Good morning, it’s Thursday.
I was at a conference at the beginning of the week in Saratoga where, along with the usual afternoon snack options (chips, Kind bars, fruit, coffee, soda, water, etc.), the host provided an assortment of ice cream treats, including sandwiches, what looked like Nutty Buddies or something similar, and what I used to call a Chief Crunchie, but apparently is now known as something more PC.
This was a stroke of brilliance, because 1) it was very hot outside and a cool treat was incredibly welcome, 2) ice cream provided a much-needed sugar burst to help people stay awake after lunch, and 3) this was a novel and inexpensive hit of nostalgia that added a unique twist on the usual conference fare.
The sight of people munching happily away on their ice cream treats brought me back to the days of my youth, when I used to chase the ice cream truck while spending summer vacations in the Rockaway with my paternal grandparents.
Back then, everything chocolate was my jam and I didn’t really bother considering anything else. As I got older, I did branch out somewhat – I do like a nice Strawberry Shortcake Bar (as they’re known these days, I guess) every now and again, and a Flying Saucer is also nice when made with high-quality vanilla soft serve.
One thing I could never get down with, though, was a Creamsicle. To this day, the orange and vanilla combination reminds me of baby aspirin. But this classic combination has, according to the interwebs, been enjoying a comeback of late, with the marriage of tangy citrus and creamy vanilla showing up in everything from yogurt and ice box cakes to cocktails and air freshener.
The creamsicle origin story is actually pretty interesting. First, it has its roots in the invention of the Popsicle (yes, this name is trademarked), which happened – like so many good things – entirely by accident.
As the story goes, an 11-year-old kid named Frank Epperson, who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, one day accidentally left his cup of soda with a stirring stick still in it outside overnight. When he returned, the drink had frozen into a delicious hand-held treat. He called this the “Epsicle” (like “icicle” and “Epperson” merged), and the invention quickly became a local neighborhood favorite.
The vanilla and orange combination that became today’s modern-day creamsicle was developed in the 1930s by the Joe Lowe Company, which acquired the Popsicle brand in the 1920s. Other fruit-plus-vanilla versions were later introduced, including cherry, grape, and blueberry. Another popular creamscibse-adjacent treat is the Fudgesicle, which happens to be one of my personal favorites.
The word “creamsicle” is used to refer to anything that is orange-and-vanilla flavored, but technically speaking, Creamsicle is a branded bar sold by Good Humor, which won the trademark war with Popsicle back in the day. (If you want to go very deep down a legal rabbit hole on this one, click here).
Today is National Creamsicle Day, and it’s certainly going to be the perfect weather for enjoying this any other cold, sweet treat or drink. We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds, with temperatures topping out in the mid-to-high 80s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump suggested that he was powerless to control President Vladimir V. Putin ahead of a planned meeting on tomorrow in Alaska, saying he could not convince the Russians to stop killing Ukrainian civilians or hacking American court records.
The White House has largely avoided predicting deliverables that might come out of the meeting, noting it will likely take a follow-up summit involving both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for any concrete progress to be made on a ceasefire.
European leaders said they hammered out a strategy with Trump for his meeting with Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, including an insistence that any peace plan must start with a cease-fire and not be negotiated without Ukraine at the table.
Yesterday, National Guard troops deployed to one of the highest-profile parts of the nation’s capital: the National Mall, which contains the Washington Monument and several Smithsonian museums, among other attractions.
Residents in one Washington, DC neighborhood protested the increased police presence after the White House said the number of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital would ramp up and federal officers would be on the streets around the clock.
Chanting “Go home fascists,” the protesters implored drivers to turn away from the checkpoint on 14th Street, warning them that they could be stopped for any number of infractions, which included not wearing seatbelts or busted taillights.
A man accused of throwing a sandwich at a federal agent who was patrolling Washington this week, after calling him and other agents “fascists,” was charged with assaulting a federal officer.
A federal appeals court panel cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue refusing to spend billions of dollars in foreign aid, finding that aid organizations that had sued to recover the money lacked the legal right to bring the challenge.
The decision, which centered on President Trump’s authority to withhold funding already appropriated by Congress, handed the White House a significant legal victory.
Trump affirmed his growing influence over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington by announcing the new class of Kennedy Center honorees and revealing that he would host this year’s ceremony personally.
Trump rewrote the script on how Sylvester Stallone came to play “Rocky” when he told a Kennedy Center crowd that film executives insisted the aspiring actor play the title character in the 1976 film.
Historians and free speech advocates have begun to speak out to express their alarm at the White House’s announcement of a wide-ranging review of exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution’s museums and galleries.
