Kirstyn Brendlen

1 week ago | brooklynpaper.com | Kirstyn Brendlen

After a four-year closure the newly-renovated Bedford Library reopened last week, finally welcoming Bed-Stuy residents back to the stacks. Though the library looks largely the same, it has been retrofitted with a new high-efficiency HVAC system and other energy-conserving measures — making it a “model for energy efficiency,” according to BPL.

2 weeks ago | brooklynpaper.com | Kirstyn Brendlen

84TH PRECINCTBrooklyn Heights–DUMBO–Boerum Hill–DowntownOffice thief snatches laptopsSomeone snuck into a Dumbo office and stole a pair of expensive laptops on April 24. The victim told police that he left a pair of MacBook Pro computers on a table inside his Bridge Street office that afternoon, locked up, and went home. When he returned the next morning, the door was still locked — but when he got inside, the laptops, worth a combined $4,472, were gone.

2 weeks ago | brooklynpaper.com | Kirstyn Brendlen

Reports of major felonies across Brooklyn were down 3% in April, compared to the same period last year — but while crime has been down every month this year, the decrease is shrinking as warmer weather approaches. In January, violent crime in Kings County was down 27% year-over-year. In February, it was down 16%, and in March, 6%.

2 weeks ago | brooklynpaper.com | Kirstyn Brendlen

Almost 25,000 people took to the streets of Brooklyn for the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Experience Half Marathon on Sunday – a record number for the race, which started in its current iteration in 2023. A total of 24,461 runners crossed the finish line in Prospect Park after running 13.1 miles through Williamsburg, Dumbo, and Downtown Brooklyn, according to NYCRUNS founder Steve Lastoe, almost 3,000 more than completed the race last year. “Put it in the books!” Lastoe said in a statement.

2 weeks ago | brooklynpaper.com | Kirstyn Brendlen

The Slope is alive with the sound of music!On May 10, the fifth annual Open Stages music festival will turn the stoops and sidewalks of Park Slope into makeshift stages for the day. The free outdoor festival, set to take place across 16 “stages” in the nabe, will feature two dozen bands and performers from 15 different genres.