Brooklyn Paper

The transition will be a significant change for the 175,000-square-foot recreation hub, which has served Brooklyn families, youth sports leagues, schools and community organizations since 2008. The facility, housed inside the historic hangars at Floyd Bennett Field, has been a longtime fixture for indoor and outdoor athletics, special events and recreational programming.

The occasion was the annual 12-day Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast, which has been celebrated in Williamsburg since 1887. The festival is best known for the “Dancing of the Giglio,” during which neighborhood men hoist a handmade, 4-ton tower onto their shoulders and carry it through the streets before thousands of spectators. The tradition was transplanted to Williamsburg by immigrants from Nola, Italy, where it began in the fifth century to honor St. Paulinus, the bishop of Nola.

When Ruben Santana began smoking brisket in his Ozone Park garage during the COVID-19 pandemic, he did not imagine the backyard hobby would grow into one of Brooklyn’s newest culinary destinations. Now, after years of pop-ups, Smorgasburg appearances and a successful run at Time Out Market New York, Bark Barbecue has opened the doors to its first standalone restaurant — an 8,000-square-foot flagship at 25 Thames St. in Bushwick.

Foster and Jones graduated from Harvard in 2021, and Hodge graduated in 2022. The pandemic gave them pause to reconsider how they would “enter the world post-pandemic,” Foster told Brooklyn Paper.

“There are a few things that we had in mind when we opened the cat cafe,” Chai said. “One: there are so many homeless cats: while they’re waiting for homes, how do we give them a space that makes them feel relaxed and as much like a home as possible while they’re waiting to be adopted?

The Riegelmann Boardwalk, a staple of the Coney Island and Brighton Beach communities, has fallen into poor condition in recent years, according to Scarcella-Spanton, who said broken boards, loose nails and holes in the wood planks have made parts of the boardwalk “perilous” for residents and visitors. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced $1 billion in funding in December 2025 to renovate the boardwalk.

Acosta is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual misconduct, two counts of course of sexual conduct against a child and one count of acting in a manner injurious to a child. According to the NYPD, “The investigation originated with the NYPD and was referred to the district attorney’s office.

Donna Siafakas, matriarch of Greenpoint’s Peter Pan Donuts, dies at 69 Donna Siafakas, longtime owner and operator of Peter Pan Donuts in Greenpoint, passed away at 69 years old. Photos courtesy of D’Arienzo Funeral Home and Anna O. Grant The woman behind one of Brooklyn’s most iconic donut counters is being remembered not only for the pastries she served, but for the community she helped build over more than three decades.

She was getting ready for school that morning when her mother ushered her into the family’s basement in Odesa. She’d spend much of the next week there, before fleeing to Moldova with her mother and sister. Her father had to stay behind. With just three months left in eighth grade, Mariia landed at a charter school in Mill Basin. As the only new student, she got a lot of attention, but had to overcome a major language barrier to make new friends.

The sloop Clearwater was getting into position for the massive Sail4th Parade of Sail on Saturday when a pair of U.S. Coast Guard boats pulled up beside it. "Turn your vessel around right now," an officer instructed.