Good morning, it’s Tuesday, and if you thought yesterday was hot, you haven’t seen anything yet.
Today, the forecast is calling for temperatures to top out in the mid-90s. It will again be very humid and extremely sunny without a cloud in the sky.
This kind of weather calls for lots of hydrating beverages and foods – fruits and veggies with a high water content (like cucumbers and melons, for example), crips salads, smoothies, ice cream, etc. You know the drill. If hot foods are consumed, usually they’re better cooked outside on a grill to avoid heating up the kitchen.
This is not the time – in my opinion, anyway – for heavy, stick-to-your-ribs dishes drowning in sauce and covered with cheese, which is why it makes no sense at all to me that today is National Lasagna Day.
While lasagna has come to be synonymous with Italian cuisine, its origin story is actually Greek, though there are a few derivations of how, exactly, it was created.
It’s believed that the name might stem from the Greek word “laganon” or “laganum,” which was the earliest form of pasta that was really more of a tortilla – a flat sheet made out of wheat flour and water. Another possibility involves the word “lasagnum,” which was the name of the contained used to make said pre-pasta dish.
Either way, the Romans picked up the practice and ran with it, taking the flat dough in its unique container and adding filing and layers to create something resembling the modern-day version of lasagna.
To be clear, when I say “the modern-day version” I mean something different than what you’re probably thinking – that massive, deep-dish, calorie laden bomb that one typically finds in red sauce joints across the U.S. and is beloved by a certain chubby cartoon cat. THAT version is a U.S. invention.
The Italian version is (or was, anyway) a far more delicate affair that took hours, if not days, to prepare correctly, and may have contained béchamel instead of cheese, depending on which regional ingredients were available.
Lasagna can be quite controversial. New York political watchers might remember Lasagnagate, in which then-First Girlfriend Sandra Lee had a public disagreement with the mother of her beau, Andrew Cuomo, over what kind of cheese one should be used in the iconic dish.
Lee, who made a name for herself with her “semi-homemade” recipes that taught cooks how to cut corners and pass doctored-up premade or boxed food as their own, put cottage cheese in her lasagna, which was something Cuomo’s traditional Italian mother, Matilda, could not abide.
As an aside, Lee turned out to be incredibly farsighted when it came to cottage cheese, which is now having, shall we say, a moment among the diet and protein-conscious set. Everywhere you turn, there’s a recipe that turns cottage cheese into flatbreads, mousse, dip, ice cream, and soup – just to name a few.
So, who’s laughing now?
Apparently, “Lasagnagate” means something different across the pond, referring to an incident in which members of the soccer team the Tottenham Hotspur were all suddenly struck with a gastrointestinal illness on the eve of a very important match. The culprit was believed to be lasagna that was served at the hotel buffet. The team subsequently lost the game and failed to qualify for the championship that year.
These days, one can find a wide variety of lasagna or lasagna-adjacent recipes, including versions that feature thinly sliced vegetables (usually zucchini), rice cakes or pre-made ravioli instead of noodles; sub ground turkey, tofu, or plant-based “meat” for ground beef or pork; and add in a variety of vegetables – from spinach to mushrooms.
There’s even a highly popular deconstructed concoction that is more like a thick soup or stew than a casserole. Just googling the word “lasagna” brings up hundreds of different recipes – enough to keep fans cooking for days if not weeks. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend firing up the oven until this heat wave breaks, but you do you.
Since we already dispensed with the weather up top, let’s get down to the business of the news.
In the headlines…
A gunman armed with an assault-style rifle walked into a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper last night and began firing, killing a New York City police officer, fatally shooting three other people and critically wounding a fifth before killing himself, officials said.
Three of the four people killed were shot in the lobby of 345 Park Ave. as the gunman sprayed it with bullets. The fourth was killed on an upper floor after the gunman took the elevator there. He then shot himself in the chest. A motive has not been determined.
