Good morning, you’ve made it through another work week. Welcome to Friday.
If you are in need of a sweet treat to help make it to the weekend, you’ll be happy to know that today is National Donut Day.
It also could be National Doughnut Day, if you’re a spelling stickler – for the record, both are considered appropriate, as it comes down to a question of tradition versus convenience and the power of good old American brand marketing (thanks, Dunkin’).
Donut or doughnut, this national day is celebrated on the first Friday in June, and there are deals to be had today, as a number of chains are getting in the spirit, offering freebies and packages as long as supplies last. (There may well be independent bakeries and businesses participating, too, check your local listings and favorite haunts for details).
This day dates back to 1938, when it was established by The Salvation Army in honor of the so-called Donut Lassies and Donut Girls, who traveled to France to serve donuts and other snacks to soldiers during World War I.
According to the Salvation Army’s website, these women made thousands of doughnuts a day, improvising as they went due to wartime shortages. Sometimes they used wine bottles as rolling pins and fried their treats in soldiers’ helmets. Their goal was to boost the morale of the boys fighting on the front lines and give them a small reminder of the comforts of home.
Sweetened and unsweetened deep fried dough balls date back centuries. But the precursor to the modern-day doughnut was brought to the U.S. (then the New World), but Dutch settlers who settled in New Amsterdam. They called their creation “olykoek“, which translates into the rather unappetizing “oil cakes”, and were – as the name suggests – fried, but did not yet include the signature hole we typically associate with most of today’s doughnuts.
The iconic ring shape is attributed to a man named Hanson Gregory, who claimed to have hit upon the idea while sailing aboard a trading ship in1847 at the tender age of 16.
Gregory reportedly was not a fan of the undercooked center of the doughnuts and so punched a hole in the center and later taught his mother this technique. There’s some speculation that he also might have wanted to reduce the price of the doughnut by skimping on ingredients OR so he to easily hang the doughnut on the ship’s wheel while he was steering the ship through a storm.
The first doughnut-making machine was invented right here in New York – in Harlem, to be exact – by Russian-born baker named Adolph Levitt, who called his creation the Wonderful Almost Human Automatic Doughnut Machine, which is apt, though perhaps clunky. He eventually got very rich off this invention, which helped mass produce and further popularize the doughnut.
Today, doughnuts continue to be big business, with Krispy Kreme ALONE selling 1.63 billion across the globe in 2023. Doughnuts are very big business, with the average American consuming some 31 a year. Someone must be eating a lot more than that, because I can’t actually recall the last time I had a doughnut, personally.
These days, gourmet flavor combinations and small batch or artisanal doughnuts are all the rage. Personally, I like a simple cinnamon sugar or even plain cake version, though I wouldn’t necessarily say “no” to a chocolate glazed. If you want to go VERY deep on doughnut data, click here.
Another hot and partly sunny day is on tap. Highs will flirt with 90 degrees, and the UV index is 8 out of 11 so make sure to take appropriate precautions if you’re venturing outside.
The weekend looking a little mixed from a weather perspective. Tomorrow will bring highs in the mid-80s with partly cloudy skies in the morning and increasing clouds and showers developing later in the day. Some thunder is possible. Sunday will be considerably cooler, with highs only reaching into the mid-70s. The showers will continue on and off throughout the day, and skies will be cloudy.
In the headlines…
Senate Republicans overcame deep internal divisions to pass a massive $70 billion immigration enforcement package early this morning, delivering a major political win to President Donald Trump after weeks of struggling to pass the bill.
The 52-to-47 vote early this morning sent the measure to the House, which was expected to move quickly to pass it.
A motion introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to permanently stop the Trump administration from setting up a controversial $1.8 billion compensation fund failed in a 49-50 vote.
Senate Republicans rammed through their $70 billion bill to fund Trump’s immigration crackdown through the remainder of his term, after beating back bipartisan efforts to add language to bar or sharply restrict a federal payout fund for his political allies.
The House voted to approve new aid for Ukraine and impose a fresh round of sanctions targeting the industries fueling Russia’s war economy, after 18 Republicans defied their leaders to join Democrats in support of a bill that runs counter to Trump’s agenda.
A federal planning commission yesterday advanced President Trump’s plan to build a 250-foot arch in Washington, even after receiving overwhelming public opposition to the project.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by Trump allies, received nearly 1,700 public comments about the proposed triumphal arch, almost all of which opposed it.
The mammoth triumphal arch would sit under one of the most complex sections of the national airspace — directly in the paths of flights in and out of Ronald Reagan National Airport and just a few miles from the site of a catastrophic midair collision last year.
President Trump announced his latest construction project in his campaign to remake Washington: a new walkway in the back of the Lincoln Memorial.
