Day: July 30, 2026

ROBOTS THAT RESEMBLE HUMANS OR ANIMALS are now banned on flights with at least three major airlines over concerns about their batteries.

The post Major airlines ban humanoid, animal robots amid battery safety concerns   appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

All levels of dancers are invited to join the Salsa Hustle at Willoughby Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn from 5:45 – 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

The post Join the Salsa Hustle in Downtown Brooklyn on Wednesdays in August appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Straphangers hankering for a salty snack or a cold beverage as they traverse the subways face ever-dwindling options as more and more retail stalls in the system have gone dark in recent years.

But they may not have to go hungry or thirsty for any longer as the MTA announced Thursday that it has begun installing vending machines inside of empty retail spaces across 26 subway stations.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, during Wednesday’s MTA board meeting, said the agency has filled some of those spaces not just with vending machines, but also with traditional retail stalls or art installations.

“Vending is obviously low cost, it doesn’t require as much investment in terms of the physical installation, and it works,” Lieber said.

The MTA has already introduced the machines at three stations — 2nd Av on the F line, 23 St on the R and W lines, and 116th St on the 6 line. Another 23 stations are slated to get the retail units next year, including Atlantic Av-Barclays Center, Broadway-Lafayette St, and Flushing-Main St on the 7 line.

Lieber said the vending machines are one of the many ways that the agency is trying to fill vacant retail units since many of the traditional newsstands that occupied them shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We love the old school newsstands, but the economics of the old school newsstands eroded during COVID, and most of them didn’t want to come back,” Lieber said. “So we found a lot of different ways of animating and activating those spaces.”

The MTA selected CC Vending, Inc. to install and operate the kiosks after holding a request for proposals (RFP) process, it said. The contract between the MTA and the firm lasts for five years, with the option to extend it for another five.

The Coca-Cola Company is providing the food and beverages for the initial phase of the rollout, according to the MTA. They boast traditional vending machine fare, such as potato chips, candy bars, nuts, soda, and bottled water.

Meanwhile, the accord between the MTA and CC Vending, Inc. also allows the latter to begin selling a variety of other items, including technology, health, and beauty products, alongside snacks and beverages.

MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara, in a statement, said the vending machines serve as a way to improve riders’ experience in the subway system.

“By turning vacant retail spaces into customer amenities, we are activating a space into one customers can benefit from,” Rieara said. “We’re making stations more welcoming and more convenient, and we look forward to the installation of more vending machines and greater variety.”

THE NYPD has built a “massive and unlawful DNA database” of individuals taken in for questioning, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The post Lawsuit: NYPD has built ‘massive and unlawful’ DNA database appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

A MAN WHO LAST WINTER crashed his car into the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement was sentenced on Wednesday.

The post Man who crashed car into Chabad HQ sentenced appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

A GROUP OF horses from the former Jamaica Bay Riding Academy, which closed in May, has found a new home at 13 Hands Equine Rescue

The post Horses find new homes upstate after riding academy’s closure appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Brooklyn’s rich artistic legacy will take center stage this fall as filmmaker Spike Lee and Clara Wu Tsai launch a new festival celebrating the borough’s influence on film, art and culture.

Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party will debut Nov. 6-7 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, bringing together filmmakers, artists, performers and community members for two days of screenings, conversations, live performances and free public events.

The inaugural festival is co-hosted by Lee and Wu Tsai — owner of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center — and is produced by filmmaker Nicholas Ma and in association with BAM. Celebrity guest curators, who will help shape the programming, will be announced in the coming months.

In a statement, Wu Tsai said that Playback will introduce a “new kind of film festival.”

“[It’s a festival] that brings together people who share a love of storytelling through film,” she said. “Spike has put Brooklyn on screen for decades, and BAM has served as the borough’s cultural hub for over a century. There is nowhere else like Brooklyn, nothing like the energy of this borough, and this festival will highlight all that makes our community unique.”

Festival organizers added that the two-day event is designed to showcase the storytellers and communities that have helped make Brooklyn a global cultural destination.

Friday’s opening night will feature music, poetry, film and conversations at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House celebrating the festival’s inaugural guest curators.

On Saturday, the celebration will expand beyond the theater, with guest curators presenting a lineup of special guest appearances. A free afternoon block party outside BAM will include live music, local food vendors and community activations before the festival concludes with a screening of Lee’s 1994 film, “Crooklyn.”

BAM President Tamara McCaw said the festival aligns with the institution’s longstanding mission of bringing communities together through the arts.

“At BAM, we believe the arts are essential to a thriving civic life—bringing people together, sparking dialogue, deepening understanding, and strengthening the bonds that connect us to one another and to our communities,” McCaw said. “The inaugural Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party embodies that belief, celebrating the creatives and communities that make Brooklyn such a dynamic cultural force.”

Producer Nicholas Ma said the event is intended to celebrate both cinema and the borough that has inspired generations of artists.

“Brooklyn has always been a place where culture gets made. It’s where music, film, art, sports, food, and activism all collide and create something the rest of the world eventually catches up to,” Ma said. “Playback is a chance for neighbors to come together, celebrate film, and the borough that continues to shape culture around the globe. When we watch together, we remember what movies can do: bring us closer, challenge us, inspire us, and remind us of our shared humanity. See you in Brooklyn.”

Additional programming, celebrity guest curators and participating talent will be announced ahead of the festival. Tickets go on sale in September.