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Operating as usual
“Not showing up for work is not acceptable,” says Mayor de Blasio, threatening suspensions for corrections officers amidst ongoing chaos at Rikers Island. “When any officer doesn’t show up for work, they actually put every other officer in danger.”
The warning was one plank of the mayor's new five point plan to address ongoing chaos at Rikers Island, which has seen a spike in self-harm and violence.
50 years after incarcerated men at Attica Correctional Facility in New York demanded humane treatment, a bill before Congress could expand anti-slavery protections in the 13th Amendment to ensure prisoners are no longer forced to work against their will.
"There is an insidious exception in the 13th Amendment that allows for the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime.”
The fifth demand of the Attica manifesto was that prisoners “cannot be compelled to work.”
Andrew "Mush" Russo, the 86-year-old boss of the dwindling Colombo crime family, was among at least a dozen arrested on Tuesday in a federal mob sweep. Russo has done several stints in federal prison, including a reduced sentence in 2012 to spend time with his family, when prosecutors predicted he had no intention of disassociating himself from the criminal enterprise.
Andrew "Mush" Russo, the 86-year-old boss of the syndicate, and his underboss, Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo, were among those arrested in the pre-dawn raid, according to a law enforcement source.
To represent his native city in all its gritty glory, West Side Story’s Jerome Robbins scouted locations like these torn-down tenements (courtesy Robert Moses) in the area that is now the Lincoln Center, that would allow the film’s dance numbers to ooze out of the city’s urban landscape.
📷: NYPL The New York Public Library
Jerome Robbins, a lifelong New Yorker, was determined that the movie version of his successful Broadway show would represent his native city in all its gritty glory.
For those who haven't gotten a COVID test in a while, the landscape has shifted. New mobile test sites are scattered around NYC, and at-home tests are more widely available. Here's a guide on when to get tested, what type of test to get, and where to go.
Not all at-home tests are the same. Some testing sites have changed their rules. And watch out for hidden charges.
In contrast to her predecessor, Governor Hochul has pledged to quickly fulfill record requests filed under New York's Freedom of Information Law, which mandates the release of government records. Here's everything you need to know about requesting state documents.
A guide on where to begin the historically frustrating process of filing a FOIL request.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute exhibit opens this week, following tonight's Met Gala, offering an exploration of modern American fashion from the 1940s to the present. Each piece of fashion is based on an emotional quality.
The pieces are organized into twelve sections based on emotional qualities: Nostalgia, Belonging, Delight, Joy, Wonder, Affinity, Confidence, Strength, Desire, Assurance, Comfort, and Consciousness.
Governor Hochul, Senator Gillibrand, and dozens of other elected officials pledged solidarity with women in Texas—subject to one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion access laws—while committing to do more to restore and protect abortion access.
“There was unfinished business when the Reproductive Health Act was passed in 2019,” Hochul said, taking a not-so-subtle swipe at her predecessor. “Now that I'm in charge, there will be no more delays..."
After suffering a pandemic cancelation in 2020, the Bushwig Festival of Drag, Music & Love sashayed back to life this past weekend, offering tons of creative looks and stellar lip-synching performances.
Bushwig featured both next-level sparkling style and a tribute to Bo Burnham.
“People who try to have inhabitable basements in those areas are gambling because there is often flooding," Professor Clint Andrews says about basement apartments in low-lying areas of Queens, described by another expert as potential "death traps."
Investigators and researchers are unraveling the mixture of calamities that contributed to people perishing in underground dwellings during Ida's flash floods.
In 1931, Lewis W. Hine photographed construction workers atop the Empire State Building. This iconic “Icarus” photo, held by the NYPL The New York Public Library, portrays an ironworker in an extremely precarious position, yet he appears completely fearless.
Hine's iconic photograph captures a young ironworker (he referred to them affectionately as “Sky Boys”) working high above Midtown.
As students return to NYC’s public schools, 17-year-old Fardin Khan said he felt back home at Brooklyn Tech High School, though he worries the school will eventually close.
"In a school like Tech, it’s way too many kids—there ain’t no such thing as social distancing."
“This is a tremendous day for all of New York City."
A constant complaint lodged with Netflix and other major streaming platforms is they don't have a wide-range of films made before 1990.
Criterion Channel is answering the call for classic films, and its latest curated mix is a "63-film salute" to New York City.
The Apartment! Escape from New York! Moonstruck! Super Fly! After Hours! Do The Right Thing! Man Push Cart! Shadows! West Side Story! Margaret!
"My kids are thrilled," Kelly Verel says about her children returning to school, but she's concerned because her son has medical conditions that have hospitalized him four times, once on a ventilator.
"He's not a kid who can brush it off."
"We've seen that we can be resilient, that our kids can be resilient."
Like maybe As of Tuesday, only 65% of city workers, or approximately 239,000 people, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data provided by the mayor's office. That rate is below the citywide coverage for adults—78% with at least one dose.
The underwhelming vaccination rate could provide a stronger case for the city to implement a stricter vaccine mandate as the delta variant continues to surge among the unvaccinated.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is set to return in full this year with all the giant balloons, overpacked crowds, awkward musical performances, and celebrity sightings New Yorkers love and have come to expect.
