Good morning, it’s Wednesday. Welcome to July – my birthday month! Rabbit, rabbit.
I distinctly remember my first trip to Buffalo, which was made in the company of fellow reporters covering then-Governor George Pataki’s first re-election bid in 1998.
I was a wide-eyed cub political reporter and very much in awe of my tough-talking, and often hard-drinking ink-stained brethren, which included some iconic New York political reporters like Marc Humbert of the Associated Press and Adam Nagourney of the New York Times. To say I was intimidated by their experience and capabilities would be an understatement.
After deadline (back in the day when there was such a thing), we all decamped to the Anchor Bar for dinner – an iconic Queen City watering hole that claims to be the “home of the original Buffalo wing”. I don’t remember ordering anything that night, but I do know that platters of wings arrived on the table, along with pitchers of beer and maybe baskets of french fries?
Between the 10 or so of us, we put away dozens upon dozens of wings. It was a great night.
If there’s anything that Buffalonians have strong feelings about, it’s sports – namely, football – and wings. (Also, probably beef on weck, but that’s a topic for another day). One thing you don’t want to do is get into a debate with a Buffalo native about where to find the best wings, which is a sure fire way to potentially spark a fight.
Then-President Obama, during a 2010 visit to Western New York, made a pit stop at the Anchor Bar’s arch rival, Duff’s, which has five locations in the greater Buffalo area. Obama paid a visit to the Cheektowaga Duff’s, ordering (upon the advice of regulars) five medium wings, five extra spicy, with sides of onion rings and fries.
The wings origin story involves a women named Teressa Bellissimo, the Anchor Bar’s co-owner, who reportedly was asked in 1964 by her son, Dominic, who was tending bar at the time, to whip up a late-night snack for a group of his friends who had arrived at the watering hole hungry and in need of sustenance.
She complied by deep frying some wings she had laying around, likely intended for the soup pot, tossing them with hot sauce and serving them with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks.
However, historians note that there was another wings aficionado in Buffalo at the time – a Black restauranteur named John M. Young – who opened an establishment in Buffalo in the 1960s called “Wings and Things” about a mile away from the Anchor Bar and served breaded wings in so-called “mambo” (or “mumbo” or “mombo”, depending on which internet site you’re on) sauce.
As an aside, the interwebs tell me that “mambo” sauce is a sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy condiment made from ketchup, sugar, vinegar, and hot sauce, and tastes something like is sweet-and-sour sauce and barbecue sauce had a baby. It is the signature condiment of D.C.’s carryout culture.
These days, you can find all manner of fancy wings – wings in peanut sauce, with lemon garlic rub, made out of tofu, and served without bones (aren’t these really just nuggets?) Personally, I’m still a purist – I like my wings medium with a side of fresh (not limp, please) carrot sticks and celery with a side of blue cheese (never ranch, heresy!)
The average American reportedly consumes 90 chicken wings a year, in which case I am dramatically falling behind. Today is International Chicken Wing Day, which provides ample opportunity to make up the difference. And if, for some reason, you miss this one or want to sit it out, never fear, you can get another bite at the apple (or chicken, as the case may be) on July 29, when National Chicken Wing Day is observed.
Yes, wings are THAT good.
We are headed into the excessive heat warning space, with temperatures rising well into the 90s. There will be intervals of sun and clouds today, and humidity will be very high. Scattered thunderstorms are likely to develop as the day progresses.
In the headlines…
A divided Supreme Court yesterday upheld two state laws barring the participation of transgender female athletes from girls’ and women’s sports teams.
The court’s 6-to-3 ruling deals with laws from West Virginia and Idaho but has implications for the 25 other states with similar restrictions, and for athletes who compete in school and collegiate sports nationwide.
The Supreme Court upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.
The Supreme Court lifted limits on how much political parties can spend on advertising and other expenses in coordination with candidates.
The 6-to-3 decision, divided along ideological lines, is a major victory for Republicans and could undercut one of the Democrats’ financial advantages going into the midterm elections.
An inaccurate news story set off a furor yesterday morning over the possibility that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito had retired.
NPR published the report just before 11 a.m. ET, declaring that Alito had announced the end of his 20-year career on the high court. But the story was quickly retracted and replaced by a note that the story had been “erroneously published.”
Trump pulled in at least $2.2 billion in his first year back int he White House, a figure that includes all his vast holdings. That compares to a minimum of $622 million his enterprises pulled in for all of 2024, before he returned to the presidency.
Trump took in about $1.2 billion dollars from his family’s crypto businesses last year alone, a federal filing released this week shows, locking in profits while his investors were socked with losses.
Mere startups when he took the oath of office, the new ventures have now eclipsed in revenue much of Trump’s vast property portfolio. Fueling their rise were billionaire investors and Trump’s own move to quash a federal crackdown on the industry.
“It is completely unprecedented,” said Megan Gorman, a tax attorney and the author of a recent book, “All the Presidents’ Money,” that studied the history of presidential wealth dating back 250 years.
Democratic socialist Melat Kiros has defeated 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary in a Denver-area district in Colorado, according to media projections, the latest victory of a leftist over an establishment Democrat.
Kiros, an immigrant and first-time candidate, was born the year after Ms. DeGette, 68, took office. Her victory in the solidly Democratic district all but ensures her election in November.
DeGette has been in Congress for nearly 30 years and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Kiros argued for a leadership change, centering her platform around working families, establishing universal health care, child care and elder care.
Democrats selected Colorado AG Phil Weiser as their nominee for governor. He beat the U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. They held similar views on issues but each sought to cast themself as the tougher opponent to Trump administration policies.
