Good Thursday afternoon in New York City, where the new Pier 57/Google rooftop "public" park seems kind of lame! Here's what else is happening:
- Here's a handy guide to the downballot contests — judges, county committees, district leaders — in the upcoming New York primaries.
- Great white sharks are a protected species so you're not allowed to kill them, but you can fish for them and let them go, which this Jones Beach shark fishing charter boat captain does.
- A box truck driver hit and killed a 49-year-old man riding an electric scooter in Bushwick yesterday, according to the NYPD.
- Little Amal, the 12-foot-tall, three-person bamboo puppet that symbolizes a Syrian refugee, is coming to New York City in the fall for several appearances.
- An investigation from Kaiser Health News and NPR found that 100 million people in the United States have medical debt, a problem that's bankrupted families and often prevented sick patients from continuing to seek the care they need.
- Because the man who allegedly committed a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket has been charged with a federal hate crime, he's now eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
- It's June 16th so it doesn't really matter that much at this point, but man the Yankees are good.
- Season 2 of Hacks wrapped things up perfectly, but what the hell, it's a good show so they're making a Season 3.
- Johnny Depp is going back to court, this time to face assault accusations brought by the location manager on the 2017 shoot for the film City of Lies (?), who alleges that Depp punched him twice.
- Happy (almost) Father's Day to the old celebrity men who became dads really late in life.
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- And finally, yawning is, indeed, contagious: