Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
This was a nutty kind of storm. We got around 6 inches of very powdery and easy to remove snow. But just a few miles away in the City of Albany, about three inches – give or take – fell, and a few hours away, in New York City, they were digging out from a foot or more. Nor’easters are funny like that.
One thing I did NOT do before the storm hit was go to the grocery store. I try to stay away at all costs so as not to get swept up in the “must stock up on milk, eggs, and bread!” crowd. With the exception of bread, which I keep a stash of in the freezer, we don’t go through a lot of so-called staples in this house, and I can certainly spend a few days drinking my coffee black if needed.
I actually keep a pretty well-stocked pantry and freezer, as a rule, much to the chagrin of my significant other, who thinks that there is far too much “useless” and nonperishable food in the house. But it makes me feel safe to know that I could, if absolutely necessary, eat for a few weeks without going to the store.
It probably wouldn’t be the most balanced of diets, but we definitely wouldn’t starve.
Among the various different bags and boxes in the pantry are a few of what I consider treats – some Lesser Evil popcorn and cheese puffs, some sourdough pretzels, and some Terra Chips. I try not to do a whole lot of snacking, as a rule, though being snowed in requires some psychological pick-me-ups.
One thing that I DON’T have, but I think this should be remedied ASAP, is tortilla chips, of which I am a big fan. I am also a big fan of corn chips – mostly Fritos, though I wouldn’t turn down a snack size bag of Dipsy Doodles, either. It is important to note, however, that corn chips and tortilla chips, though the names are sometimes used interchangeably, are NOT, in fact, the same thing.
Yes, they are both chips that are made out of corn. However, tortilla chips are made with nixtamalized corn, while corn chips are made from cornmeal dough that is NOT nixtamalized.
What is nixtamalized corn, you ask? A good question.
In the most basic sense, nixtamalization is an indigenous practice that dates back thousands of years and transforms dry corn kernels into something edible – masa – which is the dough that is used to make things like tortillas and tamales. Masa fed enter civilizations of ancient people, such as the Aztecs and the Mayans, and continues to be a foundational technique in Latino cooking.
In the process of nixtamalization, dried kernels of maize are soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution made with hardwood ash to help improve its digestibility, increase its nutritional value, and boost its flavor. This process removes the tough outer hull of maize and release niacin (Vitamin B3) while getting rid of dangerous toxins.
The result of nixtamalization can be eaten whole (as hominy in stews such as pozole) or ground into masa harina (AKA hominy grits). Mixed with warm water and salt to form a dough that should be the consistency of Play-Doh, masa harina is the base of authentic corn tortillas that can subsequently be turned into chips.
Tortilla chips have competing origin stories, but most people believe they were the brainchild of a woman named Rebecca Webb Carranza, who, the 1940s, was president of her family’s president of El Zarape Tortilla Factory in Los Angeles. Interested in reducing waste, she came up with the idea of repurposing misshapen tortillas by cutting them up, frying and salting them, and selling them in little bags as a snack.
Happy National Tortilla Chip Day! Some chains – including Chipotle, which, in my opinion, has pretty good chips, if not much else – are offering freebies (chips and queso, too!) while supplies last.
The winter weather advisory is over and now – depending on where you live – the digging out is fully underway.
Here in the immediate vicinity of the Capital Region, we didn’t get much in the way of accumulation and some melting did occur yesterday. That’s not going to continue today, since temperatures are only going to top out in the mid-20s. There will be a mix of sun and clouds, and a few flurries could pop up throughout the day.
In the headlines…
Some New York and New Jersey residents won’t see their power come back on for days, according to estimates from utility companies. Tens of thousands of customers were in the dark as the region dug itself out from the biggest blizzard in years.
Blizzard-battered New York City is set to get slammed with even more snow later this week. The most recent storm is now officially one of the city’s 10 biggest winter dumps on record.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said no one has so far died on the city’s streets after a blizzard dumped up to two feet of snow – a sharp contrast from the January’s storm and its frigid aftermath, when at least 20 people were found dead outdoors in the cold.
His administration has dispatched hundreds of outreach workers to offer homeless people access to heated environs — on buses, in hospitals, at schools.
The Big Apple’s medical examiner has formally ruled that 15 of the people who lost their lives outdoors during the recent historic deep freeze died from the brutal cold.
