The Update with Brandon Julien

There’s a scientific reason why some things taste great on your flight and why others are just plane awful. Ginger ale is one of the most popular drinks to order on an airplane, according to social media users, and it has to do with the way your taste buds are altered during your flight, experts told Health. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, Former President Donald Trump promised to “make New York City great again” during a raucous rally in the South Bronx, his first major campaign event in the state of his birth since 2016. An obnoxious street-racing influencer was finally arrested after he filmed a series of videos taunting cops in high-speed stunts with expensive cars across New York City and New Jersey, cops said. And in Washington, The Supreme Court's conservative majority preserved a Republican-held South Carolina congressional district, rejecting a lower-court ruling that said the district discriminated against Black voters.

So you’ve downed a whole pack of tic tacs but still have bad breath? A few things could be to blame, according to experts. However, bad breath that doesn’t go away, called chronic halitosis, could be an indicator that something else is going on with your health, according to the Cleveland Clinic. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, cops scouring the Long Island home of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann are using body parts from potentially other victims to try to tie him to those murders, too, police sources say. The city will distribute free OMNY Cards instead of MetroCards to the city’s 1.1 million public school students next year, part of a push by the MTA to get more transit riders using the tap-and-go fare payment system. And in the Midwest, multiple people were killed when a tornado tore through a small town in Iowa and left a wide swath of obliterated homes and crumpled cars, while the howling winds also twisted and toppled wind turbines.

They took spring fling to a whole new level. A video of a couple appearing to have sex in Manhattan’s bustling Battery Park has sparked outrage, with some calling for the perverted pair to be slapped with charges of public indecency. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, An NYPD officer accidentally fired his gun while storming Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall during the operation to oust anti-Israel protesters who illegally took over the building, according to police sources. A tanker truck filled to the brim with gasoline slammed into a tractor-trailer and burst into a blazing fireball on Interstate 95 in Connecticut — melting an overpass that will now be demolished. And the mystery of the Titan submersible implosion may soon be solved. The five people who perished aboard the OceanGate vessel as it plunged thousands of feet below sea level could have been victims of “micro-buckling,” a new study suggests.

For the sake of your blood vessels, don’t B negative. Blowing a fuse after recalling a stressful experience may temporarily impair your blood vessels’ ability to relax, which is essential for proper blood flow, according to a study published recently. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, The NYPD cleared out a short-lived anti-Israel encampment at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus at the request of the school, authorities said. The Big Apple’s so-called “worst landlord” Daniel Ohebshaolm has been indicted for allegedly harassing rent-regulated tenants with “unlivable” conditions to drive them out of units so he could sell the buildings to make a buck, prosecutors said. And in the American west, The Arizona Senate voted to repeal an 1864 law that outlawed almost all abortions in the state – and made no exception for cases of rape or incest.

Oreo has released a new cookie flavor — and fans have had a sour reaction toward the unconventional collab. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, Officers took protesters into custody late Tuesday after Columbia University called in police to end the pro-Palestinian occupation on the New York campus. The feds saw right through this scam. A gang of credit card fraudsters were charging thousands of dollars on stolen accounts — to buy high-end eyeglasses they peddled at a profit, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. And in Washington, The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple effects across the country.

There are empty cups and empty hearts. McDonald’s customers are bidding a bitter farewell to free drink refills, one of the latest casualties from the brand already facing an identity crisis over extreme prices. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Monday, the FDNY firefighter who almost died while battling a Bronx house fire was released from the hospital to a rousing round of applause from fellow first responders. The teen shooter who fatally gunned down a 16-year-old “peacemaker” in Soho rode to the killing in a Citi Bike basket and was identified in part by his distinctive Air Jordans, according to court documents. And overseas, Iran’s hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi was killed after a helicopter carrying the reviled leader known as the “Butcher of Tehran” crashed in a remote region of the country Sunday, state media reported.

This ride was too cool to function. The world’s tallest and fastest triple-launch rollercoaster was forced to shut down indefinitely just days after its grand opening. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, Return ticket, please! New York City Transit President Richard Davey is reportedly fleeing the Big Apple after barely lasting two years in the top job, which sources told The New York Post left him “frustrated.” The Macy’s Fourth of July show was moved to the East River nearly 10 years ago with officials saying more New Yorkers could see them, but as that chapter in the turf war comes to a close not everyone on Team East is sad to see the fireworks go. And in Florida, The Highway Patrol has arrested the driver of a pickup truck that crashed into a farmworker bus, killing eight, on charges of driving under the influence-manslaughter.

