Good morning, it’s Friday!
Yes, spring is now two weeks away, and yes, we are still under a winter weather advisory until noon today.
Sadly, these things, which seem diametrically opposed, can be – and are – both true. A nasty mix of wintry precipitation – snow, rain, freezing rain – which started last night is expected to continue through the morning hours, making the morning commute a dangerous mess. Temperatures will top out somewhere in the high 30s.
The threat of rain showers will continue through the evening, with some patchy fog developing. Things will start looking up tomorrow, Saturday, with temperatures rising into the high 40s, though skies will stay overcast.
There will be more rain showers Saturday night – maybe – and then the sun might make an appearance on (aptly named here) Sunday, with high temperatures flirting with 50 degrees.
It will REALLY warm up on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with highs in the high 60s and perhaps even hitting 70 degrees. All this is to say, it really is getting better. I promise.
In the meantime, let’s change the subject and focus on something sweeter, shall we?
Here’s a statistic that might boggle your mind – it sure messed with mine, especially given the whole “processed foods and sugar are the devil” debate raging at the moment: Oreos are the world’s best-selling cookie, with some 40 to 60 billion (YES, BILLION) sold annually, 20 billion in the U.S. alone.
That works out to about 92 billion Oreos a day. If you laid them end to end, they would circle the Earth dozens of times over. Since this iconic cookie’s inception over a century ago, an eye-popping 500 BILLION+ have been sold, all told.
Actually, if you want to get technical about it, Ores are not, in fact, cookies, but rather biscuits – chocolate sandwich biscuits, to be exact, unless we’re talking about one of the non-chocolate speciality flavors, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.
The Oreo was introduced to the world by the Nabisco Biscuit company in 1912 in beautiful Hoboken, NJ. It was intended to be a competitor to the Hydrox, which was already on the market and very popular in its day.
Many people today likely think Hydox is an Oreo knockoff and would likely tell you that Hydrox is inferior, especially Jewish people of a certain age who wanted desperately to eat Oreos, but had to settle for Hydrox because the former wasn’t kosher (they both are, now). But the reality is that the Hydox came first, compliments of the Kansas-based Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company in 1908.
Oreo wasn’t necessarily a better product, but it did have a better name and also better marketing. And in the court of public opinion, sometimes that’s all that matters. Also, oddly but also in a fascinating ploy, Oreo initially started out cheaper than Hydrox, but then raised its prices in an effort to make its competitor seem like the lower-quality product. This was a gamble, but it worked.
If you really want to go deep on the rise and fall and subsequent resurrection of Hydrox, click here. Hydrox is still around, thanks to Leaf Brands, which has gone back to the cookie’s less-sweet, no artificial additives and high-quality cocoa roots.
For the record, Oreos didn’t become kosher until the late 1990s, when that yummy cream filling started being made out of vegetable oil instead of lard (AKA animal fat).
Nabisco, the company that created the Oreo, became RJR Nabisco in 1985, and then was acquired by Kraft Foods in 2000. Kraft split in 2012, and its global snack business became known as Mondelēz International, of which Nabisco is a subsidiary. Oreos as big business for Mondelēz International, which generates about $4 billion in annual net revenue from the brand.
Sadly, the sweet treat that is billed as America’s best-selling cookie, is not really produced much in America anymore. It was once made right here in New York, (in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, to be exact), but now the bulk of its production occurs, as is the case with so many other products, in Mexico.
There more than 100 different kinds of Oreos in the world, some of which are not available here in the U.S. There’s even a sugar-free version for the “health conscious” cookie consumers out there. Regardless of your preferred flavor profile, it is scientifically proven that three seconds is the optimal amount of time your Oreo of choice should remain submerged in milk.
Today is National Oreo Day, which commemorates the day when the cookie officially debuted in the U.S.
In the headlines…
The House voted down an effort to halt the war against Iran and force President Donald Trump to go to Congress for authorization, as a small bloc of Democrats joined nearly all Republicans in delivering an early sign of support for the war in the Middle East.
The State Department is battling accusations from diplomats and travelers who say the Trump administration endangered U.S. citizens in the Middle East by beginning a war against Iran without adequate plans for helping Americans leave the region.
Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, after mounting criticism over her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.
Trump says he’ll make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that he said would focus on the Western Hemisphere, and nominate Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be Homeland Security secretary.
Minutes after President Trump posted on social media that he was firing Noem as homeland security secretary, she stepped onto the stage of a law enforcement conference in Nashville and began speaking as if she were still leading the department.
Trump is close with Mullin, who said that Noem had “done the best that she could do under the circumstances,” but that he hoped to learn from her tenure and “build off things that didn’t quite go as planned.”
Trump said that Noem lied to Congress about getting his approval for a $220 million ad campaign featuring herself, insisting that he “never knew anything about it.”
Hours after Trump fired Noem, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he would seek an investigation into whether Noem lied under oath during a Senate hearing when she said that Corey Lewandowski, one of her top advisers, did not approve contracts for the DHS.
Lewandowski, who said he had “no insight” into the reasoning behind Trump’s decision to remove Noem, is expected to also depart the Department of Homeland Security, ending his reign of terror over agency staff.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, dropped out of his primary runoff, heeding calls from House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP members to end his reelection bid amid revelations that he had an affair with an aide who died by suicide.
“After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district,” Gonzales said in a statement.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week approved its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years, one that will allow a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled reactor in western Wyoming.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan will meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul in Albany today, following up on conversations she has had with Trump and administration officials on her concerns with the federal government’s aggressive deportation campaign.
