Early Addition: Are you a cat-on-a-leash person?

It’s Friday morning in New York City where oysters in New York Harbor keep dying .

Here's what else is happening:

• Three New York state entities, the MTA, Riverbank State Park and the Port Authority (bistate, but still), top the list of customers who are seriously delinquent on water bills . Together, they owe a whopping $76.5 million in overdue payments.
• One way to deter carjackers may be to get a stick shift vehicle.
• A new protected bike lane on Washington Bridge, which connects Manhattan to the Bronx, just opened after many construction delays.
• Mayor Eric Adams wasn’t too happy with the state of Times Square when he last visited the area. So earlier this week, he vowed to improve it.
• Romantasy books, or novels that combine romance and fantasy, are really hot right now , with many readers getting into the genre with the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
• It’s been a year since the launch of Threads, Meta’s answer to X, nee Twitter. But the platform is still struggling to establish a distinct identity , and attract content creators.
• "There's no good answer to the cat dilemma,” says one bioethicist in regard to whether cats belong outside on leashes.
• And finally, he held out long enough: