Good morning, it’s Thursday.
As you know, I generally shy away from controversial topics in this space. But every now and then, an issue is so compelling that I make an exception. Now is one of those times.
And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with politics, though the silly season has indeed reached fever pitch and things are pretty darn crazy out there. This is something else entirely, something potentially even more divisive and polarizing.
Candy corn.
Yes, ’tis the season for the trio-colored, achingly sweet kernels that resemble nothing truly found in nature to make their annual appearance. And before you come at me, I DO know that candy corn is available year round and comes in a variety of color and flavor combinations.
If you surmised that based on the above paragraph I am on Team No Candy Corn, you are correct. Sorry, not sorry.
I have a strong opinion on this subject, which is to say that I find candy corn wholly inedible. I don’t why anyone would waste the calories on consuming something so downright unsatisfying when there are Reese’s peanut butter cups and mini Snickers bars and even baby Almond Joys available.
And I am not alone. One might argue that I’m in very good company, actually, because no less a star than Taylor Swift has weighed in on candy corn, and her take is not good. She once said that she finds it confusing because “it’s too many different tastes.”
Candy corn is routinely ranked among the top most hated Halloween treats, except, oddly, in Pennsylvania, Kansas, New Jersey, and New Mexico. (I could insert a David Paterson-esque Garden State joke here, but will refrain). Interestingly, the states where the bulk of U.S.-made candy corn is produced – Indiana and Ohio – aren’t on that list, and that’s saying something.
But someone, somewhere, must be eating candy corn – or at least buying it to give to trick-or-treaters in hopes that they don’t come back next year? – because about 35 million pounds (9 billion kernels) of the stuff is sold every year across the nation, according to an estimate by the National Confectioners Association.
Apparently, New Yorkers are buying candy corn, and maybe they’re holding onto it until…next Halloween? That would be ill-advised, though, because despite its waxy texture, it only maintains its freshness if left unopened for about nine months or so.
Candy corn was originally called “chicken feed” by its reported inventor, George Renninger, who was a candymaker at the Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia, PA. It was then picked up by the Goelitz Confectionery Company, which later went on to become the modern-day Jelly Belly Candy Co., best known for its many flavored jelly beans.
To be clear, as if it wasn’t perfectly obvious, there is no corn in candy corn. It’s made primarily out of a mix of sugar, corn syrup, fondant, vanilla flavor, and marshmallow creme.
There are some extras in there, including, of course, artificial color, and gelatin, which gives the candy its signature chewy texture, but also can be problematic for those who are either vegetarian or Kosher, as it can be derived from animal products or bugs. (For strict vegans, other ingredients like honey and beeswax could be an issue).
Happy National Candy Corn Day, all. I, for one, will not be celebrating other than to bring this observance to your attention, but you do you.
Sadly, the spate of nice weather is officially over. Today we will see rain, rain, and more rain, with the addition of some possible thunder thrown in. There could be a risk of flooding in some areas. Temperatures will struggle to break out of the low 50s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump said he reached an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on soybean purchases, fentanyl precursors, and rare earth exports, paving the way for a finalized trade deal to be signed “pretty soon”.
“On the scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “We have a deal. Now, every year we will renegotiate the deal. But I think the deal will go on for a long time.”
A South Korean official laid out more information about the terms of a trade agreement between South Korea and the U.S., including a $350 billion investment package that Trump has been seeking.
The President also wrote on Truth Social: “A very large scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of Oil and Gas from the Great State of Alaska.”
The president signaled he would discuss the sale of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips in a summit yesterday, a move U.S. officials warned would be a “massive” national security mistake.
As Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the chip making giant Nvidia, traveled to Asia to meet with President Trump this week, his company’s value topped $5 trillion. It was a show of wealth that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Prosecutors in Illinois said that they had charged a man with threatening to kill President Trump on social media, even after federal agents spoke with him about the threatening language he posted online.
Trump has ordered the military to “immediately” begin testing nuclear weapons for the first time in more than three decades in response to the growing arsenal Russia and China are amassing, he announced yesterday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the United States military conducted another strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four “narco-terrorists” yesterday.
Hegseth said on social media that the strike took place in international waters and was directed at a boat that he said was operated by a “designated terrorist organization” in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is pausing operations for the first time in its history, amid the government shutdown and after the Trump administration cut its funding. In a statement, RFA executive editor Rose Hwang said the stoppage is “due to uncertain funding.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hit back hard at Trump over what he called his “heartless” refusal to extend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding on Nov. 1 as the government shutdown stretches on with no end in sight.
Senate Republicans will block a Democratic bill that would keep federal food aid flowing to 42 million Americans as they try to build pressure to reopen the government, Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday.
Schumer called Trump “a vindictive politician and a heartless man” for refusing to step in and prevent SNAP funding from running out during the ongoing shutdown.
Two major disruptions to the program will upend how New Yorkers on SNAP eat and shop, having a devastating domino effect on grocery stores, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods, grocers and policy experts said.
It’s not often that prosecutors and public defenders agree on policy, but both sides have united behind a bill soon to be considered by Gov. Kathy Hochul that would expand access to the state’s mental health courts.
SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. announced the creation of the SUNY-NY CREATES Technology Innovation Institute and highlighted a $4 million investment that will fund the first two years of the semiconductor research and workforce development program.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo earned nearly $5 million working as a private consultant in 2024, a sum so large it puts him in the top 0.5 percent of New York City earners, and used a pass through company, Innovation Strategies, to avoid disclosing his clients.
Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi threw last-minute support behind Cuomo ahead of New York City’s contentious mayoral election next week, backing a campaign that has seen few endorsements from top Democratic Party leaders.
Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s billionaire former mayor, put another $1.5 million into a super PAC supporting Cuomo’s bid for mayor yesterday, and urged New Yorkers to vote for the former governor.
Filings show the money went to Fix the City, a group run by a longtime Cuomo ally that has been responsible for anti-Mamdani advertising and a get-out-the-vote operation during the campaign.
“Andrew Cuomo has the experience and toughness to stand up for New Yorkers and get things done. I hope you will join me in supporting him,” Bloomberg wrote in a social media post, calling mayor of NYC the “second toughest job in America.”
Mamdani was in the Bronx yesterday, ordering an egg, cheese, and jalapeno, sandwich on a roll and getting an endorsement from the United Bodega Workers of America.
An association representing thousands of New York City bodegas endorsed Mamdani’s bid to become mayor, even though the group previously criticized the Democratic front-runner’s plan to launch government-owned grocery stores in the five boroughs.
Fernando Mateo, the colorful co-founder of the prominent United Bodegas of America, angrily resigned yesterday over the group’s president endorsing Mamdani for New York City mayor – calling it a “betrayal.”
Mamdani’s lead over rival Cuomo shrunk by 3% over the past month, but the frontrunner still maintains a double-digit lead according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday.
A Marist University poll, which came out as hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have already voted early in the Nov. 4 mayoral election, shows Mamdani besting Cuomo by a 48%-to-32% margin, with Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa clinching 16%.
In 1977, at the tail end of another bruising battle for New York City mayor, Mario Cuomo publicly spoke up against bigoted remarks leveled at his opponent. Almost 50 years later, his son is taking a different approach.
The controversy over Mamdani’s criticism of Israel has moved well beyond New York City, where he is the front-runner in the race for mayor, and is roiling American Jews across the nation.
Mamdani’s first and only full-time job outside of politics involved counseling struggling homeowners at a small nonprofit in Queens.
In a zone straddling Brooklyn and Queens that turned out overwhelmingly for Mamdani in the Democratic primary, Republican mayoral nominee Sliwa has cultivated a dedicated following.
Cuomo, who has repeatedly criticized his rival, Mamdani, for living in a rent-stabilized apartment, occupied a rent-stabilized unit himself when he was a young professional living in New York City in the 1980s.
“If Mamdani wins, you are going to see Trump come in here and take over New York City. You mark my words,” Cuomo said on “Straight Shooter with Stephen A.“
Mamdani wouldn’t be the first immigrant mayor. Of the 95 men who have served as mayor of New York (not counting acting mayors), at least two dozen were born outside the United States.
Cuomo’s campaign not-so-subtly showed city mayoral election voters where to find his difficult-to-spot name on the ballot in a video released this week.
The former governor, a distant second in most polls of the New York City mayor’s race, is working harder to attract voters and remind them who he is.
New York City’s mayoral election is shaping up to be a generational battle at the ballot box, with older voters continuing to drive heavy turnout as younger voters show up in increasing numbers.
Republican Hudson Valley Rep. Mike Lawler gave Cuomo a plug for mayor, saying the Democratic ex-governor has a better shot to topple Zohran Mamdani than GOP candidate Sliwa.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Janno Lieber hit the brakes on Mamdani’s key campaign promise to provide free buses across the Big Apple — criticizing the plan as half-baked and much more expensive than proposed.
Lieber said: “I want to make sure that people of limited income get priority in this discussion, that we’re not just giving a ton of money to people who are riding the M104 on the Upper West Side where I grew up.”
The Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead” stunned the city at a time of budgetary peril. New York’s finances are far stronger today, but antagonism from Washington poses a fresh risk.
Members of the New York City Council advanced two of the biggest neighborhood development plans in decades this week, promising to bring 26,500 additional homes to areas across Queens as the city contends with its worst housing crisis in decades.
A real estate developer who funneled tens of thousands of dollars to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ successful campaign four years ago is set to take over a city-owned lot in Coney Island, raising questions about the selection process.
A recreational trail in Central Park meant for joggers and horseback riders has been taken over by city workers using it as a parking lot — with and without official government placards.
The grand reopening of iconic Italian eatery Babbo erupted in chaos when a giant, inflatable rat stationed outside got stabbed — sparking an NYPD raid of the posh restaurant as cops searched in vain for the perpetrator.
Halloween Adventure, a fixture in Lower Manhattan, has long prided itself on being a place where customers and employees can express themselves.
A judge dismissed a counterclaim filed by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman that argued his right to free speech was violated by a lawsuit filed by two Democratic legislators who say his plan to deputize armed citizens was unlawful.
Ronald Rayher, a Milton chiropractor, was sentenced to several years in state prison for recklessly causing the death of a Ticonderoga entertainer by dosing him repeatedly with homemade chloroform for sexual role-play.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin is seeking an apology from the state Office of Children and Family Services for sending a erroneous email to a local news station about child care funding.
Schenectady City Council members have spent the past few nights painstakingly scrutinizing the mayor’s budget proposal, which calls for a 17% property tax increase for 2026, in search of ways to boost projected revenues by about $5.2 million.
For reasons unexplained, Troy ditched the longtime coordinator of its Turkey Troy race. ARE Event Productions was selected after city administration officials declined to extend a contract with George Regan’s company, Special Event Productions Inc.
A fire that killed five people earlier this month has been ruled an arson. The deaths now considered homicides and are under investigation by multiple law enforcement authorities.
Police are searching for the person responsible for lodging a fake bomb threat against the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
