Good evening, New York City. We’re wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know about for tonight and tomorrow, as well as your weather outlook.
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Temperatures will remain cool this evening, with clouds set to form overnight.
Pack an umbrella tomorrow, as rain showers are in store for the afternoon.
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Lows: Mid-60s
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Today’s Big Stories
1. City beaches closed to swimming Wednesday, Thursday due to rip current risk
New York City beaches will be closed to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday as Hurricane Erin makes its way up the Atlantic coast, Mayor Eric Adams said today.
While Erin is not expected to make landfall in the five boroughs, there is currently a high risk of rip currents at city beaches. Breaking waves are expected to be between 9 and 13 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
2. MTA to hold public hearings on proposed fare and toll hikes
Ten cents might not sound like a lot of money, but that’s the amount by which the MTA wants to increase the base fare for subways and local buses — meaning it would cost riders $3 to access the transit system.
The MTA is holding its first of three public hearings on the increases tonight in Brooklyn.
3. Trump weaponization czar urged N.Y. attorney general to resign over mortgage probe
President Donald Trump’s political weaponization czar sent a letter urging New York Attorney General Letitia James to resign from office “as an act of good faith” four days after starting his mortgage fraud investigation of her. Then he showed up outside her house.
Ed Martin, the director of the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, told James’ lawyer on Aug. 12 the Democrat would best serve the “good of the state and nation” by resigning and ending his probe into alleged paperwork discrepancies on her Brooklyn townhouse and a Virginia home.
4. Sunrise Day Camp, serving kids with cancer and their families, celebrates 10th anniversary
Morning lineup, gaga ball and swimming are highlights at the Lucille and Jay Chazanoff Sunrise Day Camp run by the JCC of Staten Island.
Every kid who attends the camp is either a cancer patient, a cancer survivor or a sibling. Many of the counselors attended the camp as campers, and get to give back to a community that deeply impacted them.
5. Queens residents protest proposed battery storage facility over safety concerns
Members of the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization and other residents of Southeast Queens have been gathering weekly to protest the construction of a new energy project there.
Residents who have protested say the facility is too close to homes and businesses in a largely residential neighborhood, especially given the recent fires caused by lithium-ion batteries.
6. Adams sues Campaign Finance Board to release matching funds
Mayor Eric Adams is suing the city’s Campaign Finance Board to force the release of $4.7 million in public matching funds for his reelection campaign.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Adams and his campaign accused the board of acting “arbitrarily, capriciously, and unconstitutionally” by denying the funds earlier this month.
Rafael Emperado Jr. and his wife, Marilyn, have cultivated a garden in a vacant lot on 107th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues in East Harlem. (Spectrum News NY1/Roger Clark)
Hidden garden blooms in the middle of East Harlem
Tucked between tall buildings in East Harlem, one couple has transformed a vacant lot into a hidden garden oasis.
At first glance, a visitor may not think much of the vacant lot on 107th Street between Third and Lexington avenues in East Harlem. But upon further inspection, it’s an oasis full of flowering plants, fruit trees and vegetables growing everywhere.