Good morning, it’s Friday and you have almost made it in tact through another week. Good for you! Also, you have just about made it through another month. April is right around the corner.
It’s more or less ice cream season (I know there are some people out there who consider ice cream a year-round experience, and these are the same people who drink their coffee on ice no matter how cold it might be outside; needless to say, I am not one of these people).
Oh, and in case you weren’t aware, Snow Man in Troy is open. This is my public service announcement for the day. You’re welcome. I am a particular fan of Only 8, which I know is probably a hoax and has more than the 8 calories it claims to contain, but not very many people locally carry it. Snow Man does, and since it is not terribly far from my house, it has become my go-to local fix.
Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that as the weather gets warmer, many people tend to opt for food that is less on the heavy and stick-to-your-ribs side and lighter – though not necessarily from a caloric standpoint. Black Forest cake (formally Black Forest gateau) doesn’t exactly fit the bill, but I guess it’s still on the cool-ish side, so perhaps you can squeeze in a slice or two in celebration of National Black Forest Cake Day before things really warm up.
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, as it’s called in Germany, is a chocolate cake (usually a sponge) soaked in cherry schnapps (Kirschwasser) and then filled with a decidedly un-light mix of whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings, and topped on the outside with more of all that.
Sounds decadent? Yes, indeed. Personally, I prefer carrot cake, if I do cake at all. But usually, as you know if you’ve been here for a minute, I opt for pie. I don’t even really like birthday cake, to be honest – a spoonful of icing swiped off the top or the sides and I’m good.
Black Forest cake has a number of origin stories. It may or may not have its roots in Germany’s Black Forest region, or maybe it was born in the Baden-Württemberg region, which is known for its cherry trees. Another theory is that the cake gets its name from the Bollenhut – a black formal hat festooned with red pom-poms traditionally worn by unmarried ladies in the Black Forest region along with a black dress and a white blouse.
The most modern story is that the Black Forest cake was invented in 1915 by Josef Keller, who, at the time, was working as the pastry chef in the Caf“Ahrend” (today called Agner) in Bad Godesberg.
Whichever one of these stories one opts to believe, it’s undeniable that Black Forest cake has become a favorite among cake lovers – and also a staple in certain diner dessert cases. Something about those mounds of whipped cream topped with cherries and chocolate shavings really makes people feel like they’re getting their money’s worth.
Sadly, though, the Black Forest cake doesn’t make the cut – at least according to one online assessment – when it comes to the most popular cakes in states across the U.S. Although, if one googles long enough one can certainly find a contradictory report – like this one, which includes Black Forest cake on a list of top 10 birthday cakes in America.
That’s news to me.
You might actually consider holing up inside with some cake this weekend, because I regret to inform you that the weather forecast is, well, not great. It will be cloudy tomorrow, with showers developing in the afternoon. Those showers will be continuing into Sunday, though they’ll decrease in frequency as the day progresses. Both days will see temperatures top out in the low 50s.
Today isn’t look too bad, if you’re hoping to get some outside time in. (See what I did there?) It will be mostly cloudy, but dry, with temperatures maxing out in the mid 50s.
In the headlines…
A federal judge in Washington ordered several Trump administration officials who participated in a Signal group chat discussing the details of a pending attack on Yemen to preserve all of the messages they exchanged on the app in the days leading up to strikes.
The decision by Judge James E. Boasberg, came in response to a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit American Oversight, which accused Trump’s national security team of violating federal records laws by using Signal to chat about the highly sensitive attack.
Trump doubled down on his criticism of Boasberg, calling him “disgraceful” after the judge was named to oversee the case involving a Signal group chat in which Trump administration officials allegedly leaked war plans to The Atlantic’s top editor.
Attorney General Pam Bondi indicated that there was not likely to be a criminal inquiry into the sharing of sensitive military information on an unsecured group chat among senior Trump officials.
Three out of four Americans — including 60% of Republicans — say the Trump administration’s use of a Signal group chat to discuss military strikes is a serious problem, according to the first poll out on the national security breach.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the firing of 10,000 federal health workers, including dramatic cuts to agencies that keep Americans safe from disease and possible future pandemics, which he said would save about $1.8 billion a year.
The vaccine skeptic and Trump ally said the workforce of the Department of Health and Human Services will be slashed from 82,000 to 62,000 after thousands of other officials already accepted buyouts in a push engineered by billionaire Elon Musk.
Musk, along with seven Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers, defended the number of federal government employees the advisory board has moved to terminate in recent months, arguing that “almost no one has gotten fired.
Musk and several top aides at the Department of Government Efficiency sat with Fox News’ Bret Baier, portraying themselves as public servants who just want to help improve America’s balance sheets.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said that Trump signed an executive order limiting numerous agency employees from unionizing and instructing the government to stop engaging in any collective bargaining.
The OPM memo is accompanied by a White House fact sheet that lays out the rationale for the movie, claiming that the Civil Service Reform Act allowing government workers to unionize “enables hostile Federal unions to obstruct agency management.”
Trump moved to punish the law firm WilmerHale, where Robert S. Mueller III worked before and after he served as special counsel in the Trump-Russia investigation, expanding his widespread campaign of retribution.
A group of Senate Republicans left a meeting with top White House officials saying they are increasingly confident that Trump will send a package of spending cuts to Capitol Hill for lawmakers’ approval.
A top Senate Republican, Maine’s Susan Collins, accused Trump of illegally refusing to spend $2.9 billion approved by Congress, teaming with Democrats in an early salvo in the simmering struggle regarding who has the ultimate power over federal spending.
Americans’ outlook on the current state of the economy has become a bit more pessimistic since last month, according to a new poll released yesterday.
