Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced a project to commemorate abolitionist activity that occurred in Brooklyn in the 1800s. He named a panel made up of community leaders, academics, and historians to aid the city and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership in asking for and reviewing commemoration proposals. The panels of the Commemoration Panel are: the Reverend Lawrence Aker, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church; Richard Greene, Executive Director, Crown Heights Youth Collective; Colvin L. Grannum, President, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration......

So, last week's weather featured intense rain that shut down the subway system, a tornado skipping through Staten Island and Brooklyn, an unbearably steamy afternoon, and a couple days of near-record low temperatures. This week's weather should feature, uh… uh… well, not much of anything other than warm, sunny days. If you haven't already seen it the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has a nice, but small, map of the tornado path. First touching down on Staten......

There is a silver lining to all the talk of Coney Island redevelopment. With everyone worrying whether this may (or may not) be the last season of the Coney Island we all know and love, people are making sure to head there and enjoy it while it lasts! The Post reports that 11 of 12 businesses it surveyed have been doing great business. Astroland is up 5% while Wonder Wheel Park is up 15%.......

Students at all NYC schools have a day off today in what is officially noted on the Dept. of Education's calendar as a Chancellor's Conference Day for Staff Development. That dry description actually masks the fact that today's day off from school is a tradition that dates back to 1829 and used to be one of the most widely celebrated holidays in Brooklyn and Queens. Dating back 178 years, Anniversary Day was a school holiday......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction on West 16th St. and Mermaid Ave. in Brooklyn, a shooting at Grenada Place in the Bronx, and a homicide in Manhattan on 2nd Ave. near 124th St. Lower East Side parents post an open letter to a political graffiti artist making a statement at the expense of children and teachers. Between the rock and a hard place of fines for allowing smoking and frequent noise......

Did you ever wonder what Red Hook looked like one hundred or two hundred years ago? Well, the map above won't really show you, but Corie does think it explains why much of Red Hook becomes flooded when it rains. Ever the research fiend she is, Corie found an article from the April 19, 1896 issue of Brooklyn Daily Eagle which had an overlay of South Brooklyn in 1776 and 1896. She then took......