Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
The hottest May 19 on record in the Capital Region was 91 degrees in 1989, recorded at the Albany International Airport weather station.
We have a chance to break that record today, with the high temperature potentially reaching up into the low 90s, which his about 20 degrees above normal for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service. Skies will be mostly sunny and, as often occurs when the thermometer rises significantly, there’s a chance of a stray shower or thunderstorm.
The hottest May temperature overall for this area was 94 degrees, which has been hit four times – most recently on May 18, 2017.
It feels like people have been caught a bit by surprise by the unseasonably high temperatures. Many local pools are not yet open. And the local ice cream joins are booming.
I drove by Control Tower over the weekend, which is one my favorite haunts during the summer, and the line was literally stretching into the parking lot. (I passed; I like frozen yogurt a lot, but am not willing to wait in the hot sun for prolonged periods for it, as I feel like that sort of defeats the purpose.
Hot weather definitely calls for lightened up desserts. Lots of fruit-based treats. A strawberry shortcake done right is a revelation. I like the biscuit version, personally, but I also would not turn down an angel food cake slice covered with fresh macerated strawberries and real whipped cream.
Despite the heat, I would argue that it’s always a good time for chocolate. And so today we celebrate angel food cake’s evil twin. It’s National Devil’s Food Cake Day for no particular reason that I can discern other than, well, why not?
Devil’s Food Cake is about as opposite to angel food cake as a cake could possibly be.
Angel food cake is cloud-like and fat-free, because it contains no butter or egg yolks, relying entirely on the mechanical lift of beaten egg whites for its rise and airy structure. Devil’s Food Cake, on the other hand, is rich and decadent and intensely chocolatey – even more so than your standard chocolate cake.
Unlike its delicate and spongy cousin, Devil’s Food Cake contains eggs, butter, and buttermilk. Sometimes oil is added alongside the butter to make the cake even more dense and fudge-like.
The original recipe called for melted chocolate and baking powder, but the modern-day version usually relies on cocoa and baking soda, the combination of which sparks a chemical reaction giving this case its signature reddish color.
This is similar to red velvet cake, though that is generally topped with a white icing – possibly with a cream cheese base, or the more traditional Ermine milk frosting – whereas Devil’s Food Cake calls for chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.
The term “deviled” in cooking is usually used to denote anything that is spicy, zesty and/or heavily seasoned (think: deviled eggs or deviled ham or deviled crab). In this case, though, “devil” is believed to mean sinful, decadent, and intense, though nobody knows for sure where the name originated – it might also have been because the recipe originally called for beets, which contributed to the cake’s red color.
Since we’ve already dispensed with the weather (spoiler alert: it’s hot), let’s get down to business.
In the headlines…
The MTA and unions representing 3,500 workers who walked off their jobs reached a tentative deal late yesterday, bringing the 3-day strike that paralyzed the nation’s largest commuter rail system to an end.
The trains are set to begin running again starting at noon today, with service phased in time for the evening rush. The handshake deal still needs to be approved by the membership of the five unions that walked off the job early Saturday morning.
Details of the new contract were not immediately clear, but Gov. Kathy Hochul said the deal would not lead to an increase on fares or state taxes.
Hochul announced the pact in a social media post late yesterday, calling it a “fair deal” that will give railroad workers raises “while protecting riders and taxpayers” from the need for additional fare or tax hikes.
“And that’s why we stood firm for a deal that would not require any additional fare increases or tax increases,” Hochul told reporters outside MTA headquarters in Lower Manhattan. “Period, full stop, got it done.”
Shuttle buses will continue to pick riders up at six locations on Long Island and bring them to subway stations in Queens, before LIRR service gradually returns starting at noon.
The strike would have cost the region $61 million in daily economic activity, according to state comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
Union leaders said the MTA hired “scab” drivers to run the agency’s shuttle buses to carry would-be Long Island Rail Road commuters who were stranded by the labor strike that shut down the train service.
“I’m grateful that LIRR unions and the MTA reached an agreement tonight that recognizes both the critical importance of the LIRR and the workers who keep it running,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on X.
Mamdani has marched with striking nurses and Starbucks baristas — but he did not join Long Island Rail Road workers on the picket line.
The last time LIRR workers went on strike, in 1994, Gov. Mario Cuomo placed himself at the center of the impasse and it impacted his re-election bid. How this strike is resolved could play a role in shaping the governor’s race over the next several months.
Even before the strike, the governor lost on Long Island in her last election, and the state’s largest transit union has already indicated it would abandon her.
Three people were killed yesterday morning after two teenage shooters opened fire outside a mosque in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego.
An active shooter situation was first reported to law enforcement at the Islamic Center of San Diego (ICSD) at around 11:45 a.m. Officers found three people dead and, moments later, two suspects were found deceased in a vehicle blocks away.
The attackers’ motive was not immediately clear, and San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said they had made no known threat to the mosque. But he said “hate rhetoric was involved,” and investigators are treating the shooting as a hate crime.
Among the deceased victims was a security guard who worked at the centre and “played a pivotal role” in preventing the attack from being “much worse”, officials said.
President Trump said yesterday that he had authorized a new wave of attacks against Iran this week but that he was holding off to make room for “serious negotiations,” after he said three Gulf leaders requested more time to work out a nuclear deal.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to launch new strikes, only to pull back at the last minute from plunging the United States back into an unpopular, expensive war. Yesterday, he confirmed plans to strike and canceled them at the same time.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that he’s instructed his leadership to “to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if a deal isn’t reached.