Mamdani said that street encampments would not be torn down during one of the worst blizzards in New York City’s history — even as homeless people kept camping out and rejecting offers for shelter.
The city’s overdose prevention centers appear to have become a fixture of Mamdani’s winter emergency response.
The blizzard forced criminal arraignment courts across the City to remain closed until 2 p.m. yesterday, delaying the processing of newly arrested people and raising fresh concerns about potential backlogs in already strained holding facilities and courthouses.
New York City schools will be back in-person today after yesterday’s first actual snow day in years — prompting and an avalanche of protests.
Victoria Mompoint, who appeared in a recording of the call with Mamdani for his public snow day proclamation, is urging the mayor to reverse his decision to reopen schools today, calling the conditions “unsafe”.
Mompoint said she didn’t think many of her peers will be able to make it to school, noting that not everyone has the right snow gear. Meanwhie, a Change.org petition demanding a second snow day has amassed over 88,000 signatures to date.
Law enforcement advocates are demanding arrests after NYPD police officers were filmed being repeatedly pelted with snow as they walked through a massive, pre-planned snowball fight in Washington Square Park.
The worst of the snowfall wound down but the odds for a workable morning commute remained unclear for Long Island and New Jersey straphangers, with NJ Transit’s rail service still suspended and LIRR set to resume a limited schedule.
Some NJ Transit light rail service began returning yesterday afternoon as the agency announced broader service would resume today following the blizzard that buried parts of New Jersey under more than a foot of snow, officials said.
The British police said they had released Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States, following an arrest the previous day amid allegations that he had passed confidential government information to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The longevity influencer Peter Attia has resigned from his position as a contributor to CBS News, about three weeks after the revelation of his relationship with Epstein.
Democratic lawmakers plan to bring people allegedly victimized by Epstein to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tonight.
In the address, Trump will get his highest-profile opportunity to convince skeptical Americans that his policies are working — and that a promised economic golden age is right around the corner.
Trump is facing abysmal approval ratings as he prepares to address the nation, according to a series of new polling released this week. Only 39 percent of Americans approve of the way he is handling the job of president, one survey found.
Tariffs, the cost of living, immigration: The president has a careful line to walk on major issues.
The gold-medal winning U.S. women’s hockey team declined Trump’s invitation to attend the State of the Union address.
A Trump-appointed federal judge permanently barred the Justice Department from releasing a report by the special counsel Jack Smith detailing President Trump’s mishandling of reams of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021.
FedEx filed a lawsuit demanding a refund of the U.S. tariffs that the Supreme Court ruled were unlawful last week.
A former National Park Service (NPS) ranger who was fired last year for hanging a transgender pride flag in Yosemite National Park sued multiple federal agencies over their termination, arguing it violated their First Amendment rights.
The State Department said it received hundreds of calls from U.S. citizens in Mexico to its 24/7 crisis hotline after the government killed a cartel leader known as “El Mencho”.
Officials urged citizens to shelter in place amid violent clashes and chaos following the cartel leader’s death. Most of the calls directed to the State Department’s hotline, which went live on Sunday, pertain to flight cancellations.
The man suspected of kidnapping Nancy Guthrie on Feb. 1 appears to have made a prior visit to the missing woman’s southern Arizona home.
An image of the person believed to be a suspect showed him outside Guthrie’s home at some point before her apparent abduction. He is not carrying a backpack in that photo.
New York state will fund a study looking at ways to improve commuter rail service on the west side of the Hudson River, U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in a joint statement.
New York’s seven House Republicans are pressing for a face-to-face meeting with Hochul to discuss the state’s “downward spiral”. Hochul spokesperson Jen Goodman said the governor wants to see the delegation focus on issues impacting their constituents.
Hochul won’t participate in the taxpayer-funded matching funds program as she seeks reelection. Her campaign said she is “proud to be able to decline taxpayer dollars that could be better used to fund programs that put more money in New Yorkers’ pockets.”
Hochul, a Democrat, said she made the decision not to opt into the program to save taxpayer money. Statewide candidates can get more than $3 million through the program, which is in place for the first time in a gubernatorial election this year.
New York State may soon allow licensed liquor stores to sell cannabis-infused drinks — but they would only be able to stock low-dosage options.
