Happy Wednesday in Brooklyn, where fish costumes are back on the menu in Coney Island.
The nonprofit Coney Island USA announced earlier this month that a financial crunch might force them to cancel the Mermaid Parade, an annual festival inspired by Mardi Gras in which attendees dress in sea creature and mermaid costumes. The parade consistently draws thousands of lively (and reliably drunk) visitors and has entrenched itself as a beloved borough tradition.
In the weeks since that announcement, Coney Island USA raked in nearly $40,000 through its GoFundMe, shattering expectations and all but guaranteeing a 44th year of festivities in June. “The outpouring of support has been incredible,” Adam Rinn, the artistic director of Coney Island USA and former sword swallower, told Gothamist.
On another front: one person who isn’t seeing the money is Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. The Republican Nassau County Executive was blocked from accessing nearly $7 million in public matching funds by Democratic lawmakers on the state election board due to a filing error in his application.
The decision got some prominent Republicans calling foul and others calling “corruption.” “This is an abomination of trying to do bureaucratic nonsense to try to eliminate candidates for an election,” Brian Kolb, the vice-chair of the Public Campaign Finance Board, told POLITICO. “It defeats the whole purpose of the public campaign finance board.”
It’s a major setback for the Republican candidate, who has been steadily gaining on incumbent Kathy Hochul in recent polls.
Speaking of Hochul, the governor and the state legislature have missed their budget deadline for the fourth time in as many years (it’s actually been seven straight years of tardiness, stretching back before Hochul’s tenure). Talks are stalled over proposals to raise taxes on corporations and restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities throughout the state. Last year’s budget negotiations stretched until May 8, so Hochul still has plenty of time to improve.
What — were you expecting some sort of practical joke here in honor of April Fool’s Day, instead of a series of well-crafted segues? Well, maybe that was the prank all along…
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who has chaired the Kings County Democratic Committee for six years, faces intensifying scrutiny after her husband’s phone was seized by investigators as part of a federal indictment involving bribery and kickbacks.
Mayor Mamdani announced in a TikTok video that he reversed Adams’ TikTok ban for city agencies.
The City launched its first undergraduate scholarship for municipal employees and expanded the longstanding Mayor’s Graduate Scholarship Program.
The Brooklyn Girl Scouts meet-and-greet with members of the judiciary, “Black Judges, Black Girls” event hopes to galvanize and empower the next generation of Black girls.
The James Beard Awards nominated Williamsburg’s The Four Horsemen wine bar in the Outstanding Restaurant category and Crown Heights’ Whoospie Daisy natural wine bar in the Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service category.
Our World In Photos
Photo: Jon Chol Jin/AP
NORTH KOREA — ‘Hey, if they’re doing propaganda in schools, shouldn’t we?’ Newly enrolled pupils have their first lesson as a school-opening ceremony took place at Kim Song Ju Primary School in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, April 1, 2026.
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
Attorney pens love letter to Brooklyn in new children’s book
Connie Gibilaro with her daughter. Photo: Connie Gibilaro
Attorney and author Connie Gibilaro released her first children’s book, which provides valuable lessons and celebrates Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn is the World: A Butterfly’s Journey” was released in February, however the idea began for the Bay Ridge native back in 2020 when she and her daughter took routine walks to a butterfly mural at the Shore Road Park Gazebo.
Learn more about the inspiration behind Gibilaro’s new book and the Bay Ridge flavor included in it.
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The Mini
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Cartoon Sketchbook
By Dave Whamond
For the Road
Psychedelic Art: Alex Aliume, a 32-year-old Ukrainian-born artist whose phosphorescent canvases have drawn thousands of visitors to his Seigel Street live-work loft since 2023, is relocating to a dedicated gallery at 41 Porter Ave. in Bushwick. Blue Man Group co-founder Chris Wink, a collector, described the pieces as offering a “sense of, like, a portal. A connection to the outer world.” Learn more about the new space.
Happy Birthday to political commentator Rachel Maddow!
On This Day in 1901, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “As is now well known, St. Mark’s must make way for the new East River Bridge, and a beautiful parish is now in process of erection on Eastern Parkway, which is to be the future home of the church.”
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