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? 

Travel agents are revealing their reveal 1% clients’ insane demands, and it includes everything from mistress accommodations to bidets and yurts- hear some of the most interesting stories. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, more airstrikes have ravaged parts of the Gaza Strip, leaving it looking like a wasteland from space. Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office says taxpayers will cover the costs of her recent visit to wartime Israel.

Locally, a New York judge has reaffirmed a $10,000 fine he imposed on Donald Trump over an out-of-court comment that the former president made during his civil business fraud trial. The American Museum of Natural History says it is pulling all human remains from public display and will revamp how it maintains its collection of body parts with the aim of eventually repatriating as much as it can and respectfully holding what it can’t. And nearly 10 years after it was first imagined as an opera, “Grounded” is ready to take flight. 🎭

This might be another of my favorite episodes this season- lots of big stories happening at the same time. First, are ready to be spooked? Almost all Halloween candies bring horror to your teeth, dentists are declaring. We'll tell you which candies are safe to snack on from a dentist's perspective. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, increased Israeli airstrikes are devastating parts of the Gaza Strip, jeopardizing relief operations and leaving neighborhoods in shambles. Meanwhile, Florida’s state university system is disbanding chapters of a pro-Palestinian student group it says is violating state law by aligning themselves with Hamas in the wake of an attack on Israeli citizens. There's also an ongoing situation in Maine where police say a firearms instructor recently treated at a mental health facility is a person of interest in the Maine massacre. A man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night, killing at least 16 people and engulfing the state’s second-largest city in chaos.

Locally, a decade after they were envisioned in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy’s destruction, two of the largest flood control projects designed to protect densely populated cities in New Jersey just outside New York City are getting underway. Officials say a man was trapped inside a steel-reinforced concrete jewelry vault in New York City overnight after firefighters had to abandon an attempt to rescue him for safety reasons. And the first major snowstorm of the season dropped up to a foot of snow in the Helena, Montana, area, sending an army of snowplows out on the roads. Residents woke up to swirling snow and the sound of shovels on sidewalks just days after temperatures rose into the lower 80s. ☃️🌞

Here’s a hot new Halloween trend that has critics seriously spooked. Parents across America are partaking in “switch witch” — a seemingly harmless practice that encourages their kids to trade cavity-causing trick-or-treat candy for toys. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Wednesday, Israel has ramped up airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, reducing residential buildings to rubble and crushing families. Meanwhile, the prospect of Israeli forces launching an assault into Gaza’s dense urban neighborhoods is bringing back searing memories of the deadly battles the U.S.-led coalition fought against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Locally, a federal judge has struck down recent provisions of New York City's gun restrictions as unconstitutional, saying officials have been allowed too much discretion to deny gun permits to people deemed “not of good moral character." Dozens of US states, including California, New York, Arizona and Indiana are suing Meta Platforms Inc. for harming young people’s mental health and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to the platforms. And a novel program in Tennessee aims to interest more Black and other minority medical students in organ transplants, to help ease troubling disparities. 🏥

You might want to check your bank account before having a baby in these states. A study by finance company LendingTree released last week reveals the states where childrearing costs the most and the least. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, Israeli warplanes are striking targets across Gaza as the U.S. says a delay in Israel's expected ground offensive in the besieged Hamas-ruled territory would allow more time to negotiate the release of hostages. Meanwhile, It's Ohad Munder-Zichri's 9th birthday. But instead of celebrating at home with his family and friends on Monday, he is believed to be somewhere in Gaza, one of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas since the militants' devastating Oct. 7 incursion. Locally, Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide during the onset of the pandemic and the sexual harassment scandal that forced Cuomo from office in 2021 has written a memoir. Cuomo could have run again for NY governor, but declined for family reasons. JetBlue officials say a plane rocked back with its nose pointed skyward after landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport because of a shift in weight on the aircraft. And The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology recently acquired tens of thousands of reptile and amphibian specimens, including many snakes. 30,000 of them to be exact. 🐍

Deodorant can mask the stench of foul armpits, but it doesn’t mean you’re clean. According to a hygiene expert, you’ve been washing your armpits wrong. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Monday, Israeli warplanes have struck targets across Gaza as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants. Egypt’s state-run media reported that 17 aid trucks were crossing into Gaza on Sunday, but the United Nations said no trucks had crossed. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin say the United States is ready to protect American forces or personnel in the Middle East should the Israel-Hamas war escalate as they expect. Locally, about 3,000 asylum-seekers have been told their time was up in New York City shelters, but about half have reapplied to stay, according to a report in the New York Daily News. A shooter who ambushed police in New York City twice in 12 hours, wounding two officers, has been sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. And Film and TV actors are still on strike in what has become the longest walk-off in their history. The strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists hit its 100th day on Saturday, and it's already starting to affect the upcoming awards season. 🎥📺