Hochul may or may not have winked at a reporter who asked her if she intended to replace State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs with the party’s executive committee chair, Christine Quinn.
The Public Service Commission, which regulates New York utility companies, has opened a proceeding that could roll back clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction requirements without legislative approval.
A new report from New Yorkers for Clean Air and Spring Street Climate Fund aims to balance out conversations on the potential impacts of hitting climate goals by illustrating the benefits, rather than the costs, of implementation.
New York’s cyber security and counterterrorism experts are monitoring the situation in the Middle East around the clock, Hochul reiterated yesterday, saying the state was not facing any credible threats.
State leaders are taking a closer look at community college child care facilities, which might play a big part in getting adults back to school as the State University of New York focuses on continuing to increase enrollment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading an effort on behalf of two dozen states to sue the Trump administration over its latest round of tariffs.
State officials were in talks with the company tapped to manage New York’s popular multibillion-dollar home care program long before soliciting bids for the job, newly released emails show
A New York appeals court struck down a landmark state law that bans discrimination against people who use government assistance to pay their rent, delivering a major setback to tens of thousands of low-income renters looking for apartments.
The unanimous ruling, by a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department in Albany, acknowledged that the goal of the law was “laudable,” particularly given the shortage of affordable housing in New York.
Everything between the governor and the mayor of New York City is totally copacetic. At least, that’s what the pair continue to claim in public, even as a simmering disagreement over tax hikes on wealthy New Yorkers could boil over in the next month.
While standing next to Mayor Zohran Mamdani at an event on recent investments in child care, Hochul denied feeling frustrated with reports coming out of City Hall that negotiations with Albany lawmakers over the proposal are “encouraging.”
Mamdani is pitching state lawmakers on a smaller corporate tax increase that his aides hope could stand a better chance in Albany, alongside new proposals to tax expensive homes and to shrink a tax credit for pass-through business owners.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — who has developed a surprisingly amicable relationship with President Trump — against getting played by the president.
First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan said that he’s optimistic the state will fork over more money to the city, as the city wrangles with a possible $5.4 billion budget gap.
Fuleihan also said that the city is discussing charging fees for currently free on-street parking — a policy change that would not only create a new revenue stream but also seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the streetscape.
Mamdani is hiring for a newly created crisis team that will respond to federal immigration enforcement. Three job listings were posted for the city’s Interagency Response Committee, created by the mayor to respond to “escalating federal immigration actions.”
The Mamdani administration appointed three new upper-level staffers at the city’s Department of Transportation: Tiffany-Ann Taylor as chief strategy officer, Madeline Labadie as chief of staff, and Sindhu Bharadwaj as director of strategic initiatives.
Mamdani’s decision to step off at last weekend’s Lunar New Year Parade means he is now stepping into the politics of New York City’s parades.
Mamdani’s call to ‘freeze the rent’ galvanized the 69 percent of New Yorkers who don’t own their homes. But the city’s landlords claim the math doesn’t add up.
Morris Katz, a top adviser to Mamdani, quietly traveled to the United Kingdom last month to meet with local progressive politicians hoping to learn tools of the trade from the young strategist.
A leading AI industry-backed Super PAC is targeting a pro-regulation congressional candidate – Assemblymember Alex Bores – and building a strategy that other politicians will have to contend with.
New York City’s hulking homeless shelter in the former Bellevue psychiatric hospital, which for decades has served as the first stop for people seeking placement in the shelter system, will shut down by next month.
The city-owned Bellevue shelter on 30th Street has fallen into what the Mamdani administration called a “severe state of disrepair.”
Environmental advocates are renewing a push to make Rikers Island the centerpiece of New York City’s climate strategy as Mamdani commits to closing the jail complex there.
Two NYPD cops used a City Council office as their own frat house-style party pad — but got busted when one of them stumbled into work drunk.
New York City planned to shell out roughly $400 million total to renovate more than two dozen “ghost” preschool buildings that have been mysteriously sitting empty with no update from officials.
Some 180,000 New York City residents who receive federal food assistance could have it eliminated or reduced in the coming months, thanks to the tougher eligibility rules imposed by President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law.
Ronnie Eldridge, an outspoken Manhattan activist, local television host who served on the City Council for 22 years, and wife of the late author and columnist Jimmy Breslin, died at the age of 91.
She was an adviser to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Mayor John V. Lindsay and Representative Bella S. Abzug before serving on the New York City Council from 1989 to 2001.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin will hold the State of the County address next Wednesday in the East Greenbush-Rensselaer Senior Center, deviating from decades of the speech being held in the legislative chambers.
The Troy City Council voted unanimously to opt into Good Cause Eviction Protections last night, becoming the 20th locality in New York to adopt the policy.
The tenant protections will go into effect after the mayor signs them into law. Until then, tenants are advised to stay in their homes, as state law requires landlords to provide 30-90 days’ notice for rent increases, non-renewals, or evictions.
Six Flags says it is selling The Great Escape, along with several other amusement parks. The location is one of six amusement parks in the US and one in Montreal that the chain is selling to EPR Properties, a real estate investment trust based in Kansas City, Mo.
Company spokesman Gary Rhodes said the transition to the new ownership is “not expected to affect the guest experience in any significant way.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced it will award $677,294 to Catskill region projects in the form of Smart Growth grants.
City of Albany residents are being encouraged to participate in the Activate Albany Community Survey.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
