Good morning, it’s Thursday.
The other day I picked up on a whim a package of bespoke English muffins. These were not your standard Thomas’, mind you, but rather some artisanal, bakery-made, extra thick speciality English muffins, and they were inexplicably delicious.
I don’t know why I forgot for a period of time that English muffins existed. Maybe it was my bagel bias. I am, however, back on the English muffin train. Toasted, they are the perfect vehicle for a wide variety of spreads and toppings, their trademark nooks and crannies creating delectable pockets of deliciousness.
It turns out that English muffins, like so many other good things, originated right here in New York. Yes, despite their name, they are not, in fact, English, though they were the brainchild of a man named Samuel Bath Thomas who was born in Plymouth, England, and relocated to New York City in the 1870s.
Yes, his last name was “Thomas” as in “Thomas’ English Muffins.” But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
When Thomas arrived in New York City, he worked a series of menial jobs to support himself – including at a bakery. By 1880, he had managed to save enough money to purchase his own bakery at 163 9th Ave. in Manhattan (the neighborhood that is now known as Chelsea. He started producing a product that was originally called a “toaster crumpet” that became a big hit, as it was seen as a more elegant replacement for toast.
As an aside – is there a difference between the crumpet and the English muffin, both of which have distinctive nooks and crannies for maximizing their bread-to-spread ratio? Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: Crumpets are wetter and denser, only griddled on one side, with hole that extend all the way through. It is typically served whole. English muffins, meanwhile, are lighter and more, cooked on both sides and typically served split.
Thomas rebranded his product as “Thomas’ English Muffins” in 1894, and expanded his sales over the next 20 years. He died in 1919 at the age of 64 and is buried in the Sparrowbush Pine Hill Cemetery in Orange County. His daughters and nephew expanded the company, incorporated S.B. Thomas, Inc., after his death.
The company was acquired by the Canadian-based George Weston Bakeries, which, in turn, was sold in 1970 to CPC International, which eventually became part of Bimbo Bakeries USA. The sale of George Weston Ltd.’s U.S. baking business, completed in 2009, was recorded at approximately $2.4 billion as part of Bimbo’s quest to the the world’s largest commercial bread company.
The magical process by which Thomas’ English Muffins are produced to generate those trademark nooks and crannies is a carefully guarded secret. In 2010, the New York Times reported that only seven people were privy to that secret, which was so closely guarded that Bimbo bakeries even went to court to preserve it. If you want to go very deep on that, click here.
Thomas was posthumously inducted into the American Society of Baking Baking Hall of Fame in 2008, and for good reason – not only is the product he created still reliably delicious to this day, it’s a big seller, generated about $500 million a year back in 2010. According to the American Bakers Association, 46 percent of U.S. consumers reported eating at least one English muffin in the past 30 days last year.
I was not doing my part until recently, but I am squarely back on Team English Muffin – just in time for National English Muffin Day.
We’re in for a welcome warm up today, with high temperatures rising into the mid-60s. There will be a few clouds around early on, with mostly sunny skies for the remainder of the day.
In the headlines…
The FBI reportedly began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation.
The bureau said it is not pursuing a case, but the scrutiny is an example of the Trump administration weighing whether to criminalize routine news gathering.
A federal judge in Texas has tossed a defamation suit brought by Patel against former FBI assistant director-turned-MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi.
House judiciary Democrats have launched a formal inquiry into Patel’s alleged drinking habits, demanding he complete a standardized alcohol abuse assessment and submit the results to Congress.
“I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia and as when they get louder, it just means I’m doing my job,” Patel said.
Oil was trading above $100 a barrel again today after Iranian forces claimed to have seized two cargo ships near the Strait of Hormuz, injecting fear into energy markets with no public indications of a breakthrough in efforts to restart U.S.-Iran peace talks.
Trump announced that Iran will no longer execute eight women after he pleaded Tuesday for their freedom — calling it “very good news” in a social media post.
“I have just been informed that the eight women protestors who were going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed. Four will be released immediately, and four will be sentenced to one month in prison,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired yesterday after months of infighting with senior Pentagon leaders and disagreements over how to revive the Navy’s struggling shipbuilding program.
Phelan is leaving the Pentagon and the Trump administration effective immediately, wrote Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, in a terse statement.
