Inside a Jackson Heights subway station, a cultural center emerges

Plus: City to recruit civilian Rat Pack [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.]( [In the depths of the Jackson Heights subway station, a cultural center emerges]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ⛅ A mix of sun and clouds, possible afternoon thunderstorms, highs in the mid 80s. It's Monday in New York City, where the MTA is currently sitting on 58 vacant subway station retail spaces that it wants to fill. Here's how a Jackson Heights community radio station and cultural center, which had feared being priced out of the city, [found a home in the Forest Hills & Jamaica station](. And here's what else is happening: - Mayor Eric Adams issued an emergency order over the weekend to partially [stop a new law limiting solitary confinement in city jails]( just a day before it was slated to go into effect. - Police said [three people were shot]( one fatally, on Randall’s Island early Monday morning. - The FDNY says e-bike battery fires in the city are continuing at an alarming rate but [the number of people dying has plummeted]( likely because people are following instructions to keep their e-bikes outside. - A [15-year-old boy found dead at a Queens subway station]( last Friday likely died as a result of a subway surfing incident, according to police. - A new MTA memo says six express bus routes in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island that've had extra weekday service [could revert to their old schedules]( because of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing. - The 40-year-old Neptune Diner in Astoria, Queens served up its final plates of eggs and pancakes yesterday, marking [yet another blow to the city's diner count](. - The city is seeking volunteers for its civilian Rat Pack, an "elite squad of dedicated anti-rat activists." ([You get cool merch]( - Congrats to Ozone Park fencer Lauren Scruggs on winning the [silver medal in the women's foil competition]( at the Paris Olympics. (Congrats as well to American Lee Keifer, who won gold.) - Despite Mayor Adams' campaign pledge to prioritize repairs for NYCHA playgrounds, [one in six public housing playgrounds is currently closed](. - Robert Menendez Elementary School in West New York, New Jersey, is [changing its name back to Public School No 3]( following its namesake senator's bribery conviction. - Midtown steakhouse Gallaghers put stickers on its framed photo of actor Perry Como reading, "This is not Jeffrey Epstein. This is Perry Como," because [so many customers were asking why they had a picture of Epstein on their wall](. - The New York Times has removed a quote from a recent story about voter sentiment after interviewing a self-described Trump supporter who, it turns out, can't vote because she went to prison in the early 2000s for [fraudulently sticking a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili]( in an attempt to get a settlement. - New York City sidewalks [are crowded](. - Edna O'Brien, the Irish author best known for her trilogy, "The Country Girls," [has died at the age of 93](. - A new study found that American adults are having sex an average of [5.6 times a month](. [“The city is losing something that I think really defined what the city was. If you think about Seinfeld, where did they hangout? They hung out at a diner. That is like this quintessential New York television show.”]( — Astoria resident Sabrina Karpe on [THE CLOSING OF NEPTUNE DINER — AND MANY MORE LIKE IT]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [En Garde! Brooklyn Tech grad makes lunge to Olympic fame]( Bensonhurst fencer Anne Cebula — who competes in the epée, a different category than the aforementioned foil — spoke with WNYC about her path to Paris. [A South Bronx community facing challenge and change marks a milestone]( The Mott Haven Neighborhood Service Collaborative has formed with the aim of filling gaps in city services. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Mayor Adams wants gun detectors at every subway turnstile. Experts say it’s a longshot.]( One researcher at NYU said that while it may be possible to “Frankenstein” the gun detectors onto turnstiles, the costs would be astronomical. [New NYT documentary examines Louis C.K.’s success after sexual misconduct allegations]( Shortly after acknowledging the truth behind several allegations, Louis C.K. returned to the stage, sold out Madison Square Garden and won a Grammy, a sequence that called into question what being canceled even means. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.