Good afternoon! It’s May 15 — do you know where your A/C is?
After a prolonged stretch of jacket-appropriate weather, temperatures are going to jump back into the 80s this weekend for the first time since April 16, and continue like that into next week. Highs are expected to reach 87 degrees on Tuesday.
The warmup is not exactly good news for the 30,000 people preparing to run in Saturday’s RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon. The annual event, one of the largest half marathons in the country, begins in Prospect Park and winds its way through 13.1 miles of Brooklyn’s roadways to end on Coney Island.
It’s fitting that the half marathon, known to some as the unofficial opening to summer, would coincide with a surge into the high 70s. Temperatures that high can be dangerous to runners, especially when they haven’t had a chance to acclimate. In the last five years, two runners died at the event.
Organizers are preparing this year by installing misting stations and handing out ice along the route, adding air conditioning to the medical tent at the finish line and borrowing a state-of-the-art life support machine from Maimonides Medical Center for use in case of an emergency.
They also encourage runners to take a dip in the ocean once they’ve completed the run. But there will be no lifeguard on duty, so runners should keep it to a wade-in.
When it comes to today’s briefs, however, feel free to dive in with everything you’ve got.
The Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, faces a potential shutdown as a deadline nears to reach a deal with unionized workers to avert a strike.
Two lanes of the Staten Island-bound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, from Sands Street to Vine Street in the Fulton Ferry area, will be closed this weekend.
The federal gas tax would be temporarily suspended under a bill that Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of Brooklyn and Staten Island co-introduced with Rep. Max Miller of Ohio on Tuesday.
A man accused of running a secret Chinese spy outpost from a nondescript office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood was convicted Wednesday of acting as an illegal foreign agent.
Councilmembers and dog lovers rallied at Tompkins Square Park today for the Safe and Clean Outdoor Ownership Practices (SCOOP) Act, a package of bills aimed at ensuring dog waste is picked up from city streets and public spaces.
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Our World In Photos
Photo: Ahn Young-joon/AP
SEOUL — Some reactions are simply human: A humanoid robot reacts in a boxing demonstration during Galaxy Robot Park opening commemorative media day in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2026.Photo: Ahn Young-joon/AP
For more pictures like this, see Our World in Photos.
A resilient BAM looks to the future under new community-focused president
Tamara McCaw. Photo: Skylar Searing/BFA
In March, Tamara McCaw was named the new president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music after serving as interim president since June 2025. McCaw previously worked at BAM for eight years as its director of government and community affairs and before that as its inaugural Mikki Shepard Curatorial Fellow. She also worked at The Shed as its first chief civic program officer.
Seasoned in the nonprofit arts and culture sector, the BAM board voted McCaw into her new role unanimously.
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The Mini
Our solver finished in 1 minute 33 seconds. Can you beat it?
Cartoon Sketchbook
By Christopher Weyant
For the Road
DUMBO Design Day: DUMBO Design Day, featuring insider tours, panels, art projections, open studios and an “epic” closing party, takes place on Wednesday. The event is part of NYCxDESIGN, a citywide design event that runs from May 14-20. Learn more.
Happy Birthday to “The Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler!
On This Day in 1946, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “An estimated 200,000 Long Islanders who commute daily to work in New York City would be left virtually without transportation other than already overcrowded suburban bus routes if the railroad unions call their threatened strike Saturday.”
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