The Week: What Caught Our Eye

July 22, 2023

Perfection, also known as a summer day on the Saranac River. Nancie Battaglia

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

Something’s been missing from our summer, and we realized what it was this week: Icebox Cake, made with Famous Chocolate Wafers, a staple of many summertime freezers, with that delectable hint of bitterness in the chocolate leavened with the sweetness of whipped cream. Nabisco’s wafers practically cornered the market on icebox cakes for decades, ever since the company printed a recipe on the package. Alas, there’s no accounting for tasteless decisions. This week Nabisco confirmed it’s no longer making the cookie. Fans are busy developing new recipes to mimic the original.

UP AT DAWN: If you routinely wake an hour before this hits your inbox, this story is singing your tune. America, The Wall Street Journal informs us, is becoming a nation of early birds: earlier dinners, earlier concerts, performances on Broadway, movies. Theaters are ditching the late shows. Even New Orleans is packing it in earlier.

ANOTHER WINNER: The good news rolled in from all directions. Winning Powerball tickets sold on Staten Island, in Lake Placid, Rouses Point, Elizabethtown, Watertown, Wheatley Heights, Fairport, Albany, Schenectady, Latham, Auburn, Clayton, The Bronx, White Plains, New York City. Though the big $1 billion Powerball jackpot was won by a Californian, New Yorkers were among the big winners, too.

CELEBRATING AMERICA: A company is planning a $2 billion “Americana-themed” amusement park and resort near the famous Route 66 in northeast Oklahoma that it says will rival Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in scale. Plans for American Heartland Theme Park and Resort include a 320-acre RV park, a 300-room hotel and a waterpark. The design team includes more than 20 former Disney Parks builders and Walt Disney Imagineers, the company said. The destination is expected to open in 2026 and draw more than two million visitors a year.

AGGRESSIVE CUBS: The head football coach at Northwestern University and the president of Stanford University both lost their jobs recently, in part because of the work of student journalists. Reporting by The Daily Northwestern revealed Pat Fitzgerald, a Northwestern graduate, oversaw a program in which ritual hazing and racism were prevalent, resulting in his ouster. Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced he would step down and retract three decades-old research papers, after an independent review of his work was prompted by coverage in the campus newspaper, The Stanford Daily. “I think it’s pretty clear that without our reporting, this report wouldn’t have come around,” Theo Baker, the investigations editor of The Stanford Daily, told The New York Times, where his father, Peter Baker, serves as chief White House correspondent (his mother, Susan B. Glasser, is among the galaxy of star writers for The New Yorker).

END OF THE ROLL: When the Essity tissue paper mill in South Glens Falls, N.Y., closed this week, its abrupt end hardly seemed fitting for what once was the second largest paper mill in the world. Essity was the latest incarnation of what began as the Glens Falls Paper Co., one of 17 paper companies in the Northeast that in 1898 became International Paper Co. Historian Maury Thompson recounts the backstory.

SURVIVAL STORY: An Australian sailor and his dog were rescued in the middle of the Pacific Ocean this week after about two months adrift at sea. Tim Shaddock and his companion, Bella, left northwest Mexico in April on a planned trip to French Polynesia. About a month in, a storm tore apart the sail and ruined the electronics, so Shaddock could neither communicate nor cook. They survived by catching and eating raw fish and drinking rainwater. They were 1,200 miles from the nearest land when suddenly a helicopter accompanying a tuna trawler appeared. The pilot tossed Shaddock a drink before flying off, and a short while later, a rescue crew reached them in a speed boat.

The horses are back and so is the action at Saratoga Race Course where, despite some high-end options, you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy a day at the races. Skip Dickstein

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK: A U.S. serviceman who spent nearly two months in a South Korea jail for assault and faced further military discipline when he returned to the U.S. instead apparently decided North Korea was more hospitable. The soldier, 23-year-old U.S. Army Private 2nd Class Travis King, had been escorted by U.S. military officials to Incheon International Airport for his flight home, but slipped out after going through security and joined a tour group at the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, the heavily militarized border that separates North and South Korea. He sprinted away from the group and into North Korea, which has remained silent about his whereabouts.

WATER HAZARD: A town-owned nine-hole golf course whose opening was celebrated with a day of festivities that included a DJ, live music and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was under water two days later, inundated by the flooding that hit New York’s Hudson Valley. It took nearly a decade to develop The Links at Valley Fields in Yorktown. Some golf carts and groundskeeping equipment were damaged, as was the pro shop, but the clubhouse was spared and local officials were optimistic that the course would reopen shortly.

TAKE IN INLET: Overshadowed by its more famous Adirondack neighbors, tiny, postcard-charming Inlet, N.Y., near Old Forge, is not to be missed, says Travel and Leisure. “Lush forests cloak the mountains in leaves; lakes and ponds shimmer under the sunlight; and the communities buzz with life — including resident deer and Black bears that you may occasionally spot. Plus, there's the summer lakeside symphony featuring the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.”

