number of women he has elevated to senior roles, but several appointees have departed under murky circumstances in the past year, reflecting the continued difficulties those leaders face in male-dominated departments.
Outgoing FDNY Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh can “hang around” as long as she likes, Adams said, brushing aside allegations that her decision to resign stemmed from a lack of support from his office.
Adams said it was a “sexist belief” that the FDNY’s male-dominated culture had anything to do with the sudden departure of the department’s first woman commissioner.
An NYPD captain claims a top chief in Patrol Borough Brooklyn North repeatedly passed her over for a promotion to precinct commander because she rebuffed his attempt to kiss her, according to a lawsuit.
New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks claimed that parents don’t care if classrooms are overcrowded, as he argued against a billion-dollar-plus state mandate to reduce their size.
Court delays are causing people to languish at Rikers Island for longer than necessary, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars and jeopardizing the city’s plan to replace its jails with more humane facilities, Comptroller Brad Lander’s office reported.
With scorching temperatures hitting the Big Apple this week, City Hall urged New Yorkers to avoid using large appliances and to turn air conditioners to a sweltering 78 degrees.
In many New York City homeless shelters, families need a doctor’s note to have air-conditioners. But some residents say shelters still make it difficult to get them.
A meteor that had traveled millions of miles through deep space entered the atmosphere, passed above the Statue of Liberty, zoomed over the New York Harbor streaked over the Midtown Manhattan skyline, and exploded high over the region.
“I heard it, yes I did indeed,” Pat Battle, an anchor on the local NBC News broadcast, told viewers, with wonder in her voice. “But I never thought to look up.”
NASA’s Meteor Watch said that, based on initial information, it believed the meteor was first spotted when it was roughly 49 miles above New York Harbor, east of Greenville Yard in New Jersey.
Plug Power, the hydrogen and fuel cell company based in Latham, and Renault, the French carmaker, received European Union approval to acquire their joint venture targeting the European market known as HyVia.
A federal judge has rejected a request by the U.S. attorney’s office to prescreen prospective jurors at the upcoming criminal trial scheduled for three Rensselaer County officials accused of widespread voter fraud during the 2021 elections.
While New York school districts have been eliminating their Indigenous mascots in response to an SED edict, the town of Niskayuna has worked for two years to right what it said was an inaccurate representation of the Iroquois Confederation in its municipal logo.
Dick’s Sporting Goods will offer opportunities to win prizes in celebration of the recent opening of its store at Crossgates Mall.
Elon Musk said that he would move the headquarters of two of his businesses, the social media platform X and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX, to Texas, escalating an increasingly contentious fight with California.
Mr. Musk blamed a California law, signed on Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, that bars school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if their children change their gender identification
Former TV anchor and Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson has been found guilty of fraud in a scheme to trick investors and lenders into giving him tens of millions of dollars to keep his startup media company afloat.
The conviction came after an eight-week trial in Brooklyn Federal Court where jurors heard about how he and company executives plotted to forge documents and faked financial records.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