The deadly Park Avenue shooting happened at one of the the most exclusive addresses in Midtown Manhattan — the “Blackstone Building,” which is home to financial giant Blackstone, the NFL and accounting firm KPMG among a slew of other corporate names.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said preliminary information suggests the suspect, Las Vegas resident Shane Devon Tamura, 27, traveled cross-country in a BMW before arriving in New York City. He had a concealed carry permit in Nevada.
“According to our law enforcement partners in Las Vegas, Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history,” Tisch said. “His motives are still under investigation.”
Officer Didarul Islam, 36, an immigrant from Bangladesh with two young children and another on the way, was working a security job at the building. He was one of the four people killed in the attack; the others have not been identified.
In a note several pages long found on the shooter, he blamed football for his apparent struggle with the neurodegenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and asked for his brain to be studied after his death, law enforcement sources said.
Islam, who Mayor Eric Adams called a “true-blue New Yorker,” had a hard-won house in the Bronx, a job that brought respect and the esteem of his neighbors. “He said serve the community and you’ll do fine,” a friend said.
“(Islam) represented the very best of our department,” the NYPD posted on X. “He was protecting New Yorkers from danger when his life was tragically cut short today. We join in prayer during this time of incomprehensible pain. We will forever honor his legacy.”
The shooting was the second high profile shooting in Midtown Manhattan in less than a year. Last December, Luigi Mangione traveled to New York City from out of town and staged a targeted attack on a health care executive, Brian Thompson, in Midtown.
Mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo all moved to praise law enforcement after the tragic incident, praising law enforcement and condemning the shooting.
In the immediate hours after the shooting, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle began taking familiar sides in the gun control debate.
President Donald Trump revealed what made him stop speaking to Jeffrey Epstein for years, as he detailed how the disgraced financier “did something that was inappropriate” while visiting his Florida home.
Trump insisted that he had “never had the privilege” of visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island because he had turned down an invitation from the financier.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Epstein, has requested that the Supreme Court overturn her conviction, saying she was unjustly prosecuted.
“We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” her attorney said.
Vice President Vance defended the Trump administration’s handling of the files related to Epstein during a press conference in Canton, Ohio, after an appearance to promote the “big, beautiful bill.”
In his first six months in the role, Vance has emerged as a warrior for Trump, vigorously promoting and defending the president while twisting away from his past stances on a range of topics.
Trump has asked a US court to order a swift deposition for billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the president’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.
Trump acknowledged starvation in Gaza after largely deflecting on the issue, even as world leaders and humanitarian organizations warned more than 20 months of Israeli bombardment and aid restrictions had left nearly two million Palestinians in a hunger crisis.
Trump’s comments during a visit to Scotland were at odds with his close ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday claimed that “there is no starvation in Gaza.”
Britain is now more actively weighing the recognition of a Palestinian state, a striking shift prompted by public revulsion at the images of starving children in Gaza and intense pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer from lawmakers in his own Labour Party.
Starmer will convene an emergency cabinet meeting later to discuss a peace plan and aid for Gaza, as experts warn the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking during a meeting with Starmer in Scotland, Trump said: “Nobody’s done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess… I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.”
Trump stepped up his criticism of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the war in Ukraine yesterday, and significantly sped up his deadline for Moscow to make peace or face economic consequences.
Trump said that he was “disappointed” with Putin over the war, and said he would give Moscow 10 to 12 days to end the conflict or face a new round of sanctions.
House Republican proposals to name the Kennedy Center after Trump and its opera house after first lady Melania Trump would violate the law by which the Kennedy Center was created.
Harvard University has signaled a willingness to meet the Trump administration’s demand to spend as much as $500 million to end its dispute with the White House as talks between the two sides intensify, four people familiar with the negotiations said.
A coalition of 21 states and Washington, D.C., sued the Trump administration, seeking to block a Department of Agriculture demand that states surrender sensitive personal information about millions of food stamp recipients.
Democrats in the Assembly and Senate will introduce a bill today that would amend the constitution to allow New York to redraw its own congressional lines mid-decade — instead of every 10 years, linked to the U.S. census — if another state does so first.
