New York Liberty Themed Brooklyn Public Library Cards Debut This June
Ellie the Elephant, New York Liberty's mascot, poses with her new Brooklyn Public Library card in ... More honor of the 2024 WNBA Championship
New York City hoopers and readers, your time has come.
In honor of the New York Liberty winning the 2024 WNBA Championship and the kickoff of the 2025 WNBA season, The Brooklyn Public Library today announced a collaboration to issue special edition library cards featuring the New York Liberty players, and Liberty mascot, Ellie the Elephant.
100,00 Liberty and Brooklyn Basketball-themed library cards will be available at all branches of the Brooklyn Public Library starting next Monday, June 2. Library cards are free to New Yorkers of all ages and can be used at all 61 branches of the Brooklyn Public Library, as well as for digital resources including ebooks and audiobooks.
This partnership is also an initiative to support the library's summer reading programming and promote literacy.
New York Liberty Forward Breanna Stewart ("Stewie") poses with the Brooklyn Public Library WNBA ... More Championship library card
This Sunday, June 1, The Liberty and Brooklyn Public Library will celebrate their collaboration as part of Ellie's Birthday at the Liberty game at Barclays Center. Fans attending the 1 p.m. game can enjoy book-themed activations in and around the arena, including a Brooklyn Public Library bookmobile on the plaza, offering books for loan to library card holders.
Inside the arena, a special photo booth will be set up, and Ellie-themed bookmarks will be given away for free. Each bookmark will include a QR code linking to an Ellie-approved reading list for readers of all ages. Ellie's curated summer reading list includes Brooklyn and basketball themed titles like Lola Joins the Team by Keka Novales, A Kids Book about Equality by Billie Jean King, Love and Sportsball by Meka James, Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson, and Coming Home by Brittney Griner.
To further recognize the New York Liberty's commitment to the community, Liberty CEO Keia Clarke will accept the 2025 Brooklyn Public Library Gala Award, presented by Jacqueline Woodson, on behalf of the team at the library's annual gala on Wednesday, June 11 at the Brooklyn Central Library.
Ros Gold-Onwude, a national sportscaster and retired basketball player, will host the charitable event, also honoring Google. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver are on the chair committee, among other notable philanthropists and business leaders. Individual tickets start at $1500.
The New York Liberty recently broke records with a $450 million valuation, the highest ever for a professional women's sports franchise. The new valuation followed a recently announced investment in the team by a group including supermodel Karlie Kloss, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Metropolitan Capital CEO Karen Finerman, TIAA president and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, philanthropist and private equity founder Gabrielle Rubenstein, and philanthropist Samantha Lasry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
16 minutes ago
- New York Times
NBA playoffs takeaways: Jalen Brunson-led Knicks top Pacers, force Game 6
By Joe Vardon, Mike Vorkunov, Eric Koreen and James Boyd NEW YORK – Karl-Anthony Towns took the bruise from his left knee, and together with his New York Knicks teammates, planted it squarely on the Indiana Pacers' foreheads, keeping the Eastern Conference finals alive for at least another game. Towns shook off a sore knee and 'questionable' designation on the injury report to go for 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jalen Brunson turned in another monster game with 32 points and New York beat Indiana 111-94 Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Advertisement The Pacers still lead the series, 3-2, with Game 6 at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Indianapolis. Indiana's stars struggled mightily in Game 5, with Tyrese Haliburton, the series MVP up until this point, managing just eight points on 2-of-7 shooting. A bench player, Bennedict Mathurin, was Indiana's leading scorer with 23 points. The Knicks are trying to become the first team in history to lose the first two games of the conference finals at home and go on to win the series. 'You just take it game-by-game, you've got to keep fighting every game, every possession,' Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. The Pacers had won six consecutive road playoff games prior to Game 5. They can still close out this series and punch their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2000, and second in franchise history, by winning Game 6. 