Good morning. Today is the 55th day of the year. On this day in 1912, the Jewish women’s organization Hadassah was founded in New York City. Its original aims were to foster Jewish education in America and to support nursing in Palestine. Hadassah is now the largest women’s volunteer organization in the Untied States.

 

Well-known people who were born today include actor Steven Hill (“Law & Order”), U.S. Senator Jospeh Lieberman (I-Conn.),  boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., soprano Renata Scotto, actor Abe Vigoda (“Barney Miller,” “Fish”) and TV journalist Paula Zahn.

 

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The weekend-long closure of one of the two tubes of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel starting tonight has been canceled because the contractor was able to complete the needed electrical work ahead of schedule. … This evening from 6 to 8 p.m., Waterfront Wines and Spirits at One Brooklyn Bridge Park will host “Drink Local,” a free event featuring four Brooklyn-based wine and spirits makers who will be onsite pouring samples of their Brooklyn-made vodka, gin and wine. Proceeds from sales during the evening will benefit the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.

 

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Brooklyn has a shortage of larger apartments suitable for families. For example, in Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene, only 7 percent of all apartments are larger than 1,500 square feet. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, by contrast, nearly two-thirds of all apartments are larger than 1,500 square feet. The Journal says that the recent building boom in Downtown Brooklyn and Williamsburg focused on apartments for young singles and couples, not families.

 

According to WNYC, Syrian immigrants in Bay Ridge and elsewhere are now beginning to speak out about abuses under Bashar Assad’s harsh regime, and many are going to protest meetings and posting their criticisms online. In the past, most have been afraid to talk about conditions in Syria because they were afraid that the Syrian authorities would then target their families.

 

Business Insider and other online news sources remind us that next month, the Park Slope Food Co-op will hold a referendum on whether it should boycott Israeli imports like paprika and olive pesto. The co-op has more than 16,000 members.  The decision on whether to join Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — an organization that boycotts Israeli products worldwide in support of ending Palestinian human rights abuses — has divided the co-op’s membership.