🌱 Sunset Park Fire + COVID Cases Skyrocket in NYC

Good day, people of Sunset Park! Dashiell Allen here with your brand-new issue of the Sunset Park Daily.

First, today's weather:

Sunny to partly cloudy. High: 44 Low: 39.

Here are the top three stories today in Sunset Park:

1. Eastern Generation's two peak power plants floating on barges in Gowanus Bay will stop burning oil in 2023, ending what many Sunset Park community members see as a long history of environmental racism in the majority immigrant and working class neighborhood. The plants will then be converted into energy storage facilities. (Brooklyn Paper)
2. A fire broke out in Sunset Park at around 2 a.m. Monday morning. At least two people received minor injuries before the blaze was put out at 4 a.m. (News 12 Connecticut)
3. New York City keeps on shattering COVID-19 case records. On Sunday 22,478 people testing positive in the state, with 12,404 cases in the city. In response to the concerns of many New Yorkers over long wait times to get tested, de Blasio promised he would open far more testing sites this week. You can see the at least 9 testing sites in Sunset Park here. (NYC Patch)

Today's Sunset Park Daily is brought to you in part by our friends at Ring, the home security company. Ring does a lot more than doorbells: check out their full suite of smart home products at Ring.com. And thank you Ring for helping to make local news happen in Sunset Park!

Today in Sunset Park:

• Winter Solstice Drum Circle and Jam at the 44th Street & 7th Avenue corner of Sunset Park (6 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• Fifth Avenue Committee reminds everyone to apply for the Sunset Park Library & Affordable Housing project lottery by January 13th. (Facebook)
• Take a look at this interview with Alexa Avilés, Sunset Park's new councilmember. It's more Red Hook focused, but should still be interesting for everyone. (Twitter)

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• Happy Time Apocalypse (December 21)
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You're officially in the loop for today! See you all tomorrow morning for another update.

— Dashiell Allen