No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war.
The Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early this morning, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House.
Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50-48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, in which the G.O.P. beat back Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy.
New York state workers are now barred from engaging in insider trading on prediction markets, under an executive order signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul yesterday.
Hochul forbade the state’s government workforce from using “any nonpublic information obtained in the course of their official duties” to participate on prediction market platforms, or to help others profit using those services.
The New York state Legislature yesterday passed a sixth state budget extender — now three weeks past the budget’s deadline — which was promptly signed into law by Hochul.
While state workers won’t miss their next paychecks, the budget that was due March 31 is now officially late enough that it’s beginning to have real-world implications — most significantly for the state’s schools.
Upstate Democratic lawmakers want a piece of the extra revenue pie Hochul is serving New York City by taxing luxury second homes in the five boroughs.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman outlined a plan to offer tax relief to restaurants and other small businesses during an appearance at a Gramercy Park eatery.
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against prominent cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini for operating prediction markets, which the complaint alleges constitute illegal gambling under state law.
Adem Bunkeddeko, a candidate to be New York’s next fiscal watchdog, submitted campaign finance records with hundreds of errors, including overstating his donations and spending and mislabeling numerous contributors as his spouse.
It’s been 15 months since the feds dropped the corruption case against former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, and he still hasn’t seen a dime from the state to pay his lawyers, who are waiting on $10 million.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is floating a plan to delay payments into New York City’s municipal pension funds — his latest effort to stave off service cuts and a property tax increase as he grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget gap.
Similar proposals have drawn opposition from unions and fiscal watchdogs, with one leading budget expert warning they merely delay the city’s fiscal responsibility to avoid meaningful reductions in spending.
The Mamdani administration has chosen senior Department of Transportation official Paul Ochoa to lead the city’s delay-plagued capital construction division, the Department of Design and Construction.
Attorneys for Eric Adams told a Manhattan judge that not only was the Mamdani administration’s March move to stop representing the former mayor in his sexual assault suit improper; it should also have to foot the bill for his new private lawyer.
Adams’ new private attorney, Alan Futerfas, argued the city’s move to ditch him as a client — made by Mamdani’s corporation counsel Steve Banks — was a “political decision.”
A state judge has ordered the Mamdani administration to pause its plan to relocate the intake office where homeless men can ask for a shelter bed.
The biggest challenge facing Mamdani’s grocery plan is whether the city-owned stores can operate efficiently and secure grocery staples at a cost that will allow the mayor to deliver on his promise of below-market prices.
City Councilmember Chi Ossé has been released from custody after his arrest yesterday during a protest involving a resident’s property dispute in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
The councilmember said on social media yesterday afternoon that he was being examined at a hospital for injuries sustained during the arrest, and that three other people remained in custody, including two who had been hospitalized.
Mamdani quickly served up solidarity to his Democratic Socialists of America comrade Ossé — calling out the Brooklyn councilman’s “concerning” arrest where he was filmed blocking authorities during an anti-eviction protest.
After the New York City Council member was forced to the ground and handcuffed by several officers, he called for state and city action to prevent real estate speculators from preying on his constituents.
At a conversation about “the future of being Jewish in New York,” three of New York City’s most prominent Jewish elected officials raised alarm bells about antisemitism and hate in the city while insisting that the city can be a beacon for Jewish New Yorkers.
The city’s most senior Jewish elected officials are urging Mamdani to do more to address the concerns of Jewish New Yorkers, including acknowledging the community’s deep emotional connection to Israel and reconsidering his pledge not to visit the country.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal was booed by a largely Jewish crowd after he defended Mamdani during a discussion about being Jewish in New York City.
As New York City barrels toward a legally mandated shutdown of Rikers Island after years of delays and fierce opposition, the Mamdani administration has tapped a key architect and booster of the original plan to help see it through.
Mamdani said that he’s trying to arrange a meeting with the family of slain 15-year-old Queens boy Jaden Pierre — after facing blowback over his silence on the teenager’s senseless shooting death.
Thousands of New York City Housing Authority apartments will get upgraded utilities, including heat pumps, electric stoves, solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations, Mamdani said on Earth Day.
