Is New York City ready to say 'neigh' to Central Park's carriage horses?

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ☁️ Cloudy and breezy, highs in the mid 70s.

It's Thursday in New York City, where the next mayor will likely be forced to decide on the future of Central Park’s carriage horse industry.

The long-debated issue took on new urgency this month after an aging steed collapsed and died on a Hell's Kitchen street, prompting the influential Central Park Conservancy to come out against horse-drawn carriages for the first time.

But so far, only one mayoral candidate — Republican Curtis Sliwa — has taken a clear stance on the carriages. (Sliwa wants to ban them.)

Here's why this remains such a thorny political topic. 

And here's what else is happening:

• Avoid the beach — a coastal flood warning is in effect today on the southern shores of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, where waves could reach 13 or more feet.
• Monthly evictions in New York City are at their highest rate since 2018, as housing courts work through a backlog of cases.
• Police this morning are looking for a man they say stole almost $10,000 from ATMs at Brooklyn banks this summer.
• The city's health department lost more than a third of its cooling tower inspectors in the three years leading up to the current deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.
  • Two construction workers who claim they contracted Legionnaires' disease while working at or near Harlem Hospital Center are suing contractors they allege failed to safeguard the hospital's water cooling towers.
• Two men charged in connection with the July shooting of an off-duty customs and border protection agent pleaded not guilty to various crimes in Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court yesterday.
• The NYPD is seeking the public's help identifying skeletal remains found along the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Cypress Hills earlier this month.
• A Manhattan federal judge has ordered the immediate release of a gay Jamaican asylum seeker who said immigration authorities violated his rights by detaining him during a routine check-in earlier this month.

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained dozens of immigrants yesterday during a raid in Edison, New Jersey, at a warehouse for online retailers.
• Mayor Adams' reelection campaign said it immediately suspended longtime aide Winnie Greco after a report that Greco gave a reporter from The City an empty bag of sour cream and onion potato chips with a red envelope full of cash inside. (The bag and the money have been handed over to prosecutors.)
• Ingrid Lewis-Martin, another longtime Adams aide who was indicted on bribery charges last year, will be in Manhattan state court today to face new unspecified charges.
• Vulture: "If you were without home or ability to earn, do you have anyone you can turn to for shelter and financial support?" Zohran Mamdani: "Famously, my parents."
• The New York State Fair’s famed 25-cent milk bar will feature strawberry milk this year.
• We must all rally behind Yonkers' own Rizo "Rizz God" Velovic in season 49 of "Survivor."
• Thongs are back.