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It’s Tuesday. Happy birthday, Oprah.

Weather: Clouding up, with a high of 40 and rain on the way home tonight.

Then look out: chilly tomorrow and brutally cold tomorrow night and Thursday — down to 5 degrees.

Alternate-side parking: in effect till next Monday.

Question of the day: How did Mayor de Blasio end up hiring a top aide who had just been fired from his last job for sexual harassment?

Back story: Mr. de Blasio admitted this month that his acting chief of staff, Kevin O’Brien, had quietly left his New York City Hall job in February 2018 after being accused of sexual harassment.

Mr. de Blasio defended himself by saying that he let Mr. O’Brien go without any public disclosure, in part to protect the victims.

As for how letting Mr. O’Brien quietly resign would protect potential future victims, the mayor said it would be “rare” that an employer wouldn’t first call around and do a background check before hiring someone.

It’s apparently more complicated than that.

New details: The Times’s William Neuman reported on Monday night that in December 2015, before he was hired in New York, Mr. O’Brien had been forced out of his job at the Democratic Governors Association for harassing a woman at the organization. He had been there for less than a year.

[Read our new story about how Mr. O’Brien was fired from the earlier job.]

By January 2016, Mr. O’Brien had begun working as Mr. de Blasio’s deputy chief of staff, having received the job based on the recommendation of a top political strategist.

By February 2018, two women working for the city had accused Mr. O’Brien of harassment, and an investigation was conducted, and Mr. O’Brien left.

In April 2018, he was hired by the same political strategist who had recommended him to the mayor two years before.

This month, Mr. O’Brien was fired from his latest job after The Times reported the reason for his departure from City Hall. The firm that had hired Mr. O’Brien said it “had no idea” about the series of allegations against him.

A spokesman for Mr. de Blasio said the Department of Investigation, as part of a standard background check, contacted the governors association and “received confirmation of title and work dates and no adverse information” about Mr. O’Brien’s employment.

A look ahead: The scandal raises questions about the thoroughness of the city’s vetting procedures and how Mr. de Blasio handled the aftermath of the harassment case.

The mayor has tried to project himself as a progressive, transparent leader and feminist champion, but that image may be tarnished after he allowed Mr. O’Brien to go on to his next job without scrutiny.

It also comes as a growing number of people are declaring an interest to replace Mr. de Blasio, who because of term limits will leave City Hall at the end of 2021.

Best of The Times

International pickpockets ride New York’s subway: “This is how I make my living,” one said.

Walk into an elevator on Friday, leave on Monday: A woman is in stable condition after being rescued from a townhouse elevator on the Upper East Side, where she was trapped all weekend.

State law extends timetable for sex abuse cases: Prosecutors have more time to press charges, and victims have more time to come forward.

Alanis Morissette play coming to Broadway: Rape culture, drug addiction and other topics will be addressed using the Canadian singer’s music.

“Rent,” the not-quite-live production, aired on Sunday: It was “three hours of chaotic visuals and middling audio most of us were never meant to see and hear,” a critic said.

[Want more news from New York and around the region? Check out our full coverage.]

The mini crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.

What we’re reading

A couch got stuck in a tree: What is happening on the Upper West Side? Anyway, it’s gone now. [CBS New York]

Upper East Side, the song: The new Q train gets a lot of love in a rap from the “Saturday Night Live” comedian Leslie Jones. [YouTube]

Actor who plays El Chapo at El Chapo’s trial: The Mexican drug lord smiled when he spotted Alejandro Edda, who plays him on the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico.” [Associated Press]

Food halls represent a “radical rethinking” for restaurants. They’re like the WeWork of the food world, I think. [Wall Street Journal]

There’s a Quentin Tarantino-themed bar opening: Of course, it’s in Williamsburg. [New York Post]

Coming up today

Get your yoga on in Bryant Park at 8 a.m. [Free]

“Capturing ‘The Deuce’: Times Square in the 1970s & ’80s”: a talk at the Museum of the City of New York. 6:30 p.m. [$20]

Hear live jazz by the Marc Devine Trio and eat Mediterranean food at Cleopatra’s Needle on the Upper West Side. 8 p.m. [$10 minimum]

Take a gallery tour at the American Folk Art Museum. 1 p.m. [Free]

Teens 13 to 18 can learn to “adult” better at an Adulting 101 workshop at the Mid-Manhattan library. 4 p.m. [Free]

— Derek Norman

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: How to avoid a deflating Super Bowl Sunday

The Super Bowl is on Sunday.

No New York team is playing in it. Instead, the New England Patriots take on the Los Angeles Rams. Or, as my colleagues described it: “It’s between cheaters and a team that ditched their city.”

Aside from watching dazzling commercials, consuming copious calories and shopping for discounted wide-screen televisions, some people spend Super Bowl Sunday … actually watching the game.

If you want to watch the game at a sports bar, choose wisely.

Some bars, like their patrons, have very specific and unwavering loyalties. Show up to Professor Thom’s wearing the jersey of the Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, trying to order a “Whiz wit,” and you could get sacked.

And for good reason.

People who relocate to New York City from their hometown (or college town) can find comfort and camaraderie in the sports bars. The clientele the bars attract share an overly irrational dedication to a sports team or city — and for some, that feels a little like home.

When my friends from the University of Michigan came to town, we hung out at the Grey Dog, near Union Square. We spotted the university’s trademark blue and maize “M” logo on the wall and felt like we were back on campus.

So, on Sunday, New England Patriots fans can head to Tír na nÓg on West 39th Street, Professor Thom’s on Second Avenue or the Three Monkeys on West 54th Street, to name a few.

And if you’re rooting for the Rams, you can pray for a miracle, then head to American Whiskey on West 30th Street.

Other sports bars, listed by team affiliations, are listed on DoNYC.com.

Metropolitan Diary: At the butcher

Dear Diary:

I was at the poultry counter at a well-known New York butcher shop in the 1990s.

Free-range chickens and organic foods were just starting to become widely available, and I had not yet mastered the associated brand names.

The butcher asked what I wanted.

“I’ll have the Bell & Howell chicken,” I said.

“With or without the automatic shutter?” he said without missing a beat.

— Stephanie Brody-Lederman

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