Good morning, it’s finally Friday. Having spent the week traveling all over hell and creation, I feel like I can finally exhale. I am welcoming this weekend with open arms.
One of the best perks of working at the state Capitol was access during the warmer months to the outdoor food trucks. Spring did not truly arrive until the first of those trucks started parking at the curb across the the LOB and the SED, dramatically broadening the lunchtime options for the state workforce, elected officials, staffers, and ink stained wretches alike.
There’s something very humane about getting up from your desk midday and going outside to procure some sustenance. Multiple studies and polls have shown that taking a true lunch break instead of powering through with a sad desk lunch is good for both your mental and physical health and can also boost productivity and improve employee satisfaction.
The Europeans figured this out long ago. Although sadly, it appears this tradition of a relaxing, multi-course bistro repast that I grew to love when I lived in France in my 20s has eroded as more workers adopt the American sandwich-and-a-drink tradition.
The food truck, as it turns out, is a very American phenomenon, with its roots in two distinctly different parts of the country.
The first is the old west, where the Texas chuck wagon originated. The cooks who manned these wagons would follow cowboys across the plains, serving up hearty, hot fare to keep them fueled for long and strenuous working days. The chuck wagon, according to the interwebs, was invented by a rancher named Charles Goodnight, a colorful character who created the first mobile kitchen by converting an old army surplus wagon.
At the opposite end of the country, in urban areas like Providence and New York City, a pushcart culture flourished, offering cheap and filling food options for working people toiling in, say, the garment district or on construction sites. The city first food stand reportedly was established in Providence, Rhode Island, by a man named Walter Scott, who cut windows in a covered wagon and parked it in front of a newspaper office, where he sold pie and coffee.
From this humble beginning a vast and diverse enterprise emerged – from hot dog and pretzel carts to ice cream and taco trucks. The early versions of so-called “coach coaches” have morphed into a highly complex culinary ecosystem. with purveyors in some cases offering gourmet options and catering opportunities.
According to a 2025 IBIS report, food trucks are bis business, approaching the $3 billion annual revenue mark across over 92,000 businesses nationwide. And the growth is projected to continue, though operators have to navigate an array of pressures – from complex permitting and health code requirements to the rising cost of food, power, and labor.
Happy National Food Truck Day! Get out there and support your favorite local small business.
It’s shaping up to be a not-bad weekend, weather wise. Today through Sunday will bring partly cloudy skies and/or intervals of clouds and sun. It will grow progressively warmer, with high temperatures moving through the low-to-mid 80s.
In the headlines…
John R. Bolton, a former top adviser to President Trump who became one of his most outspoken critics, is expected to plead guilty this morning to mishandling classified information in a case that could send him to prison.
Bolton, is reportedly set to appear in Federal District Court in Greenbelt, Md., and admit to a single charge of illegal retention of classified information over notes he compiled for a book that excoriated Trump.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority handed the Trump administration yet another win in the crackdown on immigration, clearing the way for restoration of a policy of limiting the number of people who can apply for asylum each day.
The Supreme Court also let the Trump administration end temporary protections that have allowed more than 350,000 people from Haiti and Syria to live and work legally in the United States.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a Singapore-flagged cargo ship Thursday in the Strait of Hormuz, according to two senior U.S. officials, testing the deal signed last week by the U.S. and Iran to end the fighting and reopen the vital shipping lane.
President Trump is working hard to keep farmers happy after fuel and fertilizer prices spiked by the Iran war hurt their bottom lines, even hosting a group for dinner in the Rose Garden.
President Trump’s voter fraud crusade is crashing into the limits of his power ahead of November’s midterm elections.
President Donald Trump instructed a band of his GOP hard-liner allies to end their House floor blockade with multiple major bills at risk of being derailed.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a tranche of Health and Human Services (HHS) emails that appear to show HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over its vaccine messaging.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to testify under oath in two cases where he is accused of defrauding voters in swing states before the 2024 general election.
A federal judge based in Washington, D.C., ordered the Justice Department to unredact additional pages of the Epstein files in a suit brought by attorney and independent journalist Katie Phang.