After things were radically pared down last year, the parade is planning on coming back with all the giant balloons, overpacked crowds, awkward musical performances, and random celebrity sightings New Yorkers have come to expect.
Two days after five feet of water flooded Ivette Mayo's home in Woodside, she began to feel ill. By Monday, she needed to be hospitalized, where she was diagnosed with norovirus and e. Coli, she said, two highly contagious waterborne diseases.
Experts say outbreaks of waterborne illnesses are possible after flooding because sewage systems are overwhelmed.
As of Tuesday, only 65% of city workers, or approximately 239,000 people, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data provided by the mayor's office. That rate is below the citywide coverage for adults—78% with at least one dose.
The underwhelming vaccination rate could provide a stronger case for the city to implement a stricter vaccine mandate as the delta variant continues to surge among the unvaccinated.
In 2019, researchers reported higher rates certain types of cancer in 9/11 first responders, many of whom breathed in air pollution from the towers' collapse.
Yet the New York City Employees' Retirement System medical board is denying them.
First responders who worked at Ground Zero frequently run into red tape as they develop chronic conditions such as cancer. These long-term illnesses tend to emerge well after exposure to health hazards, making it hard to prove cause and effect.
“Any rats that were in the sewers were either crushed by the current or were swept out into the rivers,” pest control expert Bobby Corrigan says about sightings of rat corpses across NYC after Tropical Storm Ida. “I can’t imagine they would’ve survived.”
“I would guess hundreds of thousands died, easily,” said one rat expert. The survivors aren't happy.
Before September 11, 2001, Rudy Giuliani was on his way out of office and dropping in the polls. By the time he appeared at the 9/11 prayer service at Yankee Stadium, he transformed from a divisive lame-duck politician into "America's mayor."
How the September 11 attacks gave Mayor Rudy Giuliani an opening to reinvent his image And the NYPD
This early 1900s photo shows “one of the dirtiest and most unsanitary rooms ever found by the Tenement House Department,” and is from a collection of over 1,000 (held by the NYPL The New York Public Library) that helped lead to reform.
This early 1900s photo (one of over 1,000) documents “one of the dirtiest and most unsanitary rooms ever found by the Tenement House Department," and helped lead to reform.
After 9/11 the NYPD started a new counterterrorism bureau—the first of its kind for any municipal police force in the country. Suddenly, NYPD detectives were stationed worldwide to unearth plots and pass along information gleaned from jihadist attacks.
After the attacks, the NYPD moved rapidly to develop its own global intelligence and counterterrorism capabilities.
Of the nearly 1.3 million COVID infections recorded in New York between January 1st and September 5th, just 58,030 involved breakthrough infections.
“It does seem to suggest that vaccine efficacy is pretty robust even far out," says Dr. Denis Nash.
It's a sign COVID vaccines are still working even as the Delta variant has taken off.
"We can't have safe streets when basic traffic laws aren't being enforced," Michael Francoeur, the co-chair of Manhattan Community Board, says about NYPD officers and other city employees parking personal vehicles in new bike lane in Lower Manhattan.
Since its installation earlier this month, the Centre Street bike lane has been perpetually blocked by vehicles with NYPD and police union placards.
New York City municipal workers are bracing for a major shift starting Monday when thousands return to work in person for the first time since the early days of the pandemic. Mayor de Blasio said the city has "not had a particularly stellar experience with remote employment," angering city workers who have called it a "slap in the face" and called the mayor's assessment false.
City workers were given just two weeks notice they would have to return to the office full-time on September 13th.
According to two independent reviews, a power failure at the MTA last month—which caused every numbered subway line and the L to go offline for an hour—was caused by someone at the MTA's Rail Control accidentally pressing the wrong button.
Hundreds of riders were stranded on trains when power was lost on all the number lines and the L.
"I really wanted to show that this was not a problem we only affiliate with places like Bangladesh and the Pacific, but it's also happening in Miami and the Meadowlands," Kadir van Lohuizen says about his photos displayed at Museum of the City of New York.
"I really wanted to show that this was not a problem we only affiliate with places like Bangladesh and the Pacific, but it's also happening in Miami and the Meadowlands."
Fearing coronavirus in classrooms and anti-Asian attacks on the subway, some parents are fretting over sending their kids back to school on Monday when classes begin for New York City's public schools.
"We've seen that we can be resilient, that our kids can be resilient."
"I have a love and affection for plantains," Rachel Laryea says. "It's deeply cultural for me." Starting the food business while pursuing a dual Ph.D., Laryea's Kelewele, named after a Ghanaian street food, has found a permanent home in Dekalb Market Hall.
Rachel Laryea's terrific food stand serves treats both savory and sweet.
The Armory Show is making a glitzy-as-ever return to the city after a months-long pandemic delay, trading the narrow aisles of Pier 94 for the wide-open spaces of the Javits Convention Center.
The high-end contemporary art world is gathering this weekend at the Javits Center.
On #AskTheMayor with Brian Lehrer, Mayor de Blasio discussed a new public school vaccine mandate, mandates for daycares and preschools, idea relief and how those who suffered from Tropical Storm Ida can seek relief from the city, such as food and housing.
Every Friday, Mayor de Blasio calls in to the Brian Lehrer Show for an Ask the Mayor segment, a conversation that all New Yorkers are invited to join. Listen and read this week's segment here.
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