Brrrrring on the hypothermia? Cold plunges are all the rage — Scheana Shay, 39, was spotted slipping into a backyard tub on the latest season of “Vanderpump Rules” and Courteney Cox, 59, revealed her love of frigid baths — but there are some health risks you should know about before taking the plunge. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, An SUV driver fleeing from police slammed into a 71-year-old woman, killing her, as she was crossing a street with her daughter in Brooklyn, according to witnesses and police sources. Donald Trump’s bid for a mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ salacious testimony was denied by the judge overseeing his Manhattan hush money trial. And in the American West, Two backcountry skiers were killed and one was rescued after they were swept up and buried in an avalanche Thursday in the mountains outside of Salt Lake City that occurred after several days of spring snowstorms, authorities said.

It’s a Sirius problem. A crime scene specialist is probing the forensics behind how a murder could be investigated in outer space — something he says is “inevitable” in the coming years by way of space tourism. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, Michael Cohen testified Monday that Donald Trump ordered him to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to silence a sex scandal — in key testimony for the prosecution that hinges on whether jurors will believe the convicted felon. In the federal corruption case against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, not a single juror was chosen. And in Baltimore, Crews set off a chain of carefully placed explosives Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and with a boom and a splash, the mangled steel trusses came crashing down into the river below.

He’s no longer pleading the fifth. A travel expert is sharing his hack for cheaper airfares, saying fifth freedom flights can often offer more bang for your buck. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, the NYPD removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University on Thursday and arrested more than 100 demonstrators, including the daughter of a prominent Minnesota congresswoman. New York would expand access to booze by allowing movie theaters to sell liquor and continuing to let people buy takeout cocktails from bars and restaurants under a series of measures unveiled. And in Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson conceded that he doesn’t have the votes needed to defang a possible motion to oust him from power after tensions flared with GOP hardliners on the chamber floor.

They’re getting all dolled up. More makeup lovers are toying with flushed cheeks, luminous highlights and a complexion so flawless it looks airbrushed, in a trend fashionistas have dubbed “doll makeup.” The babyfaced aesthetic began on the runway before spilling onto social media and the streets of the Big Apple. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, New Jersey is expected to get a cut of the controversial proposed $15 daily congestion toll to drive through swaths of Manhattan, the head of the MTA revealed. Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife were allegedly filmed beating up their teenage daughter by her boyfriend — who the parents had “disapproved of,”. And in Washington, the Senate ended the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, making him the second Cabinet official in history to evade a conviction and removal from office — but the first to be acquitted without evidence being presented of alleged “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

This one’s a brush job. After years of being told to spit and rinse, Americans are now being told merely to spit, as dental experts pour water on the notion of swish-swishing after attending to our pearly whites. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, Gov. Hochul announced the framework of a $237 billion budget that includes broad plans to drive new housing construction, address the influx of migrants and crack down on illegal marijuana shops. An old school Upper East Side building that housed Anthony Bourdain’s favorite Big Apple hot dog stand will be bulldozed to make way for luxury condos – leaving longtime residents red hot. And the historic hush money trial of Donald Trump got underway with the arduous process of selecting a jury to hear the case charging the former president with falsifying business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.

A furious job applicant was in disbelief after he learned during an interview he would be paid $12 an hour for a T.J. Maxx position. The man, whose full name was not disclosed but went by @sobeatmyass, took to social media in front of 362,000 viewers saying he was “not taking that f—king job,” on TikTok. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, fresh from a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump visited a Harlem bodega where a man was stabbed to death, a stark pivot for the former president as he juggles being a criminal defendant and the Republican challenger intent on blaming President Biden for crime. In Queens, the NYPD clashed with migrant vendors and confiscated their apparently stolen merchandise on a troubled Jackson Heights block known for its illicit open-air market and hookers on the prowl. And Senator Bob Menendez may seek exoneration at his May bribery trial by blaming his wife, saying she kept him in the dark about anything that could be illegal about her dealings with New Jersey businessmen, according to court papers that were unsealed.

Gen Z might just be talking smack about you behind your back — or right to your face. But you’d be none the wiser, as the slang-savvy generation has adapted lingo only found in video games into their ever-expanding lexicon. In a TikTok video with 1.5 million views, Harvard-educated linguistics expert Adam Aleksic likened the rise of gaming terms to that of commonly used sports metaphors. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Monday, Two NYPD officers involved in the fatal shooting of Kawaski Trawick inside his Bronx apartment five years ago will not face internal discipline in a announcement by NYPD commissioner Edward Caban. Robert MacNeil, who created the even-handed, no-frills PBS newscast “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” in the 1970s and co-anchored the show with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades, died on Friday. He was 93. And in Washington, Saturday’s attacks on Israel created new questions about replenishing aid to war-torn Ukraine after months of tumultuous Republican infighting.

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it work. Oh, and one last thing about this episode- after the show aired, one of my former producers who happened to be listening to the show called me up and invited me out to lunch. How about that? 

