5 Stories You Need to Pay Attention to This Week

NEW YORK, NY - The last week of summer is upon us. The schedule will kick into higher gear next week when community boards return from their August breaks and schools start up the 2016-17 academic year. But for now, we still have some news stories to pay attention to in the city this week.

1. Aug. 29: Open season — The biggest sporting event of the year in the five boroughs, the U.S. Open, gets underway on Monday. The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center hosts the final major of the year for the ATP and WTA tours. On the men's side, the story will be whether Novak Djokovic can repeat as champion and claim three of the four majors in 2016. He's the No. 1 seed, but he could run into Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals and Rafael Nadal in the semis before even making the title match. The women's draw is headlined, as it's been for over a decade, by Serena Williams. She's the top seed, with Simona Halep possibly waiting in the quarterfinals, Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis and the No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber in the final. Unheralded Flavia Pennetta won her first major last year after the three-time defending champ, Serena, was upset in the semis. Oh, and some good news, for those sick of fighting the rain in Flushing. This year's U.S. Open will be the first with a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium.
2. Aug. 29: Northern Manhattan talks gentrification — State Sen. Adriano Espaillat headlines what is described as a "frank discussion" on gentrification in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of northern Manhattan. In addition to Espaillat, the favorite to assume Charlie Rangel's seat in Congress in a few months, author Robert W. Snyder and filmmaker Raquel Cepeda will be on hand for the forum at 6:30 p.m. at Washington Heights Academy. Gentrification, and rezoning that often precedes it, in Washington Heights and especially Inwood has been an ever-increasing concern for the community as of late.
3. Aug. 31: Trump on immigration — This won't be happening in New York City, but you can bet it'll still be the talk of the city on Wednesday. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he will be making a "major" speech on illegal immigration from Arizona. Immigration has been the hottest talking point of the election ever since Trump alluded to Mexicans crossing the boarder as being rapists at his Trump Tower kickoff event last year. The Fiscal Policy Institute estimated there were 535,000 illegal immigrants in New York City in 2005. The institute also estimated they make up a full 10 percent of the city's resident workforce. Trump won't be winning his home state in November, but that doesn't mean his policies won't affect New York if he's elected.
4. Sept. 2: Unemployment numbers — It may seem like this election has been going for about five years, but we're in the home stretch now. In fact, when the Labor Department releases its unemployment rate on Friday it'll be the second-to-last meaningful numbers before the election. The July numbers were unchanged in the country (4.9 percent), but in New York state they dropped below the U.S. average to 4.7 percent in June and held the same in July. Those are the lowest numbers since August 2007. They are now down 0.4 percent from July 2015 to July 2016. (Down is a good thing.) We'll find out the specific New York City numbers for July 2016 on Aug. 31, but they've also fallen from 5.0 in August 2015 to 4.6 in June 2016. It can sound like a jumble of meaningless numbers to the average person, but the No. 1 issue in the 2016 election is the economy (even if all the coverage seems to be related to immigration and race), according to the Pew Research Center.
5. Sept. 2: At the (Electric) Zoo — Grab your glowsticks and head to Randall's Island for the city's (country's?) biggest electronic music festival of the year. The eighth annual Electric Zoo Festival runs all Labor Day weekend and a three-day pass will run you at least $279.99, but there are certainly enough acts to get your money's worth — over 100 on five different stages. Bassnectar headlines on Friday, Tiesto does on Saturday and Hardwell does on Sunday. If you've never heard of them, Tiesto and Hardwell have 8 million combined followers on Twitter. They're a big deal. Party safe, folks.

Photo Credit: Electric Zoo Festival by Roman Fuchs via Wikimedia Commons