Happy Tuesday in Brooklyn, where the Coney Island community has had a — wait for it — roller coaster of a year.
It began with the looming specter of a $3 billion casino proposal, which promised to reshape the neighborhood’s future by transforming the beachfront into a year-round gambling and entertainment destination and pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into community benefits. Ultimately, after months of lobbying efforts, protests and fierce debate among residents, the neighborhood’s Community Advisory Committee voted to shut down the proposal, keeping the People’s Playground casino-free but losing out on the expected windfall.
Then over the weekend, Mayor Mamdai announced the creation of a new Coney Island Business Improvement District with an annual operating budget of $1 million. The money will go toward improved sanitation, support for local businesses, neighborhood beautification and marketing efforts to draw more tourists to the area.
This will become the city’s 78th Business Improvement District, a local coalition of business and property owners that works to supplement the city’s public services.
“For far too long, the city and state have failed to invest in Coney Island in a meaningful way,” Mamdani said at a press conference on Sunday. “That’s true for both the colorful shops that cater to beachgoers and the mom and pop pharmacies that sustain those who call this home.”
Something tells me this new BID will have Coney Islanders saying “hot dog!”
Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-44) called for an expansion of state law to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering libraries without a warrant.
Mayor Mamdani restarted three bike lane projects that stalled under former Mayor Adams. The city Department of Transportation will begin work in the spring.
New York State will allocate an additional $1.5 billion in operating expenses over the next two years to help address New York City’s fiscal challenges and $7 billion budget gap.
Mamdani was grilled in Albany last week by some of his former state assembly colleagues over his plan to close that budget gap.
State Comptroller Thomas D. Napoli found that New York’s Tuition Assistance Program, the state’s primary need-based grant program for college students, has not kept pace with inflation or rising tuition costs since the 2008-09 academic year.
Brooklyn Navy Yard declined to renew Easy Aerial’s lease, a drone manufacturer linked in reports to Israeli security contracts, ending its tenancy at the 300-acre industrial campus.
Assemblymember William Colton (D-47) introduced legislation that would require SNAP to issue more secure chip-enabled EBT benefits cards in an effort to fight rampant SNAP benefit theft.
Brooklyn Liberty star forward Breanna Stewart heads to Turkey to compete for Fenerbahçe in the EuroLeague.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Alastair Grant, Pool/AP
ENGLAND — ‘OMG, don’t let Trump see that’: Britain's Queen Camilla is reflected in the glass as she visits the recently completed Schroder Gallery at the Holburne Museum in Bath, England, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
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The Supreme Court may soon diminish Black political power, undoing generations of gains
House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. Photo: Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP
Back in 2013, the Supreme Court tossed out a key provision of the Voting Rights Act regarding federal oversight of elections. It appears poised to abolish another pillar of the law.
In a case known as Louisiana v. Callais, the court appears ready to rule against Louisiana and its Black voters. In doing so, the court may well abolish Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision that prohibits any discriminatory voting practice or election rule that results in less opportunity for political clout for minority groups.
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By Peter Kuper
For the Road
Presidents in Brooklyn: Brooklyn may be called Kings County, but it has been the stomping grounds of many a president, too. The Brooklyn Eagle archives captured each historic, amusing, mysterious or surprisingly prescient visit from past presidents. Here are some of our favorites.
Happy Birthday to media personality Paris Hilton!
On This Day in 1926, the Eagle reported: “Book production in the United States is on the increase [...] For the fourth consecutive year, ‘Diet and Health,’ by Lulu Hunt Peters, topped the non-fiction list.”
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