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Community Corner

🌱 CO2 Distilled Vodka Makers Turned Clean Air Pioneers + Your Weekend

The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Brooklyn.

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Hey, Brooklyn. Happy Friday, I'm here in your inbox this morning to tell you everything you need to know about what's going on in town. Today you'll read about these stories and more...

At a Brooklyn nightclub-turned-science lab, a couple of ex-vodka distillers are fighting greenhouse gases. Yup, there's a sentence you never thought you'd hear. Stafford Sheehan and Gregory Constantine are the chief technology officer and CEO (respectively) of fossil fuel-fighting Air Company. The pair got their start three years ago by distilling vodka using captured carbon in an old nightclub that housed a maze of tube and tanks that would turn greenhouse gases into spirits — no starch required. On Thursday, during Climate Week NYC, Air Company announced a new project: a second, larger chemical reactor in Brooklyn making small batches of CO2-derived jet fuel. Right under our noses could be the future of powering aviation. (Canary Media)

Up next:

  • Meet the Brownstone Boys.
  • The people of N.Y. v. Donald Trump.
  • Some ideas for your weekend. 🎊

Better than yesterday . . . quite lovely, actually.

☀️ Sunshine; windy, cooler. High: 64 Low: 49.

Here are the top stories today in Brooklyn:

1. A Brooklyn couple has made their longtime passion into a business. In 2018, Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon bought a 130-year-old brownstone in Brooklyn, and since then have fallen in love with renovating the historic home. Wielding the great power of the internet, the couple's Instagram page, documenting their renovation, received an influx of positive comments, inquiries, and business propositions. People began hiring Slocum and Bordelon to help with home renovations in the borough, and the two realized it could be a lucrative business.

FOX 5 New York

2. Sharon Sprung, the Brooklyn artist who painted former first lady Michelle Obama's portrait, is looking back on her White House work. Sprung has nothing but positive memories of the intimate time she spent with Obama, including the time the former First Lady visited her studio in Boerum Hill, and still considers the commission one of the greatest honors and highlights of her career. Sprung said she spent somewhere close to 9 months on the piece, sometimes spending entire days with her in her studio. The two portraits, both of Barack and Michelle Obama, were unveiled earlier this month.

Spectrum News NY1

3. Trials against Trump have continued through the week in Downtown Brooklyn, here's a rundown on the 'People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump':

  • The former president of the United States stands accused of widespread financial fraud that has allegedly inflated his assets by billions of dollars.
  • State Attorney General Tish James emphasizes the extent of Trump's fraudulent claims: "Trump claimed that his own triplex apartment, where he lives at Trump Tower, was 30,000 square feet. Actually, it was 11,000 square feet. He claimed it was worth $327 million, three times what it was actually worth. To this date no apartment in New York City has ever sold for close to that amount," she said.
  • James' cited example is just one of more than 200 instances of false valuations.
  • Trump has responded to the Black female attorney an onslaught of verbiage, the irony of which is too blatant to ignore. The former president called James "racist," "a fraud," and a "failed A.G.," all of which the attorney disregarded.

POLITICO

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Today in Brooklyn:

  • 👩‍🍳 Mommy & Me Cooking Class, Speakitaly NYC Brooklyn, Today @ 10 a.m. | Details
  • "Girls :)", Brooklyn Comedy Collective (BCC), Today @ 7 p.m. | Details
  • Coney Island Comedy Festival, Coney Island Brewery, Today @ 7 p.m.| Details
  • 🌃 Rolling Loud, Citi Field, Today-Sunday @ 11 a.m. | Details
  • Global Citizen Festival, The Great Lawn, Saturday @ 2 p.m.| Details
  • "Funny People" Matinee, BKLN Comedy Club, Saturday @ 6 p.m. | Details
  • Free Standup, Easy Lover on Metropolitan, Saturday @ 7 p.m. | Details

From my notebook:

  • 🏳️‍🌈 What's happening in queer New York this weekend? Get caught up in everything going on at the link, including dance parties and a pool happy hour. (Gay City News)
  • New restaurant in Fort Greene, Manhattan restaurateur Gabriel Stulman is opening Txikito, his first Brooklyn project. Learn more about this new spot, as well as other notable eateries in the area to satisfy your weekend appetite. (Eater NY)
  • 💜 Little Amal Update: The puppet "braved wind and rain and received a big-hearted Brooklyn welcome from @markmorrisdance students, the @singharlem gospel choir, singer-songwriter @nanoraies, and Omar @offendum. Ten-year-old Little Amal continues her journey across 12 countries to represent all children fleeing war, violence and persecution around the world." (BAM via Instagram)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to start this Friday! I'll see you around.

— Carlie Houser

About me: I'm a recent grad based in Brooklyn, NY. I love to write, run, read, and find new restaurants and venues around the city.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Brooklyn Daily? Contact me at brooklyn@patch.com

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

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