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of Year 5 of The Update. When we first started this then-show at WKRB in 2017, the first year had a lot of things going on. Donald Trump's first year in office, mass shootings worldwide, and the Great American Solar Eclipse to name just a few. In Year 5, it was more of the same. There was the Russian war in Ukraine, more mass shootings in America, and the overturning of Roe V. Wade to name just a few that we'll mention. But also, after more than two years out on the road, we made our way to a new studio at UD Team in the summer of 2022. Oh, and one last thing- be on the lookout for some WKRB highlights as we looked back on five years of memories.

Do you love that chicken from Popeyes but on a diet? A New Jersey personal trainer and nutritionist is sharing how to make a meal at the national chicken chain for less than 500 calories. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, a man was arrested for allegedly taking a decommissioned New York City fireboat for an overnight cruise on the Hudson River, before becoming stuck, jumping ship and stealing another vessel, according to the NYPD. A New York City Council member wants to “beautify” the Big Apple’s concrete medians by adding greenery, claiming the new plants will help curb flooding during storms. And we're remembering O.J. Simpson, the football star and Hollywood actor acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend in a trial that mesmerized the public and exposed divisions on race and policing in America. He's died at the age of 76.

The customer nose best. McDonald’s restaurants in the Netherlands have debuted a revolutionary way to turn consumers on to their iconic burgers and fries — by launching the “world’s first billboard” that smells like their food. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, New Jersey has been hit by more than 45 aftershocks following last week’s 4.8-magnitude earthquake — including one that rattled the Garden State yesterday morning. There’s no way around it! New Jersey commuters will be shelling out a lot more to come into Manhattan — whether by train, bus or car — starting this summer. And in Philadelphia, a joyful celebration of the end of Ramadan devolved into panic after rival groups exchanged gunfire, leaving at least three people injured and hundreds of parents and children to flee in search of safety.

That was some show in the sky, wasn't it? In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, A witch, a time traveler and an alien-enthusiast walked into Washington Square Park for an otherwise typical day in Manhattan on Monday — save for the solar eclipse that happened to be cresting overhead. More than 7,000 people gathered at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery for a viewing party as they watched the sun disappear from the sky above while the dead slumbered below. And in Cleveland, Pregame festivities for the Guardians’ home opener were ceremonial and celestial. Elsewhere, a stranger stabbed another man in the head with a screwdriver on board a Bronx MTA bus Monday afternoon when he flew into a rage because the victim was playing drums on his lap, according to cops and law enforcement sources. And in Washington, President Biden has received criticism from Democrats and Republicans this week over his response to an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza.

In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Monday, a rare earthquake rocked the New York City area Friday, swaying buildings and sending terrified residents into the streets — the strongest temblor to strike near the Big Apple in 140 years. The NYPD is unleashing barnacles to battle parking pirates. The department this week said it will begin using “windshield boots” — a 17-pound device that attaches to a vehicle’s windshield like a barnacle and remains there until a scofflaw pays their tickets — on illegally parked trucks. And eclipse spectators staked out their spots across three countries, fervently hoping for clear skies despite forecasts calling for clouds along most of the sun-vanishing route. North America won’t see another coast-to-coast total solar eclipse for 21 years, prompting the weekend’s worry and mad rush. 🌞🌕

Beaches are a place of relaxation, fun and, in some cases, strange laws. Some beaches around the United States have more specific laws for visitors to keep in mind. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, the New York City Marathon organizers will soon have to pay a bridge toll, just like every other commuter, if New York transit officials have their way. The hotly contested issue of whether New York’s $15 congestion toll should go forward is hitting a federal courtroom this week as New Jersey seeks to block the measure. And in the American west, a former Tacoma police officer who was hired as a sheriff’s deputy in a neighboring county — despite his involvement in the violent fatal arrest of Manuel Ellis in 2020 — has resigned his new job after just two days.

Fast food just got even faster. It seems that an increasing number of fast food outlets are imposing limits on how long patrons have to gobble their burgers and fries. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, An innocent bystander was shot dead inside a Bronx bodega by a gunman who was trying to rob someone else, according to cops and law enforcement sources. A former police officer who prosecutors say was the ringleader of a campaign donations scheme to help Mayor Adams during his winning 2021 run was sentenced. And a South Carolina senator said the elected state treasurer has breached the public trust after lawmakers didn’t get much clarity Tuesday about how $1.8 billion moved through a state bank account over the past decade — without anyone knowing where it came from or was supposed to go. 💵

As the moon passes between the Earth and the sun Monday, Andrew Bazos will be cruising at 17,000ft, rosé in hand, having dropped $2,000 to watch the solar eclipse from a private plane’s window. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, A procession of New York Police Department officers, on foot and driving motorcycles, escorted the remains of their slain colleague, Jonathan Diller, to a Long Island church for his funeral service. Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse. And Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.