Trump’s popularity is at a record high as the largest share of Americans in decades believe the country is on the right track, according to new polling data.
The University of Michigan will eliminate its central diversity, equity and inclusion program, the school announced yesterday, seeking to overhaul an ambitious and expensive initiative that it had long cast as a model for American higher education.
The Department of Justice said that it would investigate whether several California universities were complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision banning the consideration of race in admissions.
The checks, which the Justice Department described as “compliance review investigations,” would target Stanford University and three schools in the University of California system — Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Irvine — according to an announcement by Bondi.
“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Bondi said in a statement.
The White House has withdrawn U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to serve as United Nations ambassador in order to retain the North Country congresswoman as part of the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
“There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People.”
“We must be unified to accomplish our Mission, and Elise Stefanik has been a vital part of our efforts from the very beginning,” Trump wrote. “With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat.”
“I will invite (Stefanik) to return to the leadership table immediately,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a post on X. He will likely have to create a new, honorary leadership position for Stefanik, the former No. 4 House Republican.
Asked what Stefanik in leadership would look like after the news broke, a second House GOP leadership source said “not sure” — underscoring the surprising, and sensitive, nature of Trump’s announcement.
“This is about stepping up as a team, and I am doing that as a leader, to ensure that we can take hold of this mandate and deliver these historic results,” Stefanik told Fox News in her first public comments since Trump’s announcement about her nomination.
“Kathy Hochul started threatening to move the ball on the election date and you see a highly, highly politicized radical left trying to do everything they can to defeat the president,” Stefanik said.
The acting Ulster County clerk refused to file a more than $100,000 judgment from Texas against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, setting up a potential challenge to laws designed to shield abortion providers.
The unprecedented move catapults the interstate abortion wars to a new level, setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle between states that ban abortion and states that support abortion rights.
Since this decision is likely to result in further litigation, I must refrain from discussing specific details about the situation,” Acting Clerk Taylor Bruck said in a prepared statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul praised Bruck, saying: “New York is grateful for his courage and common sense. This is New York. We’ll never back down from fighting for these fundamental rights.”
“New York is shredding the Constitution to hide lawbreakers from justice, and it must end,” Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton said on X. “I will not stop my efforts to enforce Texas’s pro-life laws that protect our unborn children and mothers.”
Georgia’s Brian Kemp could tie New York’s Hochul for the highest-paid state governor under a proposal made this week.
State leaders no longer expect to get the $91 billion in federal aid they originally anticipated, but exactly how much they will get remains unknown as they try to pass a budget.
Tens of thousands of New York families are at risk of losing access to child care within the next year because of a shortfall in the state budget — a prospect lawmakers and advocates are scrambling to avert.
FBI Director Kash Patel hopes to expand the bureau’s new task force to all 50 states after rounding up dozens of migrant gang members since its debut, and prosecutors on Long Island are urging Hochul to roll out the red carpet.
The City University of New York has quietly re-posted a Palestinian studies professorship job listing for Hunter College just weeks after Hochul ordered it be deleted — in an eyebrow-raising move that has been blasted as whitewashing.
Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle is reportedly growing increasingly antsy and frustrated as Manhattan federal Judge Dale Ho drags out a decision on whether to dismiss his corruption case.
Adams swung and missed yesterday when he celebrated the first day of Major League Baseball by flaunting a much-loathed hat that features both Mets and Yankee logos.
New York City is expected to issue a payout to settle a lawsuit brought by three migrant shelter security guards accusing Tim Pearson, a former top adviser to Mayor Adams, of assaulting them during an infamous 2023 incident.
Adams’ indicted former top aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin could face fresh criminal charges as Manhattan prosecutors have opened a “new” grand jury probe in her corruption case, it was revealed in court yesterday.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his then-married top aide, Melissa DeRosa, were in an “emotional romantic relationship” while he was New York governor, according to bombshell testimony obtained by The NY Post.
Adams’ former first deputy Lorraine Grillo is now backing the campaign of the mayor’s biggest rival in the primary race – Cuomo – hosting a fundraiser for the former governor Wednesday night.
Thousands died in nursing homes at the outset of the pandemic. Will a campaign for accountability stall Cuomo’s progress in the mayor’s race?
The Working Families Party is weighing a number of strategies to encourage its supporters to unite behind a single mayoral candidate, including obligating campaigns seeking its endorsement to agree to cross-endorse the candidate it ultimately ranks first.
Trump’s childhood home in New York City has reportedly been sold at a steep discount — after the previous owner allowed it to fall into disrepair and become overrun by feral cats.
Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student who the Trump administration is seeking to deport for protesting against Israel’s bombing of Gaza, are set to go up against the government in New Jersey today.
Manhattan’s district attorney is asking a Chinese manufacturer of 3D printers to block the production of homemade “ghost guns” after untraceable weapons made by such printers were used in a number of crimes in the city.
A 16-year-old has been charged with several hate crimes in a gang attack on a Black teenager at a subway station this week, the police said.
Rochester leaders scolded local cops for violating their sanctuary city policies after they responded to a request for backup from Border Patrol agents conducting a traffic stop.
The former general manager of Albany Rural Cemetery pleaded guilty to grand larceny and identity theft almost a year after he was initially charged with embezzling nearly $32,000 from the nonprofit that oversees the historic necropolis.
Plug Power sent letters to local municipalities this week informing them it plans to lay off 299 Capital Region workers at three local facilities, the Albany Business Review reported.
For the first time, Damien the Great Dane has made it into the Final Four. The UAlbany mascot will go up against Stony Brook University’s mascot in the second-to-last round of the 2025 SUNY Mascot Madness competition.
Jumpin’ Jack’s Drive-In in Scotia is officially open for business.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
