Today marks the one year anniversary of Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl becoming an official city boy. Editor’s Warning: mentions of death.

Happening in the World: Thursday night, a gas explosion at an ​​unlicensed cooking gas-filling plant in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, killed three and injured 280 people. Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulation Authority said that the plant’s application was rejected in 2023 due to high population density and failure to meet safety standards. (CNN)

Happening in the US: The Pineapple Express, which made an appearance in San Francisco on Wednesday, is moving through the southern and eastern parts of California. The state will be affected by the atmospheric river for the next 10 to 14 days. (AP News)

Happening in NYC: Typically found in much of continental Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and Central Asia, a Bubo bubo bird (or an Eurasian eagle-owl) named Flaco has officially lived free in Manhattan for one year. A vigilante last year aided Flaco’s escape from the Central Park Zoo, and after showing that he could hunt and survive by himself, Zoo officials had no motivation for entrapping him again. (NYT)

Happening in Our Community: The Barnard community is officially inaugurating Laura Ann Rosenbury as Barnard’s ninth president today at 2 pm. This is a free event that will take place at Riverside Church, and registration for the event can be found here.

Flaco curtesy of the New York Times