'Sip and stroll': NY lawmaker wants to ease liquor laws during World Cup

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ⛅ Partly sunny, highs in the upper 40s.

It's Wednesday in New York City, where, for two months this summer, a version of public drinking could be legal.

Assemblymember Tony Simone, who represents parts of Midtown and Chelsea, introduced a bill last week that would allow people to buy a drink from a licensed establishment and consume it outdoors within a designated "sip and stroll" zone. 

If signed into law, the measure would only be in effect from June 1 through July 31 of this year — a period that includes the five weeks of soccer matches that make up the World Cup.

Here's what needs to happen — quickly — to make this a reality.

And here's what else is happening:

• Meet Ellen Baum, a Brooklyn Heights resident who's been clearing detritus — hair ties, receipts, tampons, condoms — that people stick to the chain-link fences on the Brooklyn Bridge walkway.
• Preservationists are trying to stop a plan to build a 200-unit apartment complex on top of a NoHo parking lot, arguing that the design doesn’t fit the area’s character. (They acknowledge that the parking lot also has no historical value.)
• New York City Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn, when asked under oath during a City Council hearing yesterday, declined to say whether he’d make good on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promise to aggressively add more bike and bus lanes.
• An Astoria man is facing a murder charge for allegedly killing his 75-year-old neighbor in a slashing attack at their apartment building yesterday.
• New York City consumer protection officials are putting hundreds of tow truck companies on notice, warning they’ll swiftly revoke licenses from operators that rip off drivers.
  • The move comes after Gothamist published an investigation last month into the unlicensed tow truck drivers who race to crash scenes in search of insurance payouts.
• New York City's education department said it’s backing off a plan to close a small Upper West Side middle school next year after a parent’s racist comments during a public meeting prompted widespread condemnation.
• The death toll from the cold stretch that gripped New York City for several weeks rose to 29 as city officials yesterday acknowledged seven more people died of hypothermia inside homes.
• President Donald Trump’s effort to stop the MTA’s congestion pricing program fell flat yesterday after a federal judge ruled the U.S. Department of Transportation’s attempt to kill the tolls was unlawful.
• We’re launching a new newsletter called Looped In NYC! It’ll be your one stop shop for what you need to know about living in New York City. And it'll feature a monthly column by me, James! Sign up here.

• The armed civilian group created by Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive and New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, is facing criticism for allegedly counting among its ranks several people with arrest records and at least five people in their 70s.
• Here's a look at the new Amtrak trains coming to the Northeast Corridor in 2027.
• The city's last Hooters — a franchise in Fresh Meadows, Queens — has closed.
• Meanwhile, this Irish bar in Midtown has become a hot spot for "Survivor" watch parties.
• SEE IT: A paddleboarder floating down the icy Hudson.
• "We’re essentially an input company": The head of News Corp announced a new AI content licensing deal with Meta.
• Even Parisians, the champions of a proper lunch break, have come around to the desk salad.