Gov. Kathy Hochul spent time in Queens this week, talking about education opportunities for CUNY students, to seniors about Medicaid cuts and promising small business owners she’s trying to help them.
Hochul announced that new artificial intelligence specialized degrees will be offered at the University at Buffalo this fall.
Hochul might ordinarily relish the king-making power that she wields in New York as its most powerful Democrat. But in the New York City mayor’s race, she has didn’t endorse in the primary and still has not backed its winner, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
A task force appointed by Hochul is recommending that the state spend at least $15 million per year and create state-level oversight to bolster its troubled guardianship system.
Eight former judges filed a “friend of the court” legal brief seeking dismissal of a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to invalidate a state law that prohibits federal agents from arresting people for civil immigration violations at New York courthouses.
New York state has the second-highest kindergartner vaccination rate in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said that the estimated value of the state Common Retirement Fund was $283.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of state fiscal year 2025-26.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James is suing Early Warning Services, the company behind the electronic payment platform Zelle after she says it failed to protect users from widespread fraud.
James released bodycam video as part of her ongoing investigation into the death of Brian Czornyj, a Poughkeepsie man who was shot by police while wielding a samurai sword in June.
Mayor Eric Adams vetoed two City Council bills that would boost minimum wages for grocery delivery workers to more than $20 an hour, a move that came after his top aide, Randy Mastro, launched an internal advocacy effort against the measures.
Adams said that he issued the vetoes because he feared the increase in prices would burden struggling New Yorkers already facing an affordability crisis.
The City Council criticized Adams’ veto in a statement and said it was considering its next steps. The council could override the mayor’s veto with a two-thirds majority.
Former Gov. David Paterson is backing a new horse in the crowded field for New York City mayor, putting his support behind Adams’ bid to hang onto City Hall after initially supporting Andrew Cuomo.
Adams, who has 7% support in the latest Siena poll, “is kicking it into high gear,” Paterson said, arguing that Cuomo would be a “national hero” if he dropped out of the race.
Mamdani brought his anti-Trump tour to Staten Island, where he said “despite the caricatures” of the island, he was confident he could make inroads because of his focus on affordability and immigration.
Infamous Staten Island artist-activist Scott LoBaido said he was arrested by cops after first trying to confront the Democratic socialist at the event in a Stapleton Heights restaurant — and continuing the protest outside with a bullhorn.
Errol Louis: “It seems clear Mamdani is learning as he encounters voters on the campaign trail, as one would hope all candidates are doing in the home stretch of a tough race.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is rolling out a new ad that ties the policies of “radical” Democrats like Mamdani to the future outlook of the Democratic Party.
The new message, targeting 25 vulnerable House Democrats across the country with a modest ad buy on digital platforms, hammers the party on “Project 2026” and outlines what the Republicans say Democrats will offer voters in the midterms.
Nearly 20,000 former and current New York City cabdrivers whose licenses were suspended after an arrest could receive as much as $140 million from the city because taxi regulators did not provide them a meaningful way to appeal the suspensions.
Broadway theater owners squared off against rappers yesterday in a monumental fight over whether to open a casino in Times Square.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will hold three public hearings next week ahead of a vote to enact planned fare increases that would jack up the price of a subway or bus ride to $3.
The MTA unveiled 70 new seats at Grand Central Madison’s Long Island Rail Road mezzanine on Tuesday, effectively doubling the number of seats at the station.
There have now been 90 confirmed cases of legionnaires’ disease in central Harlem, and 15 people are currently hospitalized battling the disease, the city’s health department announced this week.
The New York City parks department has used a city-owned Bronx lot as an unofficial garbage dump for decades, and locals say the stench has grown so horrendous it’s made a nearby greenway all but unbearable to traverse.
Eleven Madison Park, the elegant, internationally acclaimed Manhattan restaurant whose climate-minded move to an all-vegan menu four and a half years ago was hailed as both brilliant and baffling, is bringing back meat.
A Long Island business owner was sentenced to four years in federal prison for stealing more than $1.7 million in pandemic relief funds, which he spent on luxury watches, cryptocurrency and private school tuition, officials said.
A Galway man was arrested for allegedly threatening and harassing the grieving family of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The Saratoga Casino Hotel Foundation has begun accepting applications for this year’s grant cycle from nonprofits that work to improve county residents’ health and quality of life.
A dry spell at the height of the tourism season is straining water supplies in Saratoga Springs, leading city officials to ask residents to voluntarily restrict their water usage.
Two upstate residents bought tickets to Bad Bunny’s monthlong concert series in Puerto Rico and traveled to the island this month only to discover that their tickets were fake.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