There may have been a wave of democratic socialist and progressive primary victories in New York City and other parts of the state Tuesday, but Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t preparing to join the Democratic Socialists of America any time soon.
A growing bloc of DSA-backed lawmakers is preparing to press New York’s governor on taxes, health care and other priorities long resisted by the Democratic establishment.
The state had been pushing the city to follow a rule that reimburses childcare only for the hours a parent is on the job. Now, Hochul has issued a two-year reprieve, giving the city until 2028 to comply.
Only a minor 21% of New Yorkers think that a proposed constitutional amendment — backed by Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — to redraw the maps in their favor was “good for New York,” the latest Siena University survey found.
The Republican nominee for New York governor, Bruce Blakeman, prompted outrage among Democrats after saying that a Jewish congressional candidate, Brad Lander, “would be a camp guard in the concentration camp if he could.”
Moderate House Democrats are warning they’re prepared for “war” if incoming progressives and democratic socialists try to hijack the House floor to secure ideological concessions.
Democratic strategist James Carville said he wouldn’t place Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, in the House Democratic Caucus if she wins in November.
An appellate court in Albany issued a decision yesterday that will allow the State Police to potentially continue to withhold the identities of troopers who were the subject of “unfounded” or “unsubstantiated” complaints.
New York has opened the nation’s first center that is intended to help doctors make sense of cannabis, a step that shows how sharply the state has moved from treating marijuana as a crime to treating it as a matter of public health.
A dangerous combination of heat and humidity could mar the coming Fourth of July holiday weekend as a heat dome takes shape over the northeastern United States.
The NYC Rent Guidelines Board approved a rent freeze for the city’s one million rent stabilized units on Thursday — a major win for Mayor Mamdani.
The freeze marks the first complete fulfillment of one of Mamdani’s core campaign promises, and it comes just days after candidates he backed swept their primary elections. A legal challenge to the vote is expected.
Six members of the board were appointed by Mamdani. The usually nine-member board was down one member after an eleventh-hour resignation by Christina Smyth, who called the board deliberations “theater.”
Just two days after Mamdani helped orchestrate a historic power grab for the left, New Yorkers were back on the ground fighting for issues they argue he’s not doing enough to support.
Mamdani’s directive to go easy on e-bike violations has “legalized” reckless riding and let lawlessness run rampant on city streets, a new lawsuit filed on Thursday claimed.
Activists slammed former “defund the police” advocate Mamdani Thursday for swelling the ranks of New York’s Finest in an about-face from his campaign pledge to reshape the NYPD.
The New York City mayor flexed his political muscles, served as the voice of his socialist movement, and knocked off two House Democratic incumbents. But is that the best way to win federal grants and earmarks?
Ex-Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro and reporter Richard Behar have filed a suit against Mamdani, alleging a “pattern of obstruction” related to Behar’s two FOIL requests for all records pertaining to his mayoral actions relating to antisemitism and Israel.
The beloved spray showers used by tiny tots to cool off during the hot summer months in city parks have been reportedly out of service in record numbers at dozens of green spaces this summer – and parents are fuming.
Harvey Weinstein won’t face trial for a fourth time on a charge of allegedly raping actress Jessica Mann in 2013 — after the accuser opted not to go through the grueling process of testifying again.
Michael “Murder” Hoffler won’t be getting a third trial for double jeopardy in a notorious murder-for-hire plot.
St. Peter’s Health Partners passed on exploring whether to acquire Ellis Medicine in Schenectady, but it appears that Albany Medical Center may be exploring the procurement of Ellis, which has been seeking a hospital partner for more than a decade.
David Gonzalez, a longtime lawyer who once worked as an assistant district attorney in two Capital Region counties, died when his motorcycle crashed Wednesday evening.
A new furry, tail-wagging “paw”-lice officer arrived at the University at Albany this month. Remy, a golden retriever puppy, recently joined the University Police Department and is easing into his training on campus.
Mechanicville Detectives found a handwritten note at the Harris Avenue apartment where children, their mother and grandmother were found dead Tuesday from what investigators say appears to be a mass poisoning.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