Manny Rutinel, a progressive state representative, defeated a moderate Democrat to win the primary election in Colorado’s most competitive swing district, according to The Associated Press. Now he will face Rep. Gabe Evans, a Republican seen as vulnerable.
The House leadership yesterday abruptly canceled votes and sent lawmakers home early for the holiday recess, Speaker Mike Johnson ’s majority once again ground to a standstill by a Republican revolt over their own party’s agenda.
New Jersey GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. revealed that his nearly four-month absence from Congress was caused by a severe case of depression, disclosing the illness in a speech on the House floor shortly after his return to the U.S. Capitol.
Kean did not elaborate on why he had entered the hospital or where he had been treated. He did not discuss medication or long-term treatment needs. He did not explain why it had taken so long for doctors to clear him to return to work.
The Commerce Department lifted restrictions on all of Anthropic’s artificial intelligence models on Tuesday, allowing the company to bring its most powerful A.I. technologies back online.
A slew of Bronx elected officials have endorsed incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul, who is running for a second full term in the November election.
Hochul is continuing to bankroll New York City’s major childcare expansion, with $19 million in capital grants awarded on Tuesday to eight “shovel-ready” childcare projects.
New York stripped health insurance from roughly 450,000 low- to middle-income residents — including about 233,000 in New York City — yesterday as federal funding cuts force the state to shrink its Essential Plan.
People with disabilities in New York are bracing for the impact of a memo issued by the U.S. Department of Justice this month that could upend nearly three decades of legal precedent affecting their rights.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a deal on a $125.8 billion final city budget yesterday, after days of contentious negotiations.
The agreement includes $175 million for the city rental-assistance program, a sticking point in final talks. The budget pact, the first of Mamdani’s mayoralty, comes as the city’s fiscal year ends and caps months of public debate over the spending plan.
The diluted expansion of the voucher program for low-income residents runs counter to a campaign promise Mamdani made as a mayoral candidate last year.
The budget, which includes no significant cuts, ballooned from last year’s roughly $116 billion spending plan, for an approximate 8.5% increase.
The city’s $125.8 billion budget deal doesn’t include a previously planned NYPD headcount increase — coming after Mamdani faced pressure from his DSA base to scrap his plan to add more officers.
“Commissioner Tisch and I were able to identify ways to keep the NYPD headcount at the originally authorized 35,000 while also meeting all of our crime-fighting needs,” Mamdani said.
“The massive summer workload is just starting to hit, and police officers are already burning out and leaving by the hundreds,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.
When the final numbers are released in the coming days, the adopted budget is expected to forecast a deficit for the 2028 fiscal year of more than $7 billion — much larger than is typical and one that could grow substantially if there is any financial downturn.
Mamdani and the City Council will expand the city’s half-priced transit fare program, but eligible riders will still need to apply for the subsidy on their own — a process that depresses participation, according to critics including the mayor himself.
Kamala Harris reportedly privately called Mamdani last week and has been holding lengthy, closed-door meetings with other prominent progressives — including pro-Palestinian activists – as she looks to another potential presidential run in 2028.
After more than two dozen people died during a brutal cold snap in New York City, city officials came up with a plan to keep people safe in the cold and extreme heat.
Mamdani and his top commissioners yesterday declared a heat emergency as scorching temperatures are expected to grip the tri-state for nearly a week.
Mamdani signed an executive order that aims to protect people who work outdoors. Temperatures this week could exceed 100 degrees.
The zombie Charter Revision Commission convened by former Mayor Eric Adams on his final day in office is suing the governor, mayor, the Board of Elections and the city clerk in hopes of getting a proposal to open up city primaries on the ballot this fall.
The Mamdani administration might soon publish unreleased documents on airborne toxins at Ground Zero that could reveal what officials knew about the risks of returning to Lower Manhattan in the weeks and months after Sept. 11, 2001.
New York City elected officials now have cover to give themselves 18.2% raises after a commission released a report recommending that they do so.
If taken up and approved by the City Council, it would be a big boost for city leaders – higher even than the 16% raise initially proposed by the legislative body last year.
A quiet Brooklyn storefront served as a key part of a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme led by the Russian mob, a federal indictment charges — and could even have been backed by the Kremlin.
Hillary Clinton — former first lady, former United States senator, former secretary of state, co-producer of a Broadway musical — added a new entry to her résumé last night: narrator with a symphony orchestra.
Taylor Swift’s private plane landed in the New York area days before her New York City wedding to Travis Kelce, Page Six confirmed via online airline records.
Swift and Kelce’s celebratory event at Madison Square Garden, widely expected to be their wedding, appears to be shaping up to be a formal affair. The dress code is black tie, according to two people familiar with the event.
Millions of eggs are headed to regional food banks as a result of a multistate settlement with three of the nation’s largest egg producers who intentionally manipulated the prices of their products.
Heavy air conditioner use could push peak power needs near the all-time high reached during a weeklong heat wave in July 2013, but the system is prepared to withstand the pressure, according to the NYISO, a nonprofit that operates the state’s electric grid.
An intense two-day hunt for Harbe Nagi ended in heartbreak yesterday when his body was found in a pool in the backyard of a home that is just two doors away from the house where he was last seen on Sunday.
Schenectady and Glenville are in the midst of resolving a decadeslong, $1 million debt concerning unpaid sewage fees.
Multiple 2022 court recordings in Hoosick Falls — including one of former village Police Chief Robert Ashe pleading guilty to official misconduct — have vanished under unknown circumstances, according to newly filed statements.
After years of creative attempts to reinvent itself and increase enrollment, Doane Stuart School will close this fall, the school announced to parents and teachers this week,
Photo credit: George Fazio.