'It's never not the hardest game,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said about closeout games. His team closed out Milwaukee in the first round and Cleveland in the second with Game 5 triumphs. Pascal Siakam was the only Indiana starter to score in double-figures, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting. The Pacers also lost reserve center Tony Bradley to a left hip strain. Towns, an All-NBA selection, was averaging 25.8 points and 11.4 rebounds and is shooting 45 percent from 3-point range in this series prior to Game 5, but has been targeted defensively because he struggles to guard in space, where the Pacers thrive. Indiana managed to ring up five fouls against Towns, but he played with much more force than his counterparts. He shot 10 of 20 from the field and added three assists. His baseline drive through Mathurin for a basket (he missed the free throw) with 2:44 left put the Knicks back up by 16, and the game was about over. This was, by far, the most lopsided game in what had been a very close series. Though Indiana won three out of the first four, the Pacers' total margin in the conference finals was plus-11 heading into Game 5. Which means, of course, after losing by 17 Thursday, they have now been outscored in the series. The Knicks got one of the best games Brunson has played all playoffs at the best time. The Knicks star scored 32 points, with five rebounds and five assists, in a must-win game, and he was the difference in the first three quarters as New York built up its big lead. Brunson had been outplayed by Haliburton so far this series but he turned it around in Game 5. He hit 12 of 18 shots and was the run-stopper the Knicks needed. The Knicks got other strong performances — 24 and 13 from Towns — and three other guys were in double-digits, while the defense finally found a way to slow down the Pacers' offense. But it was Brunson who loomed largest. 4-PT PLAY‼️ 30 PTS for JB — NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) May 30, 2025 Who knows if this will turn the series or not. A 3-1 deficit is hard to come back from, and this series now shifts back to Indianapolis for Game 6, though home-court advantage hasn't mattered much so far. Knicks fans certainly weren't lacking in confidence as they chanted 'Knicks in seven' in the final moments of this game. If they are proven right, it will be Brunson who guides the Knicks there, just like he did Thursday night. — Mike Vorkunov, national business reporter Early in the third quarter, Brunson drove to the basket, putting his shoulder into the chest of Indiana Pacers swingman Aaron Nesmith. Maybe it shouldn't have been an offensive foul, maybe it should have — players 'flop' because they're worried referees won't see a call otherwise. Regardless, Nesmith flailed his arms, turning his back to the play, while Brunson continued his drive. Nesmith tried to recover, but fouled Brunson on a made layup instead. Advertisement Nesmith is the last Pacer who should be criticized for a lack of physicality. He's been playing with a sprained ankle since the second half of Game 3 and has generally given Brunson a tough time. It was emblematic of the evening, though. Towns was lumbering all the way to the rim while Siakam was pump-faking repeatedly to try to avoid contact on short push shots. Brunson was bullying toward the paint while Haliburton had trouble touching the paint at all. Only Mathurin, who had 23 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes, looked comfortable absorbing contact and continuing to push forward. The Pacers scored 34 points in the paint while New York scored 60. Maybe it was the gulf in desperation, but this deficiency hadn't really shown up in this series until Thursday. Offensively, the Pacers are dependent more on speed and shot-making than brute force, and it has carried them to within a win of the NBA Finals. They don't need to dominate the offensive glass or close off the paint entirely on defense. If they want to close this out on Saturday, they have to narrow that margin, probing the paint more often with the ball. — Eric Koreen, senior writer Haliburton was a no-show in Game 5, two days after his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound and four-steal effort in Game 4 lifted Indiana to a victory and put New York on the brink of elimination. With a chance Thursday to push the Pacers into the NBA Finals for the first time in 25 years, Haliburton was strikingly passive. Part of that could be attributed to the Knicks face-guarding Haliburton, but the Pacers star has also been prone to these kinds of head-scratching disappearing acts from time to time, which have driven the fan base crazy. The frustrating part isn't necessarily the fact that Haliburton scored just eight points (with six assists and zero turnovers). It's the fact that he only took seven shots in 32 minutes, missing five of them. Haliburton's quiet night marked the second time during