Requests for gun licenses are soaring in NYC

Plus: Why Broadway's 'Six' is so popular with teens and tweens [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.]( [More New Yorkers are applying for gun permits. The NYPD won't say how many they granted.]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☀️ Sunny, with highs around 70. (Don't worry, [we'll have highs in the 40s]( again next week.) It's Thursday in New York City, where the number of New Yorkers who applied for gun permits more than doubled last year, according to new NYPD data obtained by Gothamist. John Deloca, who owns a shooting range in Queens, said [his customers want to arm themselves]( after seeing gruesome news stories — like a subway conductor getting slashed in the neck — or when they drive beside recklessly speeding cars. Here's what else is happening: - New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams unveiled a slate of proposals to make the city more affordable and family-friendly in her third State of the City address on Wednesday. Among her ideas: [building affordable housing]( at public libraries and even the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens. - She also called for more investment in childcare to prevent working-class families from leaving New York City. [Here's how families can apply for the federally subsidized Head Start program](. - Police said a pickup truck driver [fatally hit an 8-year-old boy and injured his 10-year-old brother]( in a crosswalk in East Elmhurst yesterday afternoon. - Nearly three months after police said no criminality was suspected in the [deaths of twin 5-year-olds in the Bronx]( the city’s medical examiner has ruled their deaths homicides, saying they were fatally smothered. - [Staten Island residents are complaining]( they're being "inundated" with battery storage facilities looking to develop in the borough. - The United Airlines NYC Half Marathon takes place this Sunday morning. [Here's what you need to know]( whether you're cheering for the runners or looking to avoid the chaos. - New census estimates say [New York City’s population declined]( by roughly 78,000 people last year, dropping the city's overall headcount to 8.26 million. - Mayor Eric Adams is [writing another book](. - To express solidarity with Haitians facing violence in their country, the mayor yesterday tweeted, "We call New York City the Port-Au-Prince of America" ... which was [flagged on X]( with the caption, "Not one person has ever said this before Eric Adams." - A restored British Airways Concorde jet is [floating down the Hudson River]( this morning on its way back to the Intrepid Museum. - Former NY1 weatherman Erick Adame, who was fired in 2022 over nude videos of himself surfacing on an adult website, is now [broadcasting weather reports on his own app](. - Last year, Adame gave Death, Sex & Money [a long interview]( about the experience of having his life blown up over what he thought were private webcam images. - The scaffolding has mostly been removed from the exterior of hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen's 30,000-square-foot West Village townhouse. A neighbor said [it looks kind of like a federal office building](. - "I feel like I look healthier": [Skin cancer be damned]( Zoomers are tanning. - Ye, née Kanye West, has found [an audience for his new music]( Tweens who are discovering him for the first time on TikTok. - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. [“People are getting guns because everybody is out of control.”]( - Queens shooting range owner John Deloca on the city's [SPIKE IN GUN PERMIT APPLICATIONS]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [Why is Broadway's 'Six' so popular with teens and tweens? We asked them.]( "Six," the blockbuster musical that reimagines English King Henry VIII's six wives as members of a pop group, marked its 1,000th Broadway performance on Saturday. The show's "Spice Girls-meets-Hamilton" vibe is a big reason for its popularity among girls. [NY mosques are struggling to serve migrants as Ramadan begins]( Several mosques throughout the city say they're struggling to pay bills as they shelter and care for a growing new wave of West African migrants. [We Rely On Your Support]( [‘The Ghostbusters have arrived’: New NYC task force will crack down on fake license plates]( Authorities said the Plate Task Force will deploy monthly, with officers using electronic license plate readers to identify fake temporary paper plates. [LaGuardia rises from worst to first in North American airport passenger survey]( The Airport Service Quality survey recognized LaGuardia as one of the two best airports of 25 to 40 million annual passengers in North America in 2023. [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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