Day: May 20, 2025

The 409-acre remnant of Long Island’s grand Gold Coast is one of the region’s last surviving estates with its original acreage intact

The post Tradition and change intertwine to create beauty at a century-old arboretum appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Mayor Eric Adams insisted on Tuesday that his friendlier approach to President Trump is what persuaded the commander-in-chief to lift a federal pause on a major wind farm project off the coast of Brooklyn on May 19.

His remarks came a day after Gov. Kathy Hochul suggested that she was able to convince the president to keep the project alive because of her more forceful approach to the president in recent conversations.

Hizzoner, during his weekly ‘off-topic’ news conference on May 20, said his strategy of working and “not war” with Trump led the president to remove a stop-work order that the US Department of the Interior placed on the Empire Wind 1 project in mid-April. Allowing the wind farm to move forward was one of the central issues Adams says he discussed with Trump in a closed-door White House meeting on May 9.

“Many of you stated that, ‘oh, you should not have a relationship with the president,'” Adams said. “That’s your belief. That’s not my belief. Because we do. We got a project that is very important to us.”

Empire Wind 1, being built by the Norwegian energy company Equinor, was already under construction and 30% completed when the Trump administration issued the stop-work order, according to published reports. The project employs over 1,500 workers and is expected to provide energy to 500,000 New York homes.

On Monday night, however, Hochul said it was her hard-charging advocacy for the wind farm that pushed Trump to reverse course. The governor has generally been far more adversarial with Trump than the mayor has since he took office.

“After countless conversations with Equinor and White House officials, bringing labor and business to the table to emphasize the importance of this project, I’m pleased that President Trump and [Interior Secretary Duuglas] Burgum have agreed to lift the stop work order and allow this project to move forward,” Hochul said in a May 19 statement.

But Adams waved away the notion that he and Hochul disagreed over how they pushed Trump to resume construction on the project.

“We don’t have a disagreement,” Adams said. “If she wants to say it was because she was strong and fought for it, hey, great governor. All I know is that when I sat down in the Oval Office, I shared with [Trump] how important this project was and what it meant. I know the letters that we sent. I know the conversations we had behind the scenes.”

Adams has maintained a friendlier posture toward Trump than most leading Democrats since even before the polarizing Republican president was re-elected last November. He has refrained from publicly criticizing Trump, saying he will only voice his concerns directly to the president in private. 

The mayor has shied away from commenting on some of Trump’s most controversial actions. Those include threatening to slash billions of dollars in federal funding, engaging in an immigration crackdown that many say violates due process, and levying tariffs that nearly caused an economic meltdown.

Adams appeared to adopt his current stance toward Trump after he was indicted on federal corruption charges last fall under former President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice. Trump’s DOJ successfully got Manhattan Federal Judge Dale Ho to drop Adams’ case early last month, but seemed to agree with widespread allegations that Adams exchanged his cooperation with the president’s immigration agenda for having his case dismissed.

NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health is marking a milestone this month: the one-year anniversary of “26 Minutes with Dr. Warren Seigel,” a local health talk show that has quickly become a staple of community-based medical storytelling and education.

Since launching last year, the show has recorded 27 episodes — 14 pilot installments and 13 officially broadcasted episodes that now air on BRIC Media every first and third Saturday of the month. The show is hosted by Dr. Warren Seigel, chairman of pediatrics at South Brooklyn Health, whose blend of heart, humor and medical insight has made him a standout in front of the camera despite having no prior experience as a host.

The show was born out of a partnership between South Brooklyn Health and BRIC Media, sparked by Executive Producer Greg Romenski, who had previously worked with Dr. Seigel. Together, they envisioned a program that would bring accessible health education directly into Brooklyn homes.

“The purpose of this show is to promote health,” Dr. Seigel told Brooklyn Paper. “We want to make sure that education goes out to our entire community, specifically on medical topics, to help people stay healthy and prevent diseases. We want to make sure that everybody has the same access to a healthy lifestyle.”

Dr. Seigel credited the hospital’s Office of Public Affairs for helping him step into the role, with Assistant Director of Public Affairs and Communications Isaiah McClain appointed as Executive Producer. McClain, who previously worked as an Associate Producer for PBS’s “State of the Arts,” helped shape the show’s direction and production quality from the start.

South Brooklyn Health also made history as the first hospital in Brooklyn to launch a talk show on local television. The initiative quickly gained momentum, thanks in part to a wide range of hospital staff who volunteered their time and stepped into new roles to support the show’s development.

Lakeisha Weston, the hospital’s coordinating manager of community outreach and CAB liaison, served as senior producer during the early stages, managing logistics and coordinating volunteers from departments across the hospital, including HR, IT, Transportation, Maintenance, and OBGYN. Their efforts helped transform a hospital conference room into a professional studio setting.

As the program matured, McClain appointed Dr. Eugenio Solis De Ovando as the show’s new senior producer. With a strong background in media production, Dr. Solis De Ovando brought a fresh perspective to the team and has worked closely with McClain and BRIC Media to enhance the show’s production and storytelling.

Now a year in, “26 Minutes with Dr. Warren Seigel” continues to grow its audience and deepen its community impact. The show covers a wide range of health topics with compassion and approachability, making it a unique platform that bridges the gap between hospital staff and the patients they serve.

“This is more than just a talk show,” the hospital said in a statement. “It is a platform for education, inspiration, and storytelling that uplifts both patients and providers.”

Episodes of “26 Minutes with Dr. Warren Seigel” air on BRIC Media on the first and third Saturday of each month and are also available on the NYC Health + Hospitals YouTube channel.