this playoff run when he was held below 10 points in a game, both of which were losses. Furthermore, Indiana is 26-26 this year during the regular season and playoffs when Haliburton scores less than 20 points, compared to 31-4 when he scores at least 20 points. Indiana's offensive struggles weren't solely on Haliburton, however. The rest of the Pacers' starters shot just 11 of 32 from the field. Siakam finished with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting in Game 5 after scoring 30 points in Game 4. Nesmith totaled just three points on 1-of-8 shooting. Mathurin poured in 23 points off the bench, notching his second straight 20-point game, but it wasn't enough to galvanize his team. The Pacers' 94 points marked the first time they've been held below 100 points in the playoffs and just the sixth time all year when including the regular season. — James Boyd, staff writer
CBS News
20 minutes ago
- CBS News
Plano parents, students shaken after teacher allegedly attacked outside elementary school
A Plano ISD parent is speaking out after an incident that occurred last week outside an elementary school in Murphy. Amber Beayrd said that about an hour after Boggess Elementary went into lockdown last Thursday morning, her family got a call. "The vice-principal answered, and she was like, 'There was an incident at the school where your son may have seen something.. and you know, I got to go...' and that was it," she said. When her 4th grader got home, she asked for more details. "They were outside for the recess activities," she said. "He heard some screaming going on and that's when he looked and saw everything happening." Beayrd said he was a little shaken, but able to describe what he saw. "He knows exactly where it happened, right in front of the school, to the right side of it," she said. "A teacher was knocked down into the bushes. He said that he saw the guy choking her and a big rush going on before they were rushed inside the school." Beayrd said she learned a man was taken into custody and in the days that have followed, she's tried to figure out what exactly happened. "There was nothing posted to the Murphy PD site," she said. "There was nothing posted on their Facebook site, and they're always up-to-date on everything." Murphy police did confirm to CBS News Texas that this is an active criminal investigation but would not provide any additional details. "What if something else would have happened?" Beayrd said. "What if he would have rushed inside that school when all the kids were being rushed inside this school? People want to know who this guy is." Beayrd went to social media hoping some of her neighbors had more information and was met with a lot of the same questions. Families are hoping for more answers soon. CBS News Texas reached out to Plano ISD today about the incident. A spokesperson for the district said they're working to get more information.
CBS News
20 minutes ago
- CBS News
Illinois U.S. Navy sailor arrested in South Carolina mass shooting
A U.S. Navy sailor was arrested in Illinois Thursday as the suspect in a mass shooting over Memorial Day weekend in South Carolina. Shawon Shamarion Williams, 19, was arrested by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, and was booked into the Lake County Jail north of Chicago. The Navy sailor is assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago. Cellphone video shows the chaotic shooting scene from Memorial Day weekend. Ten people were shot as they got off a boat in Little River, South Carolina — a community near the North Carolina state line. "We got shot coming off the boat," said shooting victim Jeremy Evans. "We were on the pier." Evans was shot in the leg. He posted video of his recovery, and responded to the arrest Thursday by calling for justice for all. "When I got hit, I took my shorts off and wrapped it around my wound," said Evans. "We were involved in a mass shooting. Ten of us got sprayed on this deck." Police said a private charter boat had just docked when a quarrel led to the shooting. "He started shooting and running backwards," said Evans. Back in Lake County, Illinois, Williams was taken into custody Thursday afternoon, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery spokeswoman Cmdr. Jessica L. McNulty confirmed. Williams was a hull maintenance technician seaman, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Great Lakes, McNulty said. NCIS transferred custody of Williams to local authorities, McNulty said. Police in South Carolina said Williams is expected to be charged with multiple counts of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime — and more people may be arrested in the case. Williams was booked in the Lake County Jail on a fugitive of justice charge. He will appear in court Friday morning, where the extradition process is expected to begin.
