A Walmart becomes a public library, a new report details Countrywide’s sweetheart loans to members of Congress … and more

1. Countrywide Financial issued Congress members sweetheart loans to get influence, new report says [CNN]
2. A shuttered Texas Walmart gets converted into the largest single-story public library in the nation [Gawker]
3. The entrance to Grand Central’s Oyster Bar & Restaurant undergoes first restoration in 100 years with $450,000 price tag [Crain’s]
4. Construction work on the Fulton Street Transit Center moves along [Curbed]
5. City issues RFPs for 58,050-sf development site across from Jamaica Air Train and LIRR station [REW]
6. David Holowka of ArchiTakes proposes a Plan B for Jamestown’s Chelsea Market expansion [Curbed]
7. Russian investor Yuri Milner’s home that he paid $100M is valued at half that amount [Silicon Valley Mercury News]
8. Today Nike debuts its largest store for runners in Flatiron [Racked]
9. Sunburnt Cow in East Village to close for “major renovations,” plans include dining room facelift and new menu [Eater]
10. Check out these photos — some over a century old — of how New Yorkers kept cool in the summer [Curbed]
11. Listen to Tina Fey freestyle in the new “Real Estate” single [Vanity Fair]