City Council approves Queens soccer stadium, affordable housing

Plus: birth control for rats [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [NYC Council approves Willets Point plan for soccer stadium, affordable housing]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☔ Rainy and breezy, with highs in the mid 60s. It's Friday in New York City, where the City Council voted 47-1 to approve a lavish makeover for Willets Point that'll include a new soccer stadium and 2,500 units of affordable housing. The plan [now heads to the desk of Mayor Eric Adams]( a major supporter of the redevelopment who said it would transform "a neighborhood in Queens that used to be known for its junkyards." Here's what else is happening: - Days after Mayor Adams asked City Council members to fill out a detailed form in order to meet with members of his administration, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams [told her colleagues to ignore the "excessively bureaucratic" policy](. - Brian Benjamin, New York's former lieutenant governor, has signaled that he plans to [ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review his bribery case]( after a lower court reinstated charges against him. - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told WNYC that the debate around the state’s "county line" primary ballot system was not [the reason why his wife, Tammy Murphy, ended her campaign]( for U.S. Senate. - An inspector with the New York City Department of Buildings allegedly [goaded homeowners into bribing him]( so he could make property complaints filed against them go away, according to charges announced by the Queens district attorney. - An internal audit of GatewayJFK, a business improvement district near the airport, found that the city-funded nonprofit [spent $100,000 on events with no apparent benefit to the neighborhood]( among other "disturbing" details. - The New York state court system has established an advisory panel to study the potential [benefits and risks of how artificial intelligence is utilized in court](. - In the year since the sanitation department took over [ticketing for unlicensed street vendors]( citywide ticketing dropped 22% — but increased 29% in the Bronx. - Reminder: The Queens-bound side of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn Heights will be [shut down this weekend for repairs](. - New Jersey has officially experienced [more than 50 aftershocks]( since last week's 4.8-magnitude earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey is now deploying "aftershock kits" to study what's going on. - City Councilmember Gale Brewer vs. Zaza Waza: [From the beginning](. - Here's Upper East Sider Gar Gutman on [the diner where he's been a "super-regular"]( for the past 31 years: "They’re very, very fair about substitutions. For example, my wife tends to order — they have this Greek salad that comes with stuffed grape leaves. She doesn’t particularly like stuffed grape leaves so she substitutes steamed broccoli for the grape leaves." - I wonder if Dominique Ansel would let me order [this escargot bagel]( but substitute cream cheese for the snail? - L.A. Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani's interpreter has now been charged with [stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani]( to fund his betting habit. - [The BookTok girls]( are loving the "1984" audioplay starring Andrew Scott and Andrew Garfield. - If you're walking through a field of cows and one charges at you, maybe [bop it on the nose with a stick](. National Poetry Month Spotlight The U.S. Open at 100 Degrees The tickets we have at the great Arther Ashe Cost $500 Not a small bit of cash. But at center court lodge It makes it worthwhile Seeing all of the matches In the highest of style. So we move through the gates to arrive at our section. But concern has developed About the sun, a hot bastion. Moving to row D we arrive at our seat It is immediately apparent Too much sun and strong heat. Scanning the great Ashe to find some slight shade There is a much higher section That will help us evade The 100 degree heat. A hundred degree heat, Let me repeat, That’s 100 degree heat. We depart our great seats where it is our belief That the far distant sections would give us relief. So up in the air achieving damage control, we find our best seats Near the stadium flag pole. The tennis was good if not, real spectacular, But the players were small Thank God for binoculars. - Jerry Warshaw from Piermont, NY For National Poetry Month, we're collecting your poems on the theme of "local": the nearby places you find important, and what’s making news there. [Submit your poem here]( for a chance to have it featured in Early Addition or on WNYC. More from Gothamist [second image]( [Flaco the owl died with rat poison in his system. Is birth control better than rodenticide?]( Councilmember Shaun Abreu has introduced a bill to test out rat birth control pellets. This comes after a necropsy determined that Flaco the owl ingested rodents with high levels of rat poison before fatally colliding with a building. [NYC opens public lockers to stop daily theft of 90,000 packages]( Through the program, LockerNYC, New Yorkers can have their packages shipped to seven different secure sidewalk locations. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Bronx DA assembling team of prosecutors to review Rikers sexual assault cases]( The move follows a Gothamist analysis of more than 700 lawsuits filed by former detainees that describe an "endemic" culture of sexual abuse by guards at Rikers Island. [Court tells wealthy NJ town: We'll decide where you'll put affordable housing]( A judge is stripping affluent Millburn of its ability to control where and how dozens of affordable housing units will be built, saying local leaders have shirked their responsibility to build a planned development for too long. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. 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