FRIDAY is here!! It felt like I should start with the headline and not bury the news, so there you go.
Good morning.
As the days are getting shorter and pumpkin spice everything season is around the corner, I find myself craving, purchasing, and even hoarding produce.
We happen to live about five miles from a popular farm stand (I am not giving out the name because I am a gatekeeper, sorry, not sorry), which I frequent several times a week. During the height of the cyclosporiasis scare, it was the only place I felt comfortable buying all manner of vegetables – including lettuce.
The other day, my other half came home from a road trip toting a half dozen ears of corn, an equal number of fuzzy peaches, and two of the most enormous cucumbers I have ever seen. He had been tempted by one of the farm stands that set up at Thruway rest stops – whoever thought of that was brilliant. All of it went into the overflow fridge in the garage while I figure out what to do with it all.
I hate wasting food, but probably do so more than I’d like to admit. Neither of us have enormous appetites, and though I like to cook and bake, we end up eating out many nights because I’m just too wiped out at the end of a hectic workday to even think about turning on the stove or even the grill.
Lately, I’ve been wondering if it’s time to get on the grandma hobby train, which, if you hadn’t heard, is a big thing among the Gen Z and Millennial set, and try my hand at preserving, pickling, or even canning.
There are two primary canning methods – water bath and pressure. Both have their pros and cons, and the possibility of making yourself – and anyone else who eats the fruits of your labor – very sick if you get things wrong.
Water bath canning is arguably easier and reserved for high-acid foods like fruits, jams, pickles, salsas, tomatoes, etc. You don’t necessarily have to purchase any special equipment for this approach, a large pot with a lid and a rack will do the trick. You do have to make sure to seal jars correctly, though, or you’ll end up with mold. (As an aside, when I used to make strawberry jam with my dad, we employed a wax seal, but this is an old-school method that the modern-day food safety folks now say is a no-no).
Pressure canning, while tricky and requiring specific equipment, is the only safe way – according to the USDA – to preserve low acid foods like meats, poultry, seafood, and veggies. Much like the name implies, this method uses pressurized steam to reach temperatures of 240 degrees or higher to destroy sneaky bacteria spores that simply boiling water isn’t sufficient to kill.
Some vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, zucchini, and summer squash, just can’t stand up to this sort of treatment, turning mushy and unpalatable.
There are a lot of tips and tricks available online to first-time canners. Some things are intuitive – bubbles, for example, are not your friend and must be removed to ensure proper sealing and discourage the formation of bacteria. Other things, like not reusing your mason jar lids because they lose their sealing capacity over time, not so much.
I used to own a pressure cooker, and though I really liked the results, I have to admit that the slim possibility of explosion freaked me out. After reading through all the canning dos and don’ts, I think I’m going to hedge my bets and stick to the easy stuff – like freezing. Don’t like my chickening out dissuade you though…go forth and celebrate National Canning Month!
(Also, as an aside, canning has a connection to the French Revolution, which is kind of wild…if you want to go down that historical rabbit hole, click here).
If you’re planning any outdoor activities this weekend today is going to be your best bet.
We’ll see bright and mostly sunny skies with highs in the low 80s. Tomorrow, Saturday, will bring clouds and highs struggling to break out of the high 70s. The clouds will intensify as the day progresses, bringing some rain showers later at night. Sunday will bring more showers in the afternoon and the possibility of a thunderstorm with strong, gusty winds. Highs will again struggle to break out of the high 70s.
In the headlines…
The beleaguered aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln’s work in the Middle East is complete, and the ship, along with its crew of about 5,000 sailors, began its journey home to San Diego on Thursday after nine months of deployment.
A U.S. official confirmed the Lincoln’s departure, which was alluded to by Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads U.S. Central Command, in an opinion essay about the Abraham Lincoln published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Deploying the Japan-based USS George Washington signals that its mission is “something incredibly important,” a retired US Navy rear admiral told CNN on Friday after the carrier arrived in the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. approved on Thursday a possible $4.5 billion sale of four aerial refueling aircraft and related equipment to Qatar.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Washington will impose the “toughest sanctions in history” to “collapse” the Iranian government, calling on other nations, including China, to join the effort.
China has criticized Trump’s “economic D-Day” push against Iran, warning that additional sanctions will fail to resolve ongoing disputes.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned Trump’s “unlawful” threat of an elevated economic campaign against Tehran, calling it “the other side of the coin of war and military aggression.”
Democrats have a rosier view of the state of American democracy during President Trump’s first term today than they did at the time.
That’s according to a new report from Bright Line Watch, a nonpartisan group that surveys political scientists and the general public to assess their views of the political moment.
