Day: June 24, 2025

June is World Ocean Month. To mark World Ocean Day, volunteers gathered outside the New York Aquarium along the Atlantic Ocean to pick up litter.

The volunteers took part in the aquarium’s annual Ocean Shell-a-bration Weekend, a three-day event celebrating the vital role oceans play in our lives and encouraging civic action to protect marine ecosystems.

On Friday, June 6, visitors and residents helped clean up Coney Island Beach, collecting plastic bottles, shoes, soccer balls, cigarette butts and other debris. Their efforts helped prevent marine waste and microplastics from entering New York City’s waterways, making the beachfront safer for both wildlife and city residents.

At the end of the cleanup, organizers estimated that volunteers had removed more than 200 pounds of litter in less than two hours. The New York Aquarium’s Ocean Shell-a-bration Weekend began with the Coney Island cleanup. The three-day event honored World Ocean Day on June 8 and National Oceans Month with family-friendly activities.

Ocean Shell-a-bration Weekend ran from June 6 to 8, with the aquarium hosting events daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. After exploring the exhibits, visitors gathered on Coney Island Beach from 3 to 5 p.m. to help clean up outside the building.

“The cleanup of the litter and debris along the Coney Island beach is designed to help ensure the ocean is safe for people and life,” said Stephanie Joseph, curator of education at the New York Aquarium, in a statement. “This is the fifth year of the New York Aquarium’s beach cleanup, and it is great to see the local community and others come out and take action to keep the ocean healthy and safe.”

Ocean Shell-a-bration Weekend gave Coney Island visitors a chance not only to explore marine life but also to find meaningful ways to protect the Atlantic.

Established in 1895, the Wildlife Conservation Society highlights critical issues such as ocean pollution, overfishing, climate change, and the importance of ocean conservation. Its fifth annual Ocean Shell-a-bration Weekend aimed to unite aquarium visitors in both protecting and appreciating ocean ecosystems for a more sustainable future.

The weekend celebration featured a variety of special activities throughout the aquarium, all included with admission. Highlights included a watch party of the animal show “Sea Lions in the Big City,” penguin feeding observations, and a festive parade through the aquarium.

The New York Aquarium is part of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which conducts marine conservation programs worldwide, including in the New York Bight, stretching from Cape May, New Jersey, to Montauk, New York.

Wildlife Conservation Society members receive free admission to the aquarium, though tickets must be reserved in advance. Their “Land and Sea” membership package includes access to the New York Aquarium, Queens Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Bronx Zoo, supporting the society’s efforts to care for animals in New York and around the world.

A driver hit and injured a father and son who were riding their bicycles in Bed-Stuy on Saturday.

The driver, a 37-year-old man, was headed south on Nostrand Avenue at about 12 p.m. on June 21 when he hit a 44-year-old man and his 10-year-old son, who were cycling west on Lexington Avenue, police said. Both victims were injured in the crash and were brought by ambulance to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition. 

In a statement, safe-streets group Transportation Alternatives said the driver blew through a red light at the corner of Nostrand and Lexington avenues immediately before hitting the cyclists. When asked, an NYPD spokesperson did not say whether or not the driver had disobeyed through a red signal, but confirmed that he had remained on the scene.

Video of the aftermath of the crash showed neighbors gathered around the victims as the 10-year-old lay in his father’s lap in the street. In the video, filmed from a window above the scene, several people seem to confront the driver as he walks toward the victims from his car. 

“We are heartbroken to hear that a child was sent to the hospital after being hit by a reckless driver,” said TransAlt executive director Ben Furnas, in a statement. “These are exactly the types of crashes and injuries we fight to prevent every day.”

Since 2020, three crashes at the intersection of Nostrand and Lexington avenues have left two pedestrians and one driver injured, according to data compiled by NYC Crash Mapper. According to police data, in 2025, ten cyclists have been injured in crashes within the 79th Precinct, where Saturday’s crash occurred. Within the precinct, at least two cyclists have been injured in separate crashes on either Nostrand or Lexington avenues, both attributed to “driver inattention.” 

The June 21 crash occurred just a block from the controversial Bedford Avenue protected bike lane, which stretches from Flushing Avenue to Dean Street. Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Adams abruptly announced his plan to remove about three blocks of the lane, from Flushing to Willoughby avenues, and replace it with an unprotected painted bike lane.

The decision drew praise from local religious groups, who had criticized the lane as unsafe; and objections from safe streets advocates and local elected officials, who pointed to a high number of crashes and injuries along Bedford Avenue before the protected bike lane was installed last fall. 

Days later, TransAlt and local father Baruch Herzfeld filed a lawsuit against Adams and the city, claiming his decision to remove the bike lane was “improper,” and made “without proper legal notice.” In response, a judge on June 18 issued a temporary restraining order to block Adams and the Department of Transportation from removing the lane until a hearing initially scheduled for August.

On June 20, two locals moved to join the suit as third-party “intervenors” who had been negatively impacted by the protected Bedford Avenue bike lane.

In a court filing, the locals’ lawyer, former Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio, urged the judge to dismiss the initial lawsuit and end the restraining order, claiming that TransAlt and Herzfeld’s complaints were “without merit.” In that filing, Seddio said claims that the bike lane would be removed were untrue, and that the bike lane “will still exist, but merely shift to an alternative location in the road.” A previous letter to the judge from the city’s lawyers said “[Adams’] plan would not remove the existing bicycle lane but would shift its location within the street.” 

Seddio moved to hold an emergency ex-parte hearing on June 20. Peter Beadle, who is representing TransAlt and Herzfeld, said in a June 20 letter that he had not been informed of Seddio’s plan to appear in court, and argued that the new filing “brings nothing substantive or new to the discussion that cannot wait until this matter is argued in August.”

On June 23, Judge Carolyn Walker-Dialo ruled that the case will be heard in court on July 1. 

Even Super Teams hit the skids. Down three starters, including two due to injury, the New York Liberty absorbed their third loss in four games Sunday night in Seattle, suffering an 89-79 defeat to the Storm in front of 12,500 fans at Climate Pledge Arena. With reigning WNBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jonquel Jones down […]

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