The pending amendment proposed by Assemblymember Micah Lasher and Sen. Mike Gianaris comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul did not rule out changing the state’s House district boundaries as red states like Texas and Ohio move to mid-decade redistricting.
More than 100 licensed cannabis dispensaries in New York were allowed to open too close to schools and may have to move, state regulators said.
The Office of Cannabis Management, in a memo, bluntly admitted it had miscalculated the distance between the licensed weed sellers and schools, which must be 500-feet apart under state law.
New York State is seeking a nuclear energy czar who could earn as much as $300,000 – more than the governor herself.
State lawmakers are advocating for Hochul to sign legislation that would allow Central New York residents to use the New York State Thruway without paying a toll amid construction on Interstate I-81.
Hochul announced the launch of New York’s inaugural Bulk Energy Storage Request for Proposals (RFP). This initiative aims to procure one gigawatt (GW) of bulk energy storage, contributing to the state’s 6 GW Energy Storage Roadmap.
As of July 24, about 300 of New York’s 731 school districts, or about 41%, had submitted their bell-to-bell cell phone ban proposals to the state Education Department, Hochul said. The plans are due Aug. 1.
Cuomo contended that Mayor Adams’ longshot independent re-election campaign only makes it easier for Democratic Socialist Mamdani to become mayor, saying: “If you’re going to run, even if you’re just a spoiler, then it’s about you and your ego.”
Cuomo made his pitch to voters on the Brian Lehrer show, saying: “You have to know what you’re doing in government…You don’t just come in and roll in a grenade and blow up the system, and you don’t make promises that you can’t actually deliver.”
Campaign finance officials could not verify the billing address of more than 200 credit card contributions Adams’ re-election campaign has submitted for public matching funds, raising questions about the true source of many of his donations.
Adams can go ahead and remove three blocks of the protected bike lane his administration installed on Bedford Avenue in October, even though his own DOT says the move will make the roadway less safe, a state appellate court ruled.
New York City said it’s backing a federal lawsuit to protect more than 60,000 immigrants at risk of losing their legal status.
The city filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, a case challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for certain immigrant groups.
There’s a new proposal to transform an abandoned airfield in Flushing, Queens, into a new housing development. The marshy, abandoned Flushing Airport site in College Point, Queens will land 3,000 new homes under a plan announced by Adams.
Construction is expected to begin in 2028, with New York City Building Trades unions providing both labor and pension fund dollars to finance the project, officials said.
A Brooklyn lawmaker is demanding that Lyft install an age verification program to prevent riders under the age of 16 from renting a Citi Bike or even setting up an account.
New York City health officials said yesterday that they are continuing to investigate a cluster of Legionnaires’ cases in Central Harlem after five residents were recently diagnosed with the disease.
The MTA’s multi-billion-dollar push to upgrade the subway’s aging signal system is years behind schedule and millions over budget, according to a report by one of the agency’s consultants.
New York’s oldest residents are finding it hard to pay their bills, buy healthy food or leave their home — and they are dealing with feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression, a new city survey found.
The Newburgh school board suspended former Acting Superintendent Lisa Buon based on 10 disciplinary charges that claimed she improperly made changes to administrative jobs, started a new reading program and proposed executive position salary increases.
The state attorney general’s office has reached a settlement with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office that calls for the department to improve conditions at the county jail following a more than two-year investigation.
At least five City of Schenectady attorneys are among those with visions of succeeding retiring City Court Judge Mark Caruso now that the presumptive front runner has dropped out of the race.
An attorney from the Finger Lakes has been accused of stealing nearly $20,000 while working as a senior lawyer in county legal offices that represent children involved in the judicial system.
An ad campaign from American Eagle featuring actress Sydney Sweeney has sparked backlash over what users on social media have deemed racist undertones — or overtones, some say.
Much of the criticism has swirled around the campaign’s title: “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” a play on “good genes.”
Photo credit: George Fazio.
