Tug Shoofly. Photo: N.D. Austin

Weather: Day 35°, Night 22°, Mostly Sunny

The Lede: Good morning. The Tideland Institute’s Shoofly tugboat, a restored 1941 steel-hulled vessel usually used for the nonprofit’s maritime education and arts programs, has been helping to break ice in Newtown Creek as the city shivers through a potentially record-setting stretch of subzero days, according to THE CITY.

The Rundown

  • Melting snow and rock salt trigger power outages: Power outages disrupted parts of Boerum Hill and Park Slope through the weekend after melting snow mixed with road salt damaged underground electrical equipment, ABC7 reported.

  • 1940s tugboat breaks ice on Newtown Creek for fuel deliveries: The Shoofly’s captain N.D. Austin stepped in to assist on Thursday, cracking ice sheets at 5 miles per hour, steadily clearing the way for barges to carry critical fuel supplies for Brooklyn and Queens homes to industrial facilities along the creek’s interior.

  • 84th Precinct welcomes new commanding officer: The 84th Precinct Community Council recently welcomed the precinct’s newest commanding officer, Captain Erek Powers.

  • Father Peter Purpura appointed new chancellor for the Diocese of Brooklyn: The Diocese of Brooklyn serves 1.3 million Catholics in Brooklyn and Queens with 172 parishes and 63 elementary school academies.

  • Juliet Howard, the second openly LGBTQ+ Black judge elected to Kings County Civil Court, holds induction ceremony: With more than 25 years of legal experience devoted to public interest law, Juliet Howard has finally achieved her longtime dream: being a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York.

  • BWBA’s ‘Judiciary Night’ acknowledges new, re-elected and appointed jurists: In addition to recognizing all newly elected, re-elected, appointed and reappointed judges, the organization also paid tribute to Presiding Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, Judge Hector LeSalle.

  • This Brooklyn bagel shop is saving money with plug-in batteries: Startup David Energy is giving batteries to its New York City customers to help them reduce hefty demand charges on their monthly utility bills. (Canary Media)

  • How unsheltered New Yorkers face down the cold: ‘It’s survive or die’: Some unsheltered New Yorkers say they prefer the freedom of the streets. Others say they have not been asked in. (THE CITY)

  • Our world in photos: Bathers, children, protestors and more.

Want more news? Click here

Our World in Photos

LITHUANIA — Women bathe in an ice hole in a lake near Vilnius, on a cold Monday morning. Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

More Brooklyn News

  • "‘Sure enough, it’s gone’: Brooklyn venues targeted for mass phone thefts during concerts" (The Guardian)

  • "Some New York Restaurants Are Joining the General Strike Against ICE Raids" (Eater)

  • "The former Macy’s in Downtown Brooklyn is now a glowing art installation" (Time Out)

Staff Picks

The Wrap

⌛ ON THIS DAY
In 1934, the Eagle reported, "Shivering under a record low temperature for this date, the city’s homeless today rubbed their freezing hands and went about the business of clearing the streets of the hard-packed snow." Click here to see what else happened on this day in history. 

📔 IMPRINT
American actor Lewis Pullman answers the phone for GQ Hype. 

👑 ROYAL WATCH
"Royal Families of Norway and Britain Face Pressure Over Epstein Files" (NYT)

🏀 SPORTS
The bond is real for Brooklyn Tech football (Brooklyn Eagle)

  • “Brighton Beach Memoirs” star Blythe Danner

  • “The Great Gatsby” star Isla Fisher

  • “The Birdcage” star Nathan Lane

  • Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese

  • “Beautiful Girls” singer Sean Kingston

Click here to see a full list of birthdays!

Share the newsletter

Brooklyn Today’s editor is Scott Enman. Contact him at [email protected].

Keep reading