After years in limbo, Williams’ plan to snake a 23.5-mile natural-gas pipeline underwater from Pennsylvania to Queens—via such scenic stops as Raritan Bay and Staten Island’s coast—has resurfaced, courtesy of revived White House interest and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s new flexibility. Public comment is next for a proposal that, if approved, may warm Brooklyn but is unlikely to thaw entrenched local opposition.
Maya Hayes, a former counselor at the Brookwood Youth Facility in upstate New York, pleaded guilty to a felony sex crime after several boys, some as young as 15, accused her of sexual abuse—claims allegedly known and joked about by staff. She faces up to 2.5 years in prison and lengthy supervision, confirming once again that oversight in detention centers is rarely more than a pane of glass half-covered.
Baffled Staten Islanders peering at the monolithic concrete tower by Tompkinsville station can stand down: it’s not a set piece from The Who, but a four-storey staircase for the $92 million Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center, rising from a 2010 collapse and due by spring 2026 as part of the city’s $400 million North Shore Action Plan—proof, perhaps, that public works outlast both bands and bewilderment.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal are drifting up the eastern seaboard, promising New Yorkers—especially those on Staten Island—a muggy week punctuated by thunderstorms and the odd bout of flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures should hover around 88°F, with rain and humidity serving as a not-so-gentle reminder that weather apps remain among our more reliable sources of excitement.
On Staten Island, On Your Mark—providers of services for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities—has opened a new campus at the former St. Paul’s Church in New Brighton, hosting a ribbon-cutting that drew politicians and plenty of civic glad-handing. With job training, support and community spaces now filling halls once reserved for hymns and homework, we suspect even the saints would approve of the pragmatic afterlife for this sprawling property.
Despite lingering grime, faintly radioactive parklands, and memories of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation, Staten Island’s 14 miles of beaches remain a quirky refuge for New Yorkers seeking solitude—if one braves the trek and the aroma. Locals like Boris Vinokur savour the wild, amenity-free stretches, while federal cleanup crews wrangle leftover X-ray gear and flood defences crawl ahead. Paradise, it seems, arrives in a rather used condition.
Trinity Lutheran Church in Stapleton, a 1913 gothic-revival testament to Upjohn and Conable’s architectural flair, has snagged a $15,000 Sacred Sites Grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy—one of only 15 such awards statewide this year. The funds help preserve original doors and windows while the church continues to serve 28,000 locals annually with food, meetings, and even a new internet radio, all without asking for divine intervention.
A string of shark sightings off New York’s Rockaway beaches saw authorities close sections from Beach 83rd to 113th Street over the Fourth of July weekend, as Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry hailed the city’s ever-watchful drones. With just 28 confirmed shark bites across the entire US last year, the main danger appears to be human toes left unsupervised—as well as this summer’s collective sense of drama.
Ten young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities graduated from Project SEARCH at Staten Island University Hospital, a yearlong internship jointly run by Northwell Health and local partners. With 80% of past participants landing jobs, this crash course in everything from resume-writing to disinfecting rehab gear seems to work wonders—especially for award-winner Amir Dixon, now a model employee and proof that slow, steady progress rarely makes headlines, but occasionally makes careers.
