Columbia students occupy Hamilton Hall after protesters suspended

Plus: Greenpoint's wacky new birding group [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [Columbia students occupy Hamilton Hall as protest escalates, following suspensions]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☁️ Cloudy and cooler, highs in the mid 60s. It's Tuesday in New York City, where pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University are occupying Hamilton Hall, a key campus building, after school officials [began suspending students who'd refused to leave an encampment on the main lawn](. A university email said all classes would go remote today and urged anyone who could to avoid the Morningside Heights campus. Here's what else is happening: - Four Palestinian students at Columbia have [filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education]( accusing school officials of discriminating against Palestinian, Muslim and Arab students. - Mayor Eric Adams' office said the city will begin [handing out fliers]( to discourage migrant families from allowing their kids to sell candy on the streets and subways. - The city is suing a chain of funeral homes popular amongst Spanish-speaking communities for [allegedly exploiting grieving families](. - People of color who work for the New York City government [make 16 cents less on average for every $1 their white counterparts make]( — and the gap is even wider for women of color — according to a new report from the City Council. - Three years after New York City public libraries [got rid of fines for late returns]( they've seen big increases in library card applications and items checked out — though books do get returned a little later. - The NYPD said yesterday that [major felonies in the transit system are down 6%]( so far this year when compared to the same period in 2023. - A day after an unlicensed weed shop owner in Bay Ridge [boasted to the New York Post]( that he doesn't "give a f**k" if he gets shut down, he got shut down. - A man in Queens was caught on video on Sunday morning [opening fire on a raccoon](. (He shot from point blank, but it's unclear if the raccoon was hit.) - Connecticut police said [coyotes have been attacking dogs]( in tony Westport. - The queen snake — a brown, drab, non-poisonous specimen — has been [spotted in New Jersey for the first time since 1977](. - South Dakota governor and potential GOP vice presidential candidate Kristi Noem is facing a potential misdemeanor charge after her dog killed a neighbor's chickens. She's also facing backlash from Republican voters for then [shooting her dog](. - A PSA for the fellas as wedding season approaches: [The butterscotch shoes]( look silly. National Poetry Month Spotlight The Third River In The Rain I love the rain when the rain fills the river, when the rain fills the river, and the river starts to run, and the willow branches read the braille of raindrops on the surface, and ducks, supposed to be impervious, hide underneath the roadway bridge, and silent geese glide slantwise to their landing on the river, and the island in the river sits down lower in the water, and the tree roots hold the riverbanks, and the empty branches lift the lowered sky whose thickened clouds glow weirdly in the city lights nearby. I love the rain when the rain fills the river, and the river swells with meaning, and its meaning is to run -- past the dam at Kingsland Manor, past the strip mall on the highway that was once a marsh, but now has a Chipotle, and the river that would fill that marsh runs black behind the cars that park for dinner, in a concrete quarantine that drains the rain that falls on Garret Mountain through Essex towns and golf courses to broaden where it joins the fouled Passaic. I love the rain when I walk beside the river, when I walk beside the river on my way home from the city, from the bus stop on the highway, on a pathway through the darkened park, my raincoat soaked, my wide-brimmed hat with raindrops dripping from the brim, whose felt I smell, whose smell I feel, whose beaver eaves I walk beneath like the ducks beneath the roadway bridge who see me walking past them to my house a few blocks further, a man between his job and home, a home between its innocence and what is yet to come. - Arthur Russell, Nutley, New Jersey More from Gothamist [second image]( [Running in a moderate NJ district, progressive activist tosses the political playbook]( Sue Altman, a former teacher who's running against Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in a district that’s flipped parties three times since 2018, said she doesn't believe it necessarily takes a centrist to win in a politically diverse district. [In Greenpoint, a wacky new birding group is ruffling some feathers]( The McGolrick Bird Club's motto: "teach neighbors and artists and weirdos how to bird." [We Rely On Your Support]( [What if NYC’s mayoral election was this year? Experts say more people would vote in it.]( State Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat representing parts of Orange County, is introducing a constitutional amendment this week that would shift all city elections from odd-numbered years to even-numbered ones, aligning them with state and federal elections that routinely see dramatically higher voter turnout. [12 fun and mostly free things to do in New York City this May]( Asian Comedy Fest. Mayday Festival of Resistance. Self-guided tours in Central Park. Here's a list of things to do around the city without setting fire to your checking account. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.