What’s News, Breaking: Monday, September 25, 2023

BELOVED POLITICAL PROFESSIONAL FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE AFTER BROOKLYN BIKE CRASH

PARK SLOPE — A WELL-KNOWN AND BELOVED POLITICAL PR PROFESSIONAL is fighting for his life with traumatic brain injury after he was hit by a car while riding his bike in Park Slope on Friday, according to reports in Patch and a gofundme set up by his friends. Jacob Priley, 30, was in critical condition Sunday, days after a crash knocked him off his bike on Fifth Avenue near Union Street about 7:30 p.m. Priley, on a green light, made an “abrupt left turn” onto Union Street — colliding with an SUV on Fifth Avenue which also had a green light, NYPD told Patch.

Priley, an account supervisor with BerlinRosen, recently worked as chief of staff for state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. The gofundme, which has raised more than $79,000 as of Monday, can be found online.

✰✰✰

REVITALIZATION GROUP WILL HONOR THREE BUILDING INDUSTRY LEADERS

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK BUILDING CONGRESS PRESIDENT AND CEO CARLO SCISSURA, the trade association’s past chair Elizabeth Velez, and Lisa Bova-Hiatt, CEO of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), will be honored on Nov. 1 as part of the 25th anniversary of Rebuilding Together New York City. The ticketed event, taking place at the New York Athletic Club, will salute the three industry leaders for their commitments to affordable housing and building a more equitable, livable city. Founded in 1998, Rebuilding Together NYC is a non-profit organization focusing on housing preservation, community revitalization and workforce development. 

The 102-year-old New York Building Congress, founded in 1921 as a forum for addressing the city’s construction needs, works in tandem with the building and real estate industries. Its President since 2017, Carlo Scissura has strong roots in this borough, as a past president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Congress, and before that as Chief of Staff to former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

✰✰✰

HOCHUL DEPLOYS ADDITIONAL NATIONAL GUARD TO SUPPORT RESPONSE TO MIGRANT CRISIS

CITYWIDE — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL DEPLOYED AN ADDITIONAL 150 MEMBERS of the New York National Guard to support the ongoing response to the city’s migrant crisis, she announced at the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem on Monday. Because of this new deployment, the state will be able to assign 250 National Guard personnel full-time to case management to help asylum-seekers file paperwork to attain legal status and become self-supporting. The state has invested $50 million in case management thus far, Hochul said.

“That brings our total to 2,200 National Guard members supporting the overall mission and what this will allow us to do – 250 National Guard members will focus solely on case management,” she said.

✰✰✰

GREEN PROJECTS IN NEW YORK WILL GET $20M BOOST

CITYWIDE — $20 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS WILL BE ALLOCATED TO PLANT AND MAINTAIN TREES AND FOR OTHER CLIMATE-FRIENDLY and green projects in New York State, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is expected to announce on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Sen. Gillibrand will hold a