Good morning, it’s Friday. Let me say that again a little louder for the people in the back – IT’S FRIDAY, Y’ALL!!!! Deep exhale.
If you take a look at today’s numerical date – 7/11 – then you’ll probably be able to quickly ascertain what we’re going to be talking about today. On this day, we celebrate the world’s largest convenience store chain (by sheer number of stores around the globe): Happy 7-Eleven Day (AKA Slurpee Day – the one time every year when fans of the infamous frozen beverage can get it for free).
7-Eleven is one of the largest franchises on the planet, with more than 80,000 locations. I actually didn’t know that the business got its name from its original operating hours (it was open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.), though these days, most locations are open around the clock.
What truly distinguishes 7-Eleven from its competitors is the Slurpee, which the interwebs describe as a “brand of frozen carbonated beverage, essentially a type of slushee.”
Among its many claims to fame are, at least according to the company, the fact that 7-Eleven locations were the first convenience stores to sell gas, offer in-store ATM access, and have coffee available to-go. But the Slurpee is probably 7-Eleven’s most well-known claim to fame, which is why it’s origin story is so interesting…because this iconic frozen treat wasn’t actually invented at a 7-Eleven owner or worker.
The Slurpee (before it was formally known by that name) was created, like so many great things, by accident by a man named Omar Knedlik in Kansas City. Knedlik owned an old Dairy Queen, which was home to a lot of aging – and failing – equipment. One day when his soda fountain was on the fritz, he put bottles of pop into the freezer to keep them cool.
The resulting semi-frozen drinks were a big hit with customers, and they started asking specifically for sodas that had been kept on ice a little longer than usual. Knedlik, realizing that he was on the cusp of something big, created a slushy soda-making machine (using a car air conditioning unit). The resulting drink was called and ICEE, which is a moniker still employed in some locations today.
7-Eleven licensed the machine in 1965, and it was an ad rep for the company, Bob Stanford, who coined the name “Slurpee”, reportedly based on the sound made when you sip the drink through a straw. And the drink has withstood the test of time. Today, 7-Eleven sells some 153 million Slurpees annually, with 150 million of those sold in the U.S. alone.
Probably a fair share of those are consumed in the Slurpee Capitol of the World, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
All told, there have been more than 300 Slurpee flavors, with some pretty sophisticated combinations like Hibiscus Lemonade and Fanta Dragon Fruit, though the two old standbys – Coca-Cola and Wild Cherry – are the most popular here in the U.S.
You may, upon consuming a Slurpee, experience a phenomenon known as “brain freeze” (AKA an ice cream or cold stimulus headache), which is a temporary and sharp pain in the temples or forehead that can be triggered by drinking or eating something cold. It’s caused by the quick temperature change in the mouth and/or throat, which causes blood vessel dilation, activating pain receptors in the brain.
Technically speaking, since I just used the term “brain freeze”, I could be legally challenged by the good folks at 7-Eleven, or maybe even owe them money, because it was trademarked by the company years ago.
Things are getting a little predictable in the weather department, but it’s definitely hot enough to warrant Slurpee consumption.
Today will again be on the warmer side, with temperatures topping out in the high-80s. We’ll see intervals of clouds and sun with a stray shower or thunderstorm possible. Saturday and Sunday will be more or less the same, with highs in the mid-80s and mostly to partly cloudy skies and (yet again) the possibility of showers and/or thunderstorms.
Such is summer in upstate New York. The upshot: Go outside, by all means, but bring a raincoat and/or umbrella.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 35 percent tariff on Canadian imports, upending negotiations between the countries that had Canada’s representatives hopeful that a trade deal could be reached in a matter of weeks.
Trump posted a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on social media outlining his latest threat. He said the new, higher tariff rate would go into effect on Aug. 1, though it was unclear if it would affect all Canadian goods, or if he would follow through.
Trump also warned Carney that “goods transshipped to evade this higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff” and that if Canada retaliates, the rate will go up.
A federal judge again blocked Trump from ending birthright citizenship yesterday, renewing a legal feud that could soon head back to the Supreme Court.
Just days after the conservative-run top court barred most nationwide injunctions, Judge Joseph LaPlante nevertheless said he planned to order officials to avoid taking any steps to change the 150-year precedent that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen.
A whistleblower released a trove of messages backing up his claim that a top Trump Justice Department official discussed plans to defy federal judges’ orders in a high-profile mass deportation case.
The information released by fired prosecutor Erez Reuveni suggest Emil Bove, a principal associate deputy AG, pushed for the deportation of scores of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador in March and discussed defying a federal judge’s order not to do so.
The Justice Department has reportedly issued subpoenas demanding confidential patient information from more than 20 doctors and hospitals that provide gender-related treatments to minors.
The department’s brief announcement did not name the 20 doctors or clinics or say where they were. It also did not specify what constituted “transgender medical procedures” but said its investigations “include healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.”
“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
The State Department formally notified employees yesterday that it was about to begin layoffs as part of a consolidation plan that department officials say will reduce bureaucratic bloat but that critics call a shortsighted blow to American diplomacy.
In an internal message sent to State Department workers, Michael J. Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, said the department would “soon” begin notifying U.S. employees who are losing their jobs.
The layoffs, which are commonly called reductions in force (or RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will affect nearly 15% of the state department’s domestic staff.
A federal appeals court ruled to uphold a jury verdict that determined President Trump was guilty of sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
The three-judge panel issued a mandate to affirm the previous district court ruling despite the president’s attempts to appeal the ruling that sided with Carroll, who claimed that he sexually abused her at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s.