DISPLACEMENT DISPLEASURE: A Super 8 Hotel in Rotterdam, N.Y., abruptly kicked out their guests, including families, without explanation this week, the guests left to scramble for new housing amid their bewilderment. It turns out they were cleared out to make way for migrants to be housed under a contract with New York City, a development that left local officials stunned and stewing over the lack of communication from the city.

 DOWN TO EARTH: A large, acorn-shaped metallic object washed up on a beach in Western Australia this week, fascinating onlookers and prompting authorities to investigate its origins. The object is believed to debris that fell from space and into the Indian Ocean. The Australian Space Agency is among the government agencies examining the debris.

FIELD OF GOLD: Every treasure hunter dreams of the find a man made in a Kentucky cornfield in June. The man, who has remained anonymous, unearthed a stash of gold Civil War-era coins that could be worth more than $1 million. The treasure, being sold by coin dealer GovMint.com, consisted of more than 700 coins. That area of Kentucky saw fierce fighting during the Civil War, and it’s possible the coins, newly minted at the time, were buried to keep them from marauding enemies.

MORE MISSING TREASURE: It wasn’t hundreds of gold coins this time, but a red gemstone that caught the goggled eyes of 8-year-old Craig Stump as he and his brother dug a hole in the bottom of Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. He picked up the object, brought it to his mother and started a chain of events that reunited Steven Haberland with a high school class ring that was lost half a century ago. “I wasn't looking for anything,” Craig told the Albany Times Union. “I was just trying to dig a hole.”

CHILD’S PLAY: The unassisted triple play — one defensive player recording all three outs on a single play — is one of the rarest feats in baseball. It’s been done just 14 times in major league history, making it less frequent than such milestones as a perfect game or hitting four home runs in a game. Which makes it even more impressive that a 7-year-old — Dominic Mastrogiovanni of Rotterdam, N.Y. — did it. “It was really cool,” he told The Daily Gazette of Schenectady. “I want to do it again.”

GETTING THE MATH RIGHT: Last week we brought you news that for the second year in a row, Rocket Mortgage named Glens Falls, N.Y., the safest city in America. A sharp Facing Out reader noticed that Rocket Mortgage incorrectly stated Glens Falls’ population at 124,339 – more than 10 times the city’s actual population. Even if the populations of Queensbury and Warren County were added, the number is still well short of Rocket Mortgage’s estimate. In any event, Glens Falls is still very safe … and well worth your investment.

LIVES

FUNNY CIDE took thoroughbred racing fans on a thrilling ride 20 years ago, winning the first two legs of the Triple Crown before coming up short in the Belmont Stakes despite the roars of 100,000 people who had come out to cheer on the horse known as “The Gutsy Gelding.” Part of the charm was an ownership group made up largely of longtime friends from a little town on Lake Ontario. Funny Cide fever lasted throughout the summer, with shelves throughout Saratoga Springs, N.Y., lined with Funny Cide-inspired T-shirts, wine, beer and chocolates. At the time of his retirement he was the highest-earning New York-bred in history, with nearly $4 million in purse winnings. He had resided at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions in Lexington since 2008 and was one of the Horse Park's biggest attractions. He died due to complications from colic at 23.

ANTHONY DOMINICK BENEDETTO was born on Aug. 3, 1926, in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, the son of a grocer and a seamstress, the first of their children to be born in a hospital. Tony Bennett became one of the greatest singers of his era, gracing the stage for more than 70 years. Frank Sinatra, whom he counted as a mentor and friend, said: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.” He was 96.

ALMOST FINAL WORDS

“I just want to say ‘Thank you. Thank you for keeping your child safe, and thank you for trusting the fire department and Safe Haven Baby Boxes to take it from here.’ We don’t take this lightly. This is one of the most important decisions she’s made, and we want to honor that. We want (the mother) to know that we’re proud of her because she kept her child safe. … Don’t look at the negativity. Look at the positive. This little girl is going to grow up with a forever family.”
—    Monica Kelsey, the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Box, which provides secure, climate-controlled boxes to allow a new parent to safely, anonymously and legally surrender a newborn, after a child was surrendered at a firehouse in Kokomo, Ind.

THE SIGNOFF

MEDICAL MIRACLE: A 12-year-old Israeli boy is recovering from a complicated surgery in which doctors reattached his skull to his body after an accident caused what’s called an “internal decapitation.” Just skin and muscle kept his head in place after the accident, and the procedure to save him is rare. “I will thank you all my life for saving my dear only son,” his father told the medical team. “Bless you all.” 

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Principal Author: Bill Callen. 

Sincere Thanks to Contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Tina Suhocki, Leigh Hornbeck, Kristy Miller, Troy Burns, Tara Hutchins, Claire P. Tuttle, Nancie Battaglia and Skip Dickstein.

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com