The Briefly for May 4, 2020 – The "Reviewing the Best and Worst Frozen Pizzas" Edition

Today - Low: 44˚ High: 65˚

Partly cloudy throughout the day.

You come across a cement fountain full of apples in a city park, what do you do? (EV Grieve) The Times goes galaxy brain and asks "whether it will be even possible for riders to practice social distancing on a system whose core purpose is to carry throngs of people in confined spaces." (Christina Goldbaum for NY Times) Watch Steve “ESPO” Powers work on a mural on boarded-up windows in Soho. (Noah Shiedlower for Untapped New York) A judge dismissed the New York State Nurses Association's lawsuit against Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx demanding more protective gear and COVID-19 testing for health care workers, ruling that arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement between the union and the hospital was necessary. (Maya Kaufman for Patch) Restaurant critics tackle the best and worst of NYC's frozen pizzas. (Robert Sietsema for Eater) If you were playing the "I know where that was filmed!" game with the season premiere of Billions last night, you can check the answers with Billions' NYC filming locations. (Michelle Young for Untapped New York) A team of film and television set builder volunteers is building intubation boxes for local hospitals out of an IATSE union training workshop in Queens. The team of six has built 46 boxes so far, thanks to their time and a GoFuneMe account. (Ben Verge for Brooklyn Paper) Evangelical Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse and their field hospital are leaving Central Park in two weeks as COVID-19 hospital admission is reaching "manageable levels." (Sophia Chang for NY Times) The field hospital is leaving, but that doesn't mean you can let your guard down. The city's next focus should be on preventing a second wave, which is why the city won't be lifting restrictions. (Brendan Krisel for Patch) Videos are emerging of an absolutely brutal pair of arrests by the NYPD. While three plainclothes officers are arresting someone for marijuana possession while supposedly enforcing social distancing on Saturday, a fourth officer who was not wearing a mask or gloves brutally beat someone for standing too close. (Mark Hallum for amNewYork Metro) The Metropolitan Opera's weekly streaming schedule has been released. (Adam Feldman for Time Out) The connection between New York and Puerto Rico has always been special. This week, 16,000 pounds of fresh fruit and produce from Puerto Rican farmers arrived in the Bronx, which will be donated to community centers, senior citizens, and low-income families. (Ed García Conde for Welcome2TheBronx) A touch of good news: Lenox Hill Hospital released its 1,000th COVID-19 patient on Thursday afternoon. (Emily Davenport for amNewYork Metro) Governor Cuomo made it official: No one is going back to school this school year. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) Each month calls for Governor Cuomo to take more action to provide real rent relief, not just displacing payments, will grow louder and the resources for tenants looking to form rent strikes in their buildings become more readily available. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) A guide to rare liquors being sold by restaurants and distilleries. (Leah Rosenzweig for Eater) The Brooklyn funeral home that was stacking bodies in an unrefrigerated truck had its license suspended by state health officials. (David Cruz for Gothamist) The New York Public Library released "Missing Sounds of New York" on Soundcloud and Spotify, an album of collected sounds that you might be missing from your life lately, like stumbling on an unwelcomed performance on the subway, or a party you weren't invited to happening outside your window, or a loud bar. (Bill Pearis for BrooklynVegan) The Physical Plant, a LIC nonprofit, put together “Dance Shorts,” a compilation of 16 dance videos that run together to make an 80-minute series. The Physical Plant is having a Facebook Watch party tonight to celebrate the release. (Michael Dorgan for Jackson Heights Post) For $10,000, you can have Death & Co set up their bar in your home for five hours of drinking. This is, of course, redeemable after its safe for anyone to come to your home. They'll bring the necessary glasses, booze, bartenders, and everything for a four-course dinner. It's not just an outrageous purchase, which is it is, but 20% of the sales will go towards the bar's emergency staff relief fund. (Bao Ong for Time Out) The NYPD was forced to break up another funeral for a rabbi in Borough Park, Brooklyn. (NBC News) The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is offering personal help to look through their archives of over 65 million documents to research your family's history if they came through Ellis Island. The documents are available online for free, but the help costs $30. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) This is why we can't have nice things. Green-Wood Cemetery opened its gates for extended hours to help ease the stress of always being around the living, and a small percentage of people have violated the cemetery's rules, which could cause the cemetery to close. (Ben Verde for amNewYork Metro) The city's first wave of open streets kicks off this week and it seems as stupid as possible. Of this month's 40 miles of streets to open up, 7 miles of open streets were open this weekend. 4.5 miles are inside parks and 2.7 miles are adjacent to parks. What's the point of adding open streets next to a park? (Devin Gannon for 6sqft) The NYPD and the Department of Transportation are doing their best to walk back their comments about needing "a legion of cops" to man the barricades. That and running coverage from Streetsblog of the first weekend of open streets. (Streetsblog) 22 restaurants still offering iconic NYC dishes. (Carla Vianna for Eater) Thank you to Katie for today's featured photo! Hello Katie's mom!