Where New Yorkers First Took Flight

NEW YORK CITY opened its first municipal airport in May 1931 with a grand ceremony for Floyd Bennett Field, at the end of Flatbush Avenue where the eastern fringe of Brooklyn meets Jamaica Bay.

Flight delays as JFK airport runway taken over by turtles!

Dozens of randy turtles crawled onto a JFK airport runway Wednesday, delaying flights for over an hour, authorities said.

Fishing for Danger

This fresh fish is foul – and yet it’s ending up on dinner tables across the city.

Big fish weigh in

Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand blast lack of info on toxins of fish New York’s senators on Monday blasted the lack of health warnings that have left many New Yorkers unknowingly eating dangerously contaminated fish.

New York City to put up 250 toxic-fish warning signs at fishing spots

The city will install 250 new signs warning of the dangers of eating locally caught fish, officials told the Daily News last night.

Maritime Festival on the North Shore

The Atlantic Salt Co., the Noble Maritime Collection and the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce are coming together to present a free community festival in August.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL, CONEY ISLAND STYLE

The Nathan’s hot dog eating contest has been an Independence Day tradition of Coney Island for 94 years — and beach volleyball is finding its niche, too.

City Breaks Ground on Waterfront Park in Williamsburg

Mayor Bloomberg broke ground today on the first of three waterfront parks in Greenpoint-Williamsburg that were first promised when the city rezoned the Brooklyn neighborhood four years ago.

No sign of threat: Don’t expect gov’t to issue warning of dangerous fishing

Want to know how much fish is safe to eat from polluted local waters? Good luck.

Here is a tale of two cities: New York & Salem

I took the Amtrak train down to Manhattan last weekend and spent time at the Morris-Jumel Mansion. This is a “jewel in the crown” and is the oldest house in Manhattan. It is located in Fort Washington on the upper West side of New York City up from Harlem and off Amsterdam Avenue and past Columbia University.

B&B plans for decrepit NY lighthouse off LI coast

A nonprofit group wants to turn a delapidated lighthouse with a sweeping view of Long Island Sound into a bed-and-breakfast.

Statue of Liberty inspires collector

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

— Emma Lazarus poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty

Indian Point’s hot water problems

Officials at the Indian Point nuclear power plant – which has been called responsible for killing more than a billion fish each year – will have to figure out another way to cool its giant heated steam turbines, a state court has ruled.

City owns up to Coney Island project potentially requiring eminent domain

The city’s Coney Island plan suffered a major setback Wednesday as officials admitted they had not ruled out the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the project.

Pro Beach Volleyball in Coney Island

Life in New York City usually doesn’t call to mind a day at the beach. Yet, Manhattan is an island bordered by rivers with easy passageways to the Atlantic Ocean. Queens is an extension of the beaches of Long Island. And for four consecutive summers the AVP Crocs Tour has come to Coney Island for professional volleyball on Brooklyn’s most celebrated beach.

Neverland’s coaster: Dragon Wagon Kiddie now resides in Coney Island

A big piece of Michael Jackson history is now in Coney Island.

Elephants the big hot dogs in Coney Island competition with big eaters

Elephants eat more than people! That’s the not-so-shocking result of the inaugural Coney Island hot dog bun-eating contest between three circus elephants and three competitive eaters.

Exploring Dutch Legacy 400 Years After Hudson

“Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture,” an ambitious exhibition at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, reveals how New Yorkers have both embraced and mocked their Dutch heritage since 1609, when Henry Hudson first sailed up the river that now bears his name.

Hudson River cleanup: long, costly and uncertain

Almost every time anglers such as Gil Hawkins fish the Hudson River, they throw back their catch — because PCB contamination has placed severe restrictions on what can be eaten. There’s so much pollution that commercial fishing is banned. Marinas along the landmark river have to pay high fees to dispose of contaminated mud when they conduct routine dredging.

SWIMMING

New Swimsuit Tech Could Mean New World Record Times