Drew Warshaw, who is running to unseat longtime Democratic incumbent Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, has been touting his affordable housing bona fides — despite having worked for a nonprofit developer with a checkered past.
Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who ignited a power clash when he attempted to strong-arm state lawmakers against appointing DiNapoli as New York’s comptroller in 2007, has resurfaced as one of Warshaw’s top financial backers.
After 15 years – and a brief foray to Washington – Marc Molinaro plans to return to the state Assembly. Molinaro officially announced yesterday that he would run for Assembly District 102 upstate following reporting previewing the decision.
A federal judge has rejected New York corrections Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III’s motion to be dismissed as a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of Robert L. Brooks Sr., beaten to death at Marcy Correctional Facility in December 2024.
Sex offender Jeffrey Epstein invited Andrew Cuomo to his island in October 2014, while the former governor was traveling to the Caribbean campaigning for his first reelection as governor of New York, according to text messages released by the DOJ.
Wireless providers and broadcast TV companies were removed from a series of proposed cybersecurity rules set to go in effect this year after an intensive lobbying blitz that apparently convinced state regulators to walk back the measures.
New York’s left-leaning Working Families Party threw its weight behind Rep. Antonio Reynoso in a closely watched Democratic House primary, breaking with Mamdani and his handpicked candidate, DSA Assemblymember Claire Valdez.
Black homeowners are fuming over Mamdani’s threat that he’ll raise their property taxes by nearly 10% — with some saying it could force them out of New York City.
Mamdani’s so-called “last-resort” proposal to raise property taxes in the city has political observers questioning whether his gambit to get the governor to back a wealth tax could backfire for Democrats ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Mamdani will name Sideya Sherman as the director of the city Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Commission. She most recently served as the commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice under Mayor Adams.
A group combating antisemitism is running cheeky new ads atop 4,000 New York City yellow cabs, taking a swipe at Mamdani’s “free bus” plan.
Mamdani’s chief mouthpiece Joe Calvello is blocking X users from commenting on his posts – a move outraged advocates called a clear First Amendment violation.
On his first day in office, Mamdani’s administration quietly began fining New Yorkers for not separating their organic waste for compost collection.
“Since Jan. 1, we have been enforcing across the board,” said Vincent Gragnani, a spokesman for the Department of Sanitation in a statement. So far this year, the department has issued 425 summonses for failure to separate food and yard waste, he said.
A 9/11 cancer survivor is calling on Mamdani to release all city documents about deadly Ground Zero toxins — after a bombshell memo showed officials knew they could be deadly all along.
Mamdani has not fueled an exodus among Democrats in the nation’s largest city, according to voter registration data reviewed by Newsweek.
In the weeks before their son, Jabez, was shot by NYPD officers, the Chakraborty family did everything they could to get him treatment. They were forsaken at every turn.
The fallout from a Tourette syndrome advocate blurting the N-word during a presentation by two Black actors at the BAFTA ceremony should generate more compassion for both sides, said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who has from the condition.
Caroline Shinkle, a corporate lawyer with degrees from MIT and Harvard Law, is entering the race to replace longtime Rep. Jerry Nadler in a deeply Manhattan congressional district.
The Tin Building by Jean-Georges, a luxury food hall at the South Street Seaport that was beset by financial troubles and controversy, closed yesterday and will be replaced this summer with an immersive experience known as Balloon Museum.
A Hunter College professor who sparked widespread outrage after she was caught making a “blatantly racist” comment during a New York City public schools video meeting is being reviewed by her employer — but may keep her job thanks to her tenure.
A home health aide accused of killing a 67-year-old Stillwater woman by neglecting her care pleaded guilty in Saratoga County Court to endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person or incompetent or physically disabled person.
An Albany Law School student drove to Nevada and rammed his vehicle into an energy facility near the Hoover Dam last week before taking his own life in what law enforcement authorities described as an apparent act of terrorism.
During winter break, parents of children at two Schenectady elementary schools got bad news: Students are doing so poorly the state is ordering the district to put both under the direct control of the school superintendent.
National Association of Letter Carrier members, retirees and allies hugged a sidewalk along Central Avenue over the weekend, days before collective bargaining talks were set to begin, bearing signs reading “Fair contract now!” and “Fight like hell!”
A Rensselaer County high school graduate-turned-biotech executive was among nine people killed in California’s deadliest recorded avalanche last week.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
