Briefing 7/9: Tropical Storm Fay, Catholic Schools To Shut Down, Cooling Centers To Open & More

It’s Thursday! The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and it is HOT outside. Then again its almost mid July and we are heading into heatwave season, and storm season. Need to cool off? Beaches are open as are cooling centers. Don’t forget to wear face coverings and keep a distance of six feet!

• Tropical Storm Fay is expected to hit NYC. The effects of it will be felt beginning on Friday. Rain is likely to begin tomorrow morning and expected to last the entire day. Stay safe!

• Here’s how 25 people served 426 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.
• Here’s an op-ed by a parent about how uncertainty and lack of leadership take school reopening from hopeful to terrifying.
• “More than 2.7 million New Yorkers statewide could share the Sciarrottas’ difficulties if Congress and President Donald Trump allow the $600 weekly benefit known as Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to expire on July 25,” THE CITY reported.
• “Six struggling Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will close for good following months of financial hardships and low enrollment due to the coronavirus pandemic,” the Daily News reported.
• “New York City will begin hyperlocal coronavirus testing in neighborhoods where there are low testing rates and a high percentage of positive tests,” Patch reported.
• Cooling centers will open “to cope with a summer predicted to be especially hot, despite concerns that air conditioning could contribute to the spread of novel coronavirus,” NY 1 reported.
• Have you read this story by the Jewish Telegraph Agency? It’s called “Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jews are acting like they have herd immunity. Could they be right?”
• “The first batch of results for patients tested for the coronavirus reveals how swiftly the pandemic spread through New York earlier this spring — particularly in black and Asian communities and the outer boroughs, according to a new study,” the Post reported.
• Brooklyn Bridge Park Offers a new three-acre section for New Yorkers, NY1 reported.
• “More than 4,000 Brooklyn-based businesses secured loans of more than $150,000 from the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program, created to help companies continue paying workers amid the pandemic,” Patch reported.
• Greenpointers made a list of places where you can get tested for the coronavirus in North Brooklyn.
• The NY Times listed some homes for sale in Brooklyn and Manhattan if you want to take a look here.
• The MTA may eliminate subway lines without federal funding, Crain’s reported.
• “Community activists staved off an attempted eviction in Crown Heights on Tuesday, following a lengthy stand-off with a landlord who tenants say had illegally harassed them into moving out during the pandemic,” Gothamist reported.
• “A 70-year-old woman is speaking out after she was attacked from behind while waiting for a bus in Brooklyn this week,” ABC7 reported.