New York Today: Some Pig

Trevor Smith A mug shot of the escapee. Can you think of a name for this pig?

A piglet was found skittering among the cars and pedestrians on College Point Boulevard in Queens last week. It was likely on a jail break from a local slaughterhouse, avoiding a bacon fate.

The piglet wasn’t the only farm animal on the loose in the city in July. There was also a chicken strolling in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and probably others that went unreported.

(Why are urbanites so charmed by tales of these rural denizens gone rogue in the big city?)

Blame the locavores.

There has been a recent rise in street corner slaughterhouses and urban animal husbandry. The city is home to over 700 food-producing urban farms.

As a result, the number of stray farm animals in the city has spiked, said Susie Coston, national shelter director of Farm Sanctuary, an advocacy group.

Farm Sanctuary has taken in more than 500 farm animals from New York City in the last decade, she said.

Most often, it’s chickens.

Some escape, others are abandoned. You can even adopt a hen on Craigslist.

The rescued piglet was taken to Farm Sanctuary’s upstate farm.

The group said it would appreciate suggestions for a name for the piglet, who is doing well. Leave your thoughts in the comments below or tweet them to @SarahMaslinNir.

WEATHER

Highs in the low 80s and a little bit grey. Bring an umbrella â€" there may be morning showers. Click for current forecast.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit Subways are O.K. Click for the latest status.

- Roads Traffic is moving well. Click for the latest status.

- Alternate side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- On the mayoral campaign trail, John A. Catsimatidis opens a campaign office in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. William C. Thompson Jr. appears on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown.” In Stuyvesant Town, Bill de Blasio will receive the endorsement of the Tenants PAC. In the comptroller’s race, Scott M. Stringer announces a plan to track Hurricane Sandy relief money.

- More urban agriculture: the American Museum of Natural History will have tastings this week of food cultivated in each borough. Today, it’s pesto from the Bronx.

- Sit in on a rehearsal of the experimental band (or, as they put it, “entertainment unit”) Skeletons as they work on their new album at 2 p.m. at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. [Free]

- Seven mystery writers read from their work at KGB Bar in the East Village. [Free]

- Celebrate the 100th birthday of Marcel Proust’s “Swann’s Way,” with readings by the literary power couple Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt and others in Brooklyn Bridge Park at 7 p.m. [Free]

- Browse a pop-up gallery of re-imagined covers for classic books at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe on Crosby Street in Manhattan at 7 p.m. [Free]

- Watch Billy Wilder’s 1948 romantic comedy “A Foreign Affair.” Marlene Dietrich is a sultry cabaret singer, in Bryant Park at sunset. [Free]

- See Agent J and Agent K fight aliens in the third installation of “Men in Black” at Coney Island Flicks on the Beach, on the Boardwalk at West 10th Street at sunset. [Free]

- It’s gospel night at the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series in Brooklyn’s Wingate Field. 7:30 p.m. [Free]

- Shaken, not stirred â€" at an outdoor screening of “Skyfall,” in East River State Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at dusk. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- Danny Kedem, the manager of Anthony D. Weiner’s mayoral campaign, has quit. [New York Times]

- An awning and passersby saved a baby after she fell out of window in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. [Pix 11]

- Saks Fifth Avenue was purchased by the Canadian department-store chain that also owns Lord & Taylor. [New York Post]

- A man successfully completed his swim in the Bronx River. He seems O.K. [New York Daily News]

- Long Island College Hospital, which was scheduled to close on Sunday, will continue to operate, for now, thanks to a court order. [NY 1]

- Lawmakers want co-op and condominium apartments to be eligible for federal disaster relief assistance. Many owners learned after Hurricane Sandy that they are largely barred from such aid. [New York Times]

- Baseball artifacts donated in the 1920s and stolen 40 years ago from the New York Public Library are popping up online. [New York Post]

- The body of a man killed in a weekend boating accident near the Tappan Zee Bridge may have been found. [New York Times]

AND FINALLY…

Sixty-eight years and one day ago today, a B-25 bomber on its way to Newark Airport smashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building. It was a supremely foggy day. The pilot, Lt. Col. William Smith, had dropped the plane too low, though he managed at first to avoid several other city skyscrapers.

More than a dozen people were killed, including Lieutenant Colonel Smith.

He had earlier radioed air traffic controllers to ask about weather conditions. He was told by one, according to the Associated Press, “From where I’m sitting, I can’t see the top of the Empire State Building.”

Michaelle Bond and E.C. Gogolak and contributed reporting.

We’re testing New York Today, which we put together just before dawn and update until noon.

What information would you like to see here when you wake up to help you plan your day? Tell us in the comments, send suggestions to Sarah Maslin Nir or tweet them at @nytmetro using #NYToday. Thanks!