Good morning, it’s Wednesday of a four-day workweek for those who were lucky enough to have Monday off.
Looking ahead at the forecast, we’re about to move into a period of extremely cold temperatures – like, we’re talking a below-zero feel situation that is going to hang around until the end of the month. I’m looking at single digits this coming weekend, which is really going to put a damper on the outdoor running situation.
Today and tomorrow are going to feel downright balmy in comparison, with highs in the high 20s (today) and 30s (tomorrow), before taking a decidedly downward turn.
It is most definitely soup season! I wrote not long ago about my mixed feelings regarding French onion soup. I feel similarly about clam chowder, and I know I’m not alone.
Most people seem to favor the creamy New England style of chowder over the thinner, tomato-based Manhattan style. I, too, feel this way, though there’s a caveat to that. Bad New England chowder is really, REALLY bad. Pasty, gloopy, tasteless….just no. when done right, though, it is downright transporting.
For the record, if you want to see what strikes me as a fairly arbitrary breakdown of favorite soups by state, click here. Matzo (AKA Matzah, Matzoh etc.) ball soup is supposedly New York’s top choice, and while I do generally agree with that – if you can find it. I am a big fan of the version done by the Capital City Diner, if you happen to be in the neighborhood.
Traditionally speaking, a chowder features some sort of seafood – clams, fish, lobster etc. – vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots, celery), salt pork or bacon, milk or cream and/or tomatoes.
New England and Manhattan are the most familiar varieties of clam chowder, but there are other variations, including Long Island, which is a hybrid tomato and cream situation, and New Jersey, which is tomato-based and also features Old Bay seasoning and asparagus.
Fish and/or clam chowder is believed to have originated with indigenous people, though it was popularized by fisherman working in France and England and also settlers of Nova Scotia, who used a large pot called a chaudière make communal soups for their shared meals.
This tradition arrived in the New England colonies sometime in the 17th or 18th centuries with locally-caught fish and hardtack (a ship’s biscuit) used to thicken the soup.
There’s also a competing origin story that is based on the old English word for “fish peddler”, which is “jowter“. Do with that what you will.
It is believed that the first restaurant version of clam chowder was served at the Ye Olde Union Oyster House in Boston – America’s oldest restaurant, which still serves today.
It became a local staple and was immortalized in a 1832 book called “The American Frugal Housewife”, because the ingredients – salt pork, fish, onions, herbs, milk and/or cream, and crackers or potatoes were generally easy to come by and not terribly expensive.
There are a number of days dedicated to celebrating chowders – including today, which is National New England Clam Chowder Day. The City of Boston, however, and Legal Seafoods celebrated their own chowder day last week. If you miss both of these somehow, you get another bite of the apple on Feb. 25, which is National Clam Chowder Day (no specific version designation).
Since we’ve already dispensed with the weather, and the less said about that, the better, et’s get down to business.
In the headlines…
For roughly one hour and 45 minutes, President Donald Trump meandered through his accomplishments and grievances, attacked perceived enemies, threatened allies and invoked God to mark the one-year anniversary of his return to office.
Thousands of workers left work early yesterday in New York City and across the nation to protest the one-year anniversary of Trump’s second inauguration amid simmering anger over ICE and the president’s efforts to take control of Greenland,
On a frigid afternoon, protestors turned out in various locations, including Central Park, Prospect Park, Washington Square Park and Trump Tower in Midtown. There were a projected 800 events associated with the movement slated to be held nationwide.
Air Force One yesterday, en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, landed at Joint Base Andrews after crew members identified “a minor electrical issue.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the issue was found after takeoff and, out of an abundance of caution, Air Force One turned around and landed at the base before taking off in a different aircraft.
Trump signed an executive order stopping Wall Street investors from buying and owning single-family homes, amid his push to focus on affordability ahead of the November midterm elections.
Trump said that “large” Wall Street investors have bought a “growing share of single-family homes,” creating competition with “hardworking young families.
NATO military chiefs met today for what the alliance’s top officer predicted would be a “detailed, frank discussion,” as President Trump threatens to take Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a fellow NATO member.
Trump declined to detail what lengths he will go to in order to achieve his aim of making Greenland part of the United States, saying only: “You’ll find out.”
A sharp sell-off in U.S. assets, triggered by Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs on European allies over a dispute regarding Greenland, spilled into overseas markets.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada did not mention the United States or Trump by name in a speech at the World Economic Forum yesterday, but it was clear where he placed the blame for what he called a “rupture” in the world order.
A few years ago, buyers were battling for homes. Now, they’re the ones with leverage. In December, there were 47% more home sellers than buyers — roughly 631,000 extra — the largest gap in records going back to 2013, according to new Redfin estimates.
In a marked change in tone, Trump said the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis was a “tragedy” about which he “felt terribly,” adding that the immigration agents he has deployed sometimes are “going to make a mistake.”
Federal prosecutors served six grand jury subpoenas to Minnesota officials as part of an investigation into whether they obstructed or impeded federal law enforcement during a sweeping immigration operation in Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Masked federal agents descended on a home in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday and dragged a man wearing nothing but his underwear and slip-on shoes from his doorstep, through a snowbank and into an idling S.U.V. He was later released without charges.
Lindsey Halligan, tapped by Trump to prosecute his enemies, has left the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Attorney General Pam Bondi said late yesterday after a judge called Halligan’s bid to remain in office a “charade.”