John R. Bolton, a national security adviser to Trump in his first term, has reportedly reached a tentative deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to mishandling classified information when he compiled notes for a book that was harshly critical of the president.
A notice in Maryland federal court, where Bolton was indicted last year, indicates he is now scheduled for a re-arraignment — a hearing that can signal a planned guilty plea. The hearing is set for June 26.
Several women who dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Grahm Platner recall his “unsettling” behavior, saying he could be charming but also intimidating and disturbing – especially when he was drinking.
Platner appeared last night in his first interview since the New York Times report about his treatment of several women he had dated, denying one woman’s account that he had physically harmed her and saying he would not drop out of the race.
Democrats in New York took a major step in clearing a pathway to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2028 elections, a significant victory in the swiftly escalating next phase of their party’s state-by-state redistricting battle with Republicans.
State lawmakers voted late on Wednesday to allow for mid-decade redistricting instead of once every 10 years, linked to the U.S. census. The bill also removes restrictions on districts drawn to benefit incumbents or one political party over the other.
The budget passed last week by Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers contains one-off language that transit officials hope will save the MTA money and speed up the extension of the Second Avenue subway west across 125th Street.
The state Senate gave final approval to a bill this week that would require stores and merchants in the Empire State to round transaction totals up or down if a customer is paying cash.
Albany leaders are wading into the tax fight between state regulators and New York City’s brand-new casino — not to resolve it, but to protect the state’s horse racing industry while the dispute plays out.
The New York Knicks’ run to the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs inspired top Republicans to literally dunk on Hochul, with the help of artificial intelligence.
State officials are cracking down on a long-standing rule that parents can only use vouchers for the hours they work — a rule that New York City hasn’t followed, up to now.
SUNY is leaning into its effort to lure working adults back to college as the pool of fresh high school graduates gets smaller and smaller.
The state Legislature was expected to pass a series of bills intended to regulate artificial intelligence late Thursday, part of a flurry of action unfolding as the six-month legislative session winds to an end.
The Working Families Party this week filed a lawsuit against 20 of its own members, accusing them of disloyalty in a case that seeks a court order stripping them of their enrollments.
New York moved closer to being the first state to pause building out new data centers as lawmakers, citing voter concerns over utility spikes, advanced a one-year moratorium on the energy-intensive facilities.
The state Legislature passed a one-year moratorium on data centers that would pause permits for the facilities. The law would also require new data center rules on utilities, energy efficiency goals, community benefits and labor standards.
Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani plan to separately attend Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals Monday, and each is expected to take a seat that conforms to his preferred political image. There are no known plans for the two to meet at Madison Square Garden.
Mamdani has already purchased his ticket to Monday night’s Spurs-Knicks game, a spokesperson said. However, the spokesperson did not share how much the mayor paid for the ticket.
Four Democratic hopefuls seeking to represent a key Manhattan House district currently represented by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler clashed in the first debate of the race.
The Mamdani administration is raising the rent on a city-supervised co-op in The Bronx by more than 30% — angering residents who blasted the mayor over his affordable housing promises.
Two parents of trans children who received gender-affirming care at Mount Sinai Health System said representatives of the hospital network called them on Thursday and said their children’s health information would be shared with the federal government.
A Cornell student activist who hounded the Ivy League school’s president Michael Kotlikoff in the parking lot following an Israel-Palestine debate has been banned from campus.
A Troy woman who drove onto a soccer field in Bethlehem last year in an attempt to evade police after stealing from a Walmart store has been sentenced on reckless endangerment and burglary charges.
On Saturday, in the third and final running of the Belmont at the Saratoga Race Course, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will seek his fifth win in the final leg of the Triple Crown.
An estimated 25,000 people filled Broadway in Saratoga Springs for the Belmont Racing Festival kickoff concert with few problems reported.
Fans at today’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will get a commemorative felt pennant with paid admission while supplies last.
The AG’s Office released its findings in the investigation in the 2025 death of John Bonds, determining that criminal charges would not be warranted against the involved driver, Jason Tusch, Colonie Police officer who was off-duty at the time of the crash.
Five Capital Region community colleges gathered for a symposium to discuss AI in the classroom. Hosted by Hudson Valley Community College, SUNY Adirondack, Columbia-Greene, Fulton-Montgomery, SUNY Schenectady also joined the conversation.
A ribbon cutting was held on Thursday morning to unveil the new upgrades made to Kinloch Park on Troy’s Eastside. Local students, community members and city officials gathered to celebrate the completion of the major revitalization project.
A Greene County woman said a bear attacked and trampled her in her backyard, leaving her afraid to step off her porch.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
