The latest front in NYC’s war on rats: Hundreds of thousands of tree beds

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ⛅ Partly sunny and dangerously hot, with highs in the upper 90s and heat index values up to 107.

It's Monday in New York City, where rats love burrowing into tree beds.

“Those holes that you see in your tree beds, those are not simply roots that are being grown,” Mayor Eric Adams said. “That is a place where rats have learned to use as a safe haven, and they have been ignored for years.”

To put an end to this, the city said it plans to spend $877,000 to pump carbon monoxide into those rat tunnels.

Here's how this “non-pesticide,” “non-toxic” method is intended to exterminate rats without inadvertently killing our trees.

And here's what else is happening:

• Hundreds of supporters yesterday welcomed pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil home to New York City, just two days after a federal judge ordered him released on bail.
• "Vote on Election Day even if it's 100 degrees": Andrew Cuomo yesterday encouraged his supporters who didn't vote early to show up on Primary Day.
  • New York City Board of Election data showed a surge in turnout during much of the early voting period, driven largely by younger voters expected to support Zohran Mamdani.
  • Haven't voted yet? Check out voter guide before tomorrow's primary.
• As city lawmakers debate whether to expand involuntary hospitalizations for New Yorkers with mental illnesses, we tagged along with a psychiatrist to see how outreach on city streets works in practice.
• The MTA said it plans to add service on the busy A and L train lines later this year.
• New York City lawmakers are criticizing Mayor Adams for failing to make good on a promise to install hundreds of secure bike parking lockers.
• When the legislative session ended last week, the state Assembly had not voted on any of the signature bills seeking to curtail New Yorkers’ use of fossil fuels and plastics, nor the use of sewage sludge as fertilizer.
• A huge new swimming pool near the Harlem Meer on the northern end of Central Park is opening Friday.

• New York state is teeming with ticks.
• New York City is teeming with abandoned boats.
• Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York is on "high alert" after the U.S. military attacked Iran. 
• Brad Lander held a rally over the weekend with two former Andrew Cuomo staffers who've accused the ex-governor of sexual harassment. (Cuomo denies the allegations.)
• High school theater stars from around the country are hitting Broadway tonight for the Jimmy Awards.
• Here are a bunch of looks from Saturday's Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
• The BBC hunted down some of the giant Michael Jackson statues littered about Europe.
• Good for Canada.