Good afternoon, and Happy Earth Day — a good time to remember that amid the hustle and bustle of city life, there are stories of nature happening all around.
In the East River, a decommissioned old ferry named Prudence is preparing to become a haven for aquatic life. The abandoned boat, once a commuter workhouse in Rhode Island and later an unrealized floating beer garden, has been rusting away off the coast of Long Island City since 2012. But this spring, volunteers are cleaning it out and stripping it of hazardous materials in an effort to turn the dilapidated structure into an artificial reef. Once ready, Prudence will be sunk off the coast of Long Island and spend the rest of its life at the bottom of the ocean.
“This whole thing is going to just be covered in sea anemones and sponges and mussels and there’ll be fish everywhere,” Harris Moore, a scuba diver who is overseeing the project, told THE CITY. “Better to sink it properly in a place where it’ll do good than have it just go down with toxic craziness.”
Meanwhile, at the Bronx Zoo, a two-year-old red fox with a fantastic story is adjusting to life under human care. The red fox, who doesn’t yet have a name, was discovered by Customs and Border Protection agents earlier this year stowed away aboard a cargo ship arriving in the Port of New York from Southampton, England. He travelled 3,600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean undetected, most likely surviving on trash, scavenged produce and mice.
The red fox might not have been looking for a better life in America, but he may well have found one. His species are known to live two to five times longer in captivity compared to their wild counterparts.
“All things considered, it’s doing pretty well,” Keith Lovett, Director of Animal Programs at the Bronx Zoo, told ABC7. “It’s nice and strong, it doesn’t seem terribly afraid of people, it’s not that skittish, so the animal is doing well.”
Even in a city like New York, the abundance and variety of the natural world push through the cracks in the concrete. Today, we celebrate it!
The Brooklyn Heights Association holds its annual “Spring into Service” event, a day packed with volunteer opportunities, on Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The official K-12 calendar for the 2026-2027 public school year, released yesterday, drew skepticism from some parents over its relatively late start and end dates: Thursday, Sept. 10 and Monday, June 28.
City officials announced plans to install new bus lanes and safety upgrades along Linden Boulevard, from Fountain Avenue to Conduit Avenue in East New York.
Councilmember Chi Ossé was arrested this morning at a protest outside the brownstone home of Carmella Charrington, who is being threatened with eviction over what her family says is a case of deed theft.
Two cyclists are under investigation for a possible hate crime after footage captured one of them knocking the hat from the head of an elderly Jewish man at the corner of Williamsburg Street and Lee Avenue.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
ST. PETERSBURG — The expressions seem to say, ‘Exactly which victory are we talking about?’: Navy cadets march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at the Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
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Bay Ridge Girl Scout sells most cookies in New York City for second straight year
Ashleigh F. sold 3,000 cookies this year, which was enough to be the top seller in all five boroughs by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. Photo: Ashleigh F.
She did it again! For the second straight year, Bay Ridge resident Ashleigh F., 13, was named the top cookie seller in all five boroughs by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York (according to official Girl Scouts policy, Ashleigh’s last name will not be published).
This year, Ashleigh sold a whopping 3,000 boxes of cookies, besting last year’s total of 2,528.
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By John Darkow
For the Road
Get in focus: Photoville, an annual citywide photography fair, returns on Saturday, May 16, with 85 exhibitions, including a special 15th anniversary exhibition paying homage to each borough’s unique character, “Boroughs in Focus.” Learn more.
Happy Birthday to novelist Janet Evanovich!
On This Day in 1946, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Thousands jammed the grounds of Windsor Castle on Easter Sunday to cheer Princess Elizabeth as she observed her 20th birthday. Wearing a powder blue dress and a blue hat trimmed with a single blue feather, the princess waved and blew kisses to the crowd from a drawing room window.”
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