Long-suffering NYCHA residents called for the city to focus on bread-and-butter fixes for their crumbling, stinky homes as Mamdani touted a $2.5 billion plan to provide heat pumps and other green tweaks to public housing.
Confronted with a $5.4 billion budget gap, Mamdani is fighting in court to restrain the City’s rapidly ballooning voucher program — walking back a promise to offer the subsidy to more people who don’t currently qualify.
Mamdani has tapped Annie Levers, previously the deputy comptroller for policy, to lead the Mayor’s Office of Operations.
Several loyal aides to former Mayor Adams were shifted into high-paying jobs in obscure corners of New York City’s government at the very tail end of his term. The Mamdani administration is still trying to purge them.
Mamdani will prioritize safety and mileage when deciding who to award the city’s last two remaining commercial waste zone contracts after his predecessor, Adams, handed out bids to private carters with deadly driving records.
It is increasingly unlikely that Mamdani’s proposal to make city buses free will come to fruition this year. So, transit advocates who support his plan want him to embrace a more immediate step: Expanding Fair Fares, the city’s reduced fare program.
The progressive advocacy group New York Jewish Agenda has appointed a new leader – Margo Hughes-Robinson, a Conservative rabbi – after its previous one, Phylisa Wisdom, took a job in Mamdani’s mayoral administration.
Wisdom, the Mamdani administration’s pick to lead an office tasked with fighting Jewish hate, couldn’t define the word “antisemitism” during a testy City Council meeting yesterday, sparking Jewish Councilmember Simcha Felder to storm out.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a well-known Yankee fan, offered to help the Mets beat the “Curse of the Mambino”, as the team tried to put an end to an embarrassing 12-game losing streak.
The Mets’ losing streak, their longest since 2002 and worst in April since 1962, finally, mercifully, ended at 12 games after they beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2.
The city’s police watchdog group has been revealing unsubstantiated claims against NYPD officers — “stigmatizing” information that can damage cops’ careers even if proven to be bogus, according to a new bombshell lawsuit.
The co-director of a Bronx “social justice” youth arts nonprofit improperly used his official email to campaign for a Democratic congressional candidate — then canceled a planned event when confronted about the transgression.
An Earth Day protest outside Trump Tower in Midtown ended in arrests. A group of about 35 protestors sat in traffic outside the Fifth Ave. skyscraper near E. 56th St. to protest the Trump administration’s environmental policies, according to law enforcement.
A 28-year-old Manhattan District Attorney’s Office employee was arrested for allegedly groping a woman on board a rush-hour train passing through Queens yesterday, authorities said.
Public urination violations are soaring across the boroughs, according to new data, revealing a nearly 50% increase in 9-1-1 calls related to the odorous offense since April 2025.
A vicious flesh-eating bacteria may be lurking in bodies of water across Long Island, as researchers warned its victims face a 20% chance of dying within 48 hours.
Two Long Island school districts violated New York State law in barring transgender students from bathrooms and locker rooms that aligned with their gender identity, the state’s Education Department ruled this week.
The Saugerties Central School District wants to eliminate all but one armed security guard from school buildings due to budget cuts, just three years after a district survey of parents and staff showed overwhelming support for the private guards.
Ali Faqirzada, the Afghan refugee and Bard College student who was detained by federal immigration officers after an interview as part of his asylum case in October, has been released, Bard College President Leon Botstein said in a public announcement.
Students at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland have spent the week learning at home after the boilers died at their school. Then the boilers will be fixed — likely, by replacement — using emergency funds, said spokeswoman Courtney Barker.
Every pothole in Albany should, in theory, be filled now that the citywide “pothole blitz” has concluded. Mayor Dorcey Applyrs announced that 7,930 potholes have been filled as a result of the effort, including 170 reported on the city’s SeeClickFix alert page.
Taxes in Scotia will rise by just over 6% and homeowners will for the first time be charged a yet-to-be-determined municipal fee for trash collection under a controversial budget that village leaders adopted by a 4-1 vote Monday.
A Saratoga County grand jury handed up an indictment charging a Halfmoon man with 13 counts of tampering with physical evidence involved in an animal abuse case in Albany County.
One of the oldest trees in American – a 211-year-old beech located in Clifton Park – is being named a tree of distinction by the town.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