Trump and his fixer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen have seemingly turned over a new leaf, with the president saying he respects that Cohen took back things he’s said.
Aisha Wahab, a progressive Democratic state senator, defeated Melissa Hernandez, a moderate Democrat, in a special election to replace Eric Swalwell in California. Swalwell abruptly resigned in April amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
An Albany woman has been arrested on federal charges after she allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS and unknowingly engaged three FBI informants to help carry out her plans to attack the state Capitol armed with a gun and a massive explosive device.
Jessica Bowie, 35, who has ties to Albany and Schenectady, was taken into custody Wednesday following a multi-agency raid of her residence in the 300-block of Sherman Avenue in Albany.
Bowie, who the FBI said converted to Islam five years ago and was radicalized online, hoped to place an explosive device disguised as a food delivery package inside the state Capitol to kill at least 100 people before escaping to Syria, according to an FBI affidavit.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is officially shifting into campaign mode as her first two TV ads of the cycle are set to air and the state Democratic Party prepares to host a statewide series of events this weekend in a pre-Labor Day kickoff to the general election push.
As the state officially takes the reins of the lease for the new $2.2 billion stadium, Hochul said she is unwilling to let anything slip, even if the stadium is not quite as much in the state’s backyard as it was the county’s.
Hochul is positioning herself as a leader of the Democratic search for a data center position that isn’t explicitly anti-business.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, has repeatedly used campaign funds to pay for travel expenses while simultaneously billing taxpayers for the same charges, according to records and former staff members interviewed by The New York Times.
Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, the socialist Brooklynite who claimed that ripping off stores for “biological need” goods is OK, is off her rocker, GOP attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy said.
The two largest national teacher unions and their state affiliates have directed millions of taxpayer-funded membership dues to Democratic state lawmakers’ campaigns.
Nonprofits that provide services to people who’ve experienced gender- and family-based violence are seeking stability after being informed by the state last month that they would receive millions of dollars less in funding than prior years.
Hochul had some rare public advice for Zohran Mamdani, the mayor whose whirlwind ascent and audacious approach to messaging have made him a global figure: Pay attention to New York, not Israel.
Winning NYC socialist congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier are heading to South America to attend a gathering of leftist lawmakers from across the Western Hemisphere.
Morgan Stanley has picked Dallas for a major expansion of its banking empire outside New York City — accelerating Wall Street’s migration to Texas following Mamdani’s election.
The financial giant plans to relocate up to 4,800 jobs to the state by 2031, passing over Alpharetta, Georgia, according to municipal filings. The firm will anchor a new $1.3 billion, 709,000-square-foot skyscraper in the fast-growing Texas metropolis.
A leader of Mamdani’s socialist grocery store project suggested that the Big Apple could funnel taxpayer money to shop owners losing business to the city-owned supermarkets, which are already projected to cost at least $70 million.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court this week, Judge Lyle E. Frank inked his signature on court docs officially dismissing the Elizabeth Street Garden case after City Hall and miffed developers announced a settlement to end their legal battle.
Mamdani, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Samuel Levine will allow their agencies to share information and coordinate investigations into cases on wage theft, tenant harassment and fraud targeting immigrants.
Whatever Mamdani’s personal views on Israel, not much has changed when it comes to the institutional relationship between New York City and the Jewish state, particularly when it comes to the NYPD’s work with Israeli law enforcement.
The city needs to make it easier for schools to close their adjacent streets to provide room for outdoor play and physical education, Comptroller Mark Levine said.
A landlord for some of New York City’s most vulnerable residents has agreed to do more to help tenants who are behind on rent before trying to evict them, according to a settlement agreement.
A decades-old parking lot in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood is likely to become high-rise apartments despite a local fight against the project.
The man accused of piloting an overcrowded motorboat that capsized in the waters off lower Manhattan, killing a young mother and her 5-month-old baby, has been arrested and targeted for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Rare tornadoes struck New York City and Long Island on Thursday evening, as severe weather drenched parts of the Mid-Atlantic and disrupted traffic on some major highways.
More than half of the incarcerated people surveyed during a 2025 visit to Greene Correctional Facility alleged they had experienced abuse by staff, according to a recent report that investigated conditions at the medium-security state prison.
The president of the Albany chapter of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union is facing possible disciplinary action after an independent investigation alleged that he had illegally converted union funds to supply gifts to his outgoing predecessor.
An hour into a Common Council Finance, Taxation and Assessment Committee meeting, lawmakers and three members of Mayor Dorcey Applyrs’ fiscal brain trust arrived at what may be the most pressing issue in the city’s fiscal crisis: A $22 million deficit.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