Bondi, who expressed reservations about Halligan’s fitness to serve after her appointment, blamed the state’s Democratic senators, who used their prerogative to block appointments, for forcing the onetime Trump defense lawyer to leave her post.
“Her departure is a significant loss,” Bondi wrote on social media. “While we feel her absence keenly, we are confident that she will continue to serve her country in other ways.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha shared that they are expecting their fourth child in a joyous announcement on social media.
“We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy. Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July,” the couple said in a statement in a joint Instagram post.
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $260 billion budget proposal that she said will expand access to mental health services, child care and housing at a time when New York’s high cost of living continues to be a significant challenge for her administration.
The proposed executive budget continues increases in school aid for every district and increases Medicaid spending by several billion dollars to make up for federal cuts enacted last year.
Hochul is pushing a plan to tax ZYN pouches and other nicotine products at the same rate as cigarettes — but fuming-mad critics say she should back off what they say are less-harmful smoking alternatives.
Hochul’s election-year budget proposal included record investments in education to the tune of more than $39 billion — but that doesn’t necessarily mean New York City schoolchildren will come out ahead.
Hochul provided a baffling defense for not tackling any major public safety issues — notably the state’s “Raise the Age” law — in her budget, saying: “We have already dealt with many criminal justice reforms that others didn’t think we’d be able to accomplish.”
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman roasted Hochul for praising Manhattan’s top prosecutor and saying he might one day take federal office — but she doubled down on her support.
Hochul is pitching an election-year budget that delivers popular new programs without raising taxes. But it’s still exposing friction with the party’s left flank — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Hochul proposed a four-year extension of Mamdani’s control of the New York City public schools, after the mayor backed off a campaign promise to end the much-debated educational reform.
Hochul, Mamdani and others decried last week’s ICE arrest of a City Council staffer during a routine asylum interview with federal officials, but a review by Gothamist found more than a dozen immigrants in similar circumstances.
As Hochul runs for a second full term this year, the public no longer has that view into how she’s spending her time because the most recent schedules her office has released are from September 2024.
Next month, the state Department of Motor Vehicles will close for several days to allow for the launch of its new software system.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mamdani protested with striking Big Apple nurses yesterday, specifically taking aim at hospital CEOs’ big-bucks salaries.
Negotiations between the New York State Nurses Association and three hospital systems broke down again over the weekend, dashing the hopes of a potential resolution to a strike involving 15,000 nurses now in its second week.
The Democratic Socialists, speaking to a boisterous crowd in front of Mount Sinai West on the Upper West Side, called on hospital executives to return to the negotiating table to resolve the contract impasse that prompted some 15,000 nurses to walk off the job.
“ This is about safe working conditions. This is about a fair contract. This is about dignity,” Mamdani said to nurses bundled up in bright red New York State Nurses Association hats and scarves.
Mamdani called for abolishing ICE during an interview on ABC’s “The View”, telling the hosts he doesn’t see federal agents doing anything to help public safety.
Mamdani, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Uganda, has been critical of ICE for many years. Last year during his campaign, he said in a June interview that ICE is “a rogue agency, one that has no interest in laws, no interest in order.”
Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch have little in common. But both of their political futures hinge on the safety of the city.
At the same time Mamdani wants free buses in New York City, the city is losing close to $1 billion dollars in fare evasion a year.
New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, a holdover from former Mayor Eric Adams’ Administration, has submitted his resignation.
The staff running the federal World Trade Center Health Program has dropped by 25% as the number of sick 9/11 survivors the group treats is expected to increase by 10,000 this year.
The MetroCard remains the hottest ticket in town for thousands of people who work at JFK Airport.
New York City’s latest housing development fight is approaching a decisive moment in Greenpoint, two decades and four mayors after a major neighborhood rezoning plan fueled skyscraper development along North Brooklyn’s waterfront.
City drivers were slapped with a record number of tickets last year for illegally using traffic cones to score coveted parking spots — but even their critics say the scofflaws deserve some sympathy.
A bill in the state Legislature allowing bodega cats to legally live in retail stores, while ensuring such things as comfortable quarters, nutritious food and medical care for the hard-working felines, has made it into committee, a step on its way to potential passage.
State Comptroller Tom iNapoli’s office says there are nearly $55.5 million in gift card balances in New York City. Of that, some $15.5 million was from gift cards that were last used before 2021.
In the latest sign of the persistent financial challenges facing the nation’s largest performing arts organization, the Met announced it would lay off workers, cut the salaries of top-paid executives and postpone a new production from its coming season.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who is leading the Democratic Party’s uphill fight to retake the Senate, said she is building strategies partly on how the party flipped three of her state’s congressional seats blue in 2024, including one on Long Island.
Meteorologists in Albany are watching a major winter storm expected to sweep through the southern and eastern parts of the country this weekend. Whether the storm hits or not, they advise residents to bundle up as temperatures plunge to below zero.
The Watervliet man convicted of assault last year in the horrific dirt bike crash that nearly killed a UAlbany student was sentenced to prison after his victim described how the injuries he inflicted in the hit-and-run crash deprived her of possibilities in life.
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy said he plans to appoint Assistant Police Chief Brian Whipple to lead the department once Chief Eric Clifford retires on Friday.
A boil water advisory issued after a water main break Monday is likely to last through today, as lab tests are completed to ensure tap water is safe to drink.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
