Early Addition: Fire destroys 'house of horrors' in Crown Heights

Also: Mosquitoes love it here [View this email in a browser.]( Welcome to Early Addition, a daily local news roundup from the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom. We'll greet you in your inbox every weekday morning with news headlines, culture, events and more! [Fire destroys notorious 'house of horrors' in Crown Heights]( [the burnt House of Horrors in Crown Heights]( [by James Ramsay]( Good Thursday morning in New York City, where a Brooklyn building that was once home to [a cult-like church linked to brutal murders and disappearances]( has gone up in flames. Here's what else is happening: - Wegmans is leading a push to legalize [wine sales in New York grocery stores]( — and liquor stores are fighting back. - Mosquitoes [love it here](. - New York City's chief housing officer [is resigning](. - Jessica Katz, who was appointed to the job in January 2022, said she plans to step down in July. Her decision comes as Mayor Eric Adams [seeks to roll back the city's right-to-shelter law]( with thousands of migrants continuing to arrive weekly. - Adams isn't the first mayor to try eroding the law guaranteeing every person a bed in a shelter. [Here's an explainer on what makes this attempt different](. - An NYPD officer is facing assault charges for allegedly punching a man who was intoxicated and "in the throes of a serious psychiatric crisis" to the point of [knocking him unconscious and breaking his nose](. - They're finally kickflipping again down at [the Brooklyn Banks](. - Nicholas Gray, founder of the [papaya juice-and-hot dogs]( temple Gray's Papaya, has died at the age of 86. - Ben Smith, the former editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News, [spoke with On The Media about the site's demise](. - Around 45,000 kids [won't be able to attend Summer Rising]( New York City’s free, popular summer education program. - The MTA is warning that it'll have to reduce peak service on [Metro-North's New Haven line]( the commuter rail's busiest route, if Connecticut slashes funding for the transit agency. - [Seasonal allergies]( are scuttling the return-to-office crusade. - "Being sprayed with poop was not in the job description": Workers at LaGuardia airport who [clean out Spirit Airlines planes]( say they've been forced to use faulty equipment that left one colleague "drenched" with human waste. - Did pickleball [squash]( squash? - "Ron DeSantis could have just gone down a golden escalator instead of crashing and burning on Twitter Spaces" [is one take](. - Elmhurst Hospital physicians have [reached a tentative deal]( to end their three-day strike. “The only time constitutional rights really matter are during hard times.” - Robert Hayes, lawyer who won NYC's right-to-shelter law in 1981, [responding to Mayor Adam's attempt to suspend it]( More from Gothamist [a "LAND" sculpture in Brooklyn Bridge Park]( [A new sculpture at Brooklyn Bridge Park evokes colonization and migration with weathered steel]( Artist Nicholas Galanin said the piece is meant to spark conversations about colonization, migration and how everyday people interact now with land that once belonged to Indigenous people. [City Hall stopped sharing detailed migrant counts a week before Adams reported an influx]( The withholding of more precise information comes amid scrutiny over the reporting and accuracy of the city’s data on migrants. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Fleet Week returns to New York City with an abundance of free events]( Nearly 2,400 uniformed personnel are visiting the city this week, and their boats are open to visitors free of charge. [NYC keeps its spot as 10th best city in the U.S. for parks, according to national parks group]( Jersey City and Newark, not so much. [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.