The top lawyer at the Treasury Department stepped down in the wake of the creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that could soon make payments to President Trump’s political allies, according to three people familiar with the move.
Trump yesterday announced the addition of more than 600 generic drugs to his drug coupon platform TrumpRx, with billionaire investor Mark Cuban joining the president to endorse the website.
Sen. Thom Tillis is urging his GOP colleagues to delay action on a budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement operations through 2029, calling the proposal to spend $1 billion on the White House ballroom is “a major policy problem.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, is seeking to survive a primary challenge fueled by President Trump today in what has become the most expensive congressional primary in recent history.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, fresh off of his loss in the Louisiana Senate GOP primary, is calling out Trump’s creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department, saying it raises the specter of self-dealing.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) over its alleged funding of extremist groups it claimed to oppose.
An American man tested positive for Ebola while working as a medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an outbreak of the deadly virus was first identified, officials said.
An international effort is underway to contain an Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda that is believed by local authorities to have caused more than 130 deaths, with the US triggering a public health law to limit entry from the affected region.
More than 300 suspected cases and 88 suspected deaths have been reported, primarily in Congo but also in neighboring Uganda.
New York lawmakers passed a 13th emergency budget extender to prevent a government shutdown as negotiations over policy continue. The temporary spending bill S10520/A11445, worth about $8 billion, keeps the state funded through Wednesday.
Nonprofit organizations would get first opportunity to buy certain distressed buildings coming onto the market in New York City under reintroduced City Council legislation proponents hope will help preserve the city’s affordable housing stock.
The average pay of housekeepers in New York City hotels will increase to more than $100,000 a year as part of a contract settlement between an industry trade group and a powerful union.
State officials in New York and New Jersey issued air quality health advisories for sensitive groups until 11 p.m. yesterday due to elevated levels of ozone near the surface.
New York’s most powerful prison and jail oversight agency has hit a roadblock as it waits for Hochul to comply with a new law.
Hochul’s affordable housing incentive program aimed at enticing localities to build more densely has drawn relatively little interest from suburbs with the highest housing costs — and where requirements faced the staunchest opposition.
A judge largely barred federal agents from making arrests in immigration courts in New York City, putting an abrupt halt to a policy that emerged last year as the centerpiece of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Manhattan.
JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon met with Mamdani yesterday as the New York City mayor seeks to tamp down the backlash to his “tax the rich” proposal that rankled many of the city’s wealthy.
Mamdani met Dimon for the first time at 270 Park Avenue, the bank’s new headquarters, his office said in a statement. Their talks covered issues such as cutting government waste and reducing red tape.
Afterward, Mamdani met with David M. Solomon, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.
Luigi Mangione supporters, who’ve been granted New York City press credentials, gleefully praised the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in comments to the Daily News and pointed to plans to spread their message when jury selection starts.
After some of Luigi Mangione’s supporters made comments that were condemned as inflammatory, Mamdani’s office said it would review the process that gave them press passes.
Exactly how the self-proclaimed “Mangionistas” were granted their city credentials was unclear, but critics blamed a reform shepherded under former Mayor Bill de Blasio that relaxed rules for handing out press credentials.
Mamdani planned to appear in a video to commemorate the displacement of Palestinians that occurred in connection with the State of Israel’s creation, but fell ill and wasn’t able to do so.
Mamdani doubled down on his video commemorating “Nakba Day” as criticism from Jewish organizations mounted. “I firmly believe that acknowledging one people’s pain does not preclude you from the acknowledgement of another people’s,” he said.
Leaders of mainstream Jewish groups snubbed Mamdani by rejecting invitations to his “Jewish Heritage” celebration at Gracie Mansion, saying the mayor’s Israel-bashing is unacceptable.
Mamdani has spent months promoting his goal of expanding New York City’s public preschool offerings into a free universal child care system. But despite the media blitz, roughly the same number parents applied to the programs this year as they did last year.
Mamdani said his city-run grocery stores ‘will serve as physical proof of our conviction that government can be a force for good’
If you want retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s endorsement, it doesn’t hurt to run against someone backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America.
Two restaurants shared top spots in Albany’s inaugural Melba Madness tour that took place Saturday, promoting a tasting of more than a dozen dishes featuring the known Capital Region raspberry sauce.
GlobalFoundries is paying its shareholders for the first time in its history, with a 12-cent-per-share dividend, a major milestone in the company’s development.
Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs is looking at steps to address the city’s budget deficit, as the prior fiscal year comes to a close.
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Noel Mendez on Friday temporarily halted another judge’s order that would have led to the eventual dismissal and sealing of the former Hoosick Falls police chief’s 2022 official misconduct conviction.
A couple who called 911 seeking help for their son, who was reportedly acting aggressively and belligerently, claims in a federal lawsuit that they were assaulted by a responding Village of Ballston Spa police officer.
Comedian, singer/songwriter and social media star Matt Mathews is coming to the Palace Theatre in April 2027.
A banner honoring World War II Army Air Corps veteran 2nd Lt. Joseph Leroy “Roy” Burke has been placed at the corner of 115th Street and 3rd Avenue in Troy.
After a woman shot inside a Troy apartment died, police are now investigating the case as a homicide.
Two communities in the Capital Region and one in the mid-Hudson Valley have been awarded millions of dollars in state funding for several downtown revitalization projects.
A state Supreme Court judge in Fulton County has issued a temporary restraining order over the build of the first utility-sized battery energy storage system permitted in the Adirondack Park in the town of Northampton.
Photo credit: George Fazio
