• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child at Richmond Terrace and Franklin Ave. on Staten Island, a stabbing on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a patient went missing at Parkway Hospital at 113 St. and 70th Rd. in Queens.
• Physicist Stephen Hawking is writing an adventure novel aimed at middle-grade readers called "George's Secret Key to the Universe."
• After-school programs at city schools, which help kids with academic tutoring and offer music and art instruction that are no longer part of schools’ curricula, will likely have to close due to lack of funding.
• Former New York Giants linebacker LaVar Arrington was injured in a motorcycle accident, after he lost control of his bike and hit a guard rail while exiting I-495 in Maryland.
• Sean Bonner’s list of vegan restaurants and places with vegan menu offerings around NYC.
• New York City pools open June 29th, and the Parks Dept. has a borough-by-borough guide to all 51 one of them.
• Elle magazine editorial coordinator Nina Weiss is letting local students and teachers conduct their classes in her Brooklyn apartment - 9th grade boys in the living room, 6th graders in the kitchen nook - after they lost their usual space in a nearby church to a fire.
• Curbed notes that lawyers for 1 Sutton Place are suing New York, after plans were announced to make the building’s formerly private park on city-owned land open to the public.

Football is a game of momentum-swings and the Giants and Cowboys had plenty of those Monday night. more ›

The Giants have had two weeks to stew over their humiliating loss to Seattle and plenty of time to hear and read about how bad they are. Two weeks to try and come up with a way to stop someone on defense and find their missing pass rush. Yes, this team should be motivated to play well. And two players on defense, Antonio Pierce and LaVar Arrington, both former Redskins, will definitely want to show their old team that they can play. more ›

Don’t let the final score fool you, the Giants collapsed under the spotlight Sunday. Given a chance to rectify a horrible loss from last year, the New York defense was completely exposed and Seattle had a 35-0 lead before the first half was over. more ›

Many years ago, Three Dog Night warned “Eli’s Coming” and Giants’ fans have to hope they knew what they were talking about. For all the great moves New York made in the off-season, from adding LaVar Arrington, Will Demps and Sam Madison to drafting Barry Cofield and Mathius Kiwanuka, the season will come down to how much Eli Manning has improved. If he is the same QB who barely completed over 50% of his passes, they are in trouble. Conversely, if he is like many of the great QB’s of NFL history who took a big jump forward in their third year, New York is a legitimate Super Bowl contender. more ›