Since Kash Patel took office as the director of the F.B.I., the bureau has significantly stepped up the use of the lie-detector test, at times subjecting personnel to a question as specific as whether they have cast aspersions on Patel himself.
State Sen. Angela Paxton of Texas, the wife of the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, announced that she had filed for divorce, saying she made her decision “on biblical grounds” and “in light of recent discoveries.”
Kerr County repeatedly failed to secure a flood warning system, even as local officials remained aware of the risks and as billions of dollars were available for similar projects.
New York’s top budget official warned of a “destabilized” state health care system after an omnibus bill signed last week by Trump takes effect, but said state leaders are not currently poised to raise taxes as they face the possibility of drastic cuts within the year.
“Nobody is prepared to backfill $3 billion in cuts from Congress,” said Blake Washington, the director of the governor’s budget office. “There’s no state in the union that can do that, particularly on a recurring basis.”
Washington left it open-ended whether state lawmakers would return to Albany later this year to amend the state budget, which passed in May.
About three million New Yorkers rely on food stamps, and around 10 percent could lose them because of changes in the new law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, officials say.
Gov. Kathy Hochul picked up a unanimous hometown endorsement this week from the Erie County Democratic Committee, which became the first county committee in New York to officially back her reelection bid.
New York State hasn’t recovered all of the construction lobs it lost during the pandemic shutdown – partly because of less demand for office space, a new report from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office found.
Opposition is growing over a revived natural gas pipeline project that would run into New York City, and critics say Trump’s heavy-handed intervention has made the plan vulnerable to a legal takedown.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a key influencer among Latino voters, threw his weight behind Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy. Espaillat supported ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his failed primary run and also previously backed Mayor Eric Adams.
“This is a city that is at a tipping point, at a precipice unlike ever before,” Espaillat said. “We need someone that will represent those families that are up against the wall without the ability to breathe, trying to stay in the city they love, and that they grew up in.”
Days before losing the Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani, Cuomo’s campaign called on the city’s election watchdog to investigate Mamdani over alleged illicit coordination with another politician.
The extreme leftist clique that helped Mamdani were slammed as “Team Gentrification” by top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries’ team after threats of primaries devolved into a Big Apple Democrat feud.
A coalition of Jewish leaders is pushing other Jewish Democrats in office to get behind socialist Mamdani for mayor — hoping to cash in on their fears of being primaried by similarly Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates next year if they don’t.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin brushed off concerns from Jewish Democrats about New York City mayoral frontrunner Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
Some of New York’s wealthiest financiers are scrambling to build out a network of outside groups that plan to go to war against Mamdani as a last stand against the surging progressive candidate.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said Mamdani’s politics aren’t those of the Democratic party, adding: “I mean, so he’s not even a Democrat, honestly.”
Adams is spotlighting his child care accomplishments in an apparent attempt to position himself as the pro-education candidate by revealing a new $10 million pilot program that would expand free child care to low-income families.
A state appellate court ruled that Adams must move to enact a package of legislation that would expand the city’s rental assistance program, an initiative City Council Democrats argue is critical amid a citywide housing crisis.
“It is unfortunate that for two years Mayor Adams’s administration stood in the way of removing barriers to housing vouchers” that keep New Yorkers in their homes and move them from shelters to permanent housing, said a City Council spokesman.
The NYPD is purging its ranks of 31 police officers who were improperly hired in 2023 and 2024, a department spokesperson said Thursday. The officers will be forced to resign or will be fired that day, the spokesperson said.
The NYPD is trying to force dozens of officers and recruits who failed to meet the department’s standards to resign — but the effort faced a roadblock late yesterday after a state judge blocked the move.
After being released from immigration detention, Mahmoud Khalil, a negotiator and spokesman during Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian campus protests, filed an administrative complaint against the Trump administration seeking $20 million in damages.
The complaint, a precursor to a federal lawsuit, was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Khalil alleges false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other alleged wrongdoings.
U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman is calling for an immediate halt to troubled MDC Brooklyn’s intake of immigrant detainees, saying the influx of inmates will only further deteriorate the lockup’s “already deplorable conditions.”
Whole Foods has taken the Public Hotel to court, alleging long lines outside the Lower East Side hotel are blocking delivery access to the grocer’s location on the same block and the hotel refuses to fix the problem by simply pointing the line in the other direction.
A fleet of driverless cars rolled into New York City this week, as software company Waymo plots an expansion of its robotaxi operation.
A state auditor has been charged with stealing more than $400,000 from the town of Wallkill while conducting an audit between 2022 and 2024, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The state cellphone ban in schools doesn’t start until September, but Albany is leaping in now.
Police said two 15-year-old boys carried out the July 4 violence on Albany’s Madison Avenue that left four people with gunshot wounds and a home burning after one of them fired a flare gun into it.
More lawsuits have been filed in both state and federal court against Bul Auto Sales & Service, a Colonie auto dealership that once sold high-end cars but has since closed amid allegations that the company owes millions in unpaid loans and interest.
A man accused of recording more than 1,000 photos and videos of a female co-worker over the span of four months without her knowledge has pleaded guilty to two felonies and now faces up to six years in prison at his sentencing this fall.
A bronze statue of Solomon Northup, renowned city historical figure and author of the memoir “Twelve Years A Slave,” was unveiled yesterday morning at Saratoga Spa State Park to celebrate his 218th birthday.
Photo credit: George Fazio
