Despite losing $48 million in federal funding—courtesy of President Trump’s green-energy freeze—developers of Arthur Kill Terminal insist they’ll press on with their offshore wind ambitions at Staten Island’s southern tip. Permits are gradually fall…
New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul made headlines by targeting NYC Glass 718 on Staten Island—among a dozen shops—in what she called the state’s largest criminal vape crackdown. Authorities filed 28 charges against sellers allegedly hawking candy-coloured, tech-adorned vaping gear to under-21s, with more charges in the pipeline. Whether this curbs youth vaping or just sharpens marketing strategies, only time—and possibly more fruit-flavoured evidence—will tell.
New York has added the Atlantic Coast leopard frog, a species first spotted among Staten Island’s warehouses in 2012, to its endangered list—a rare bureaucratic nod to urban biodiversity. Conservationists now sense an improbable lifeline for the frog, though we suspect the amphibian’s new neighbors at Amazon may be more adept at next-day deliveries than at habitat restoration.
Over coffee and croissants at Paris Baguette in Staten Island, NYPD officers briefed locals on a recent rise in scams—from jewelry swaps and bogus home contractors to classic phone shakedowns and the perennial art of "car hopping.” The force advises skepticism toward doorstep handymen and urgent callers, as well as keeping car doors locked—lest we hand fraudsters our valuables on a silver platter.
Staten Island’s hospital auxiliaries, led by volunteers like Lucille Forlenza and Jenifer Cohen, continue their understated 160-year tradition of plugging gaps at Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital—most recently by honouring pandemic staff with a new exhibit and delivering meals when kitchens could not. We applaud the quietly relentless effort, if only because health care budgets rarely budge for sandwiches and sentiment.
New York’s Department of Transportation will reinstate its Open Streets program at PS 5 in Huguenot this school year, temporarily closing Deisius Street for safer drop-offs, pick-ups and outdoor learning—a distinction for Staten Island, which has just one participating school among 72 citywide. DOT is also sprucing up school-adjacent streets elsewhere, giving local children more room to roam and adults marginally fewer excuses for tardy arrivals.
Staten Islanders can bask in summer’s lingering warmth, as the National Weather Service forecasts highs near 80°F and falling humidity, though Thursday night may bring a brief flirtation with thunderstorms as a cold front rolls in. Breezier coastal winds and a chance of showers this weekend suggest umbrellas at the ready—yet meteorologists assure us most precipitation will be light, to the delight of local weather bores.
Staten Island’s Snug Harbor briefly became New York’s culinary crossroads as the NYC Soul Food Festival, now in its second year under Chef Shaw-naé Dixon, tempted visitors with everything from vegan jambalaya to herbal mocktails. Performances and family tributes rounded out the day. We note with pleasure that the oldest Black settlement’s descendants still know how to throw a party, calories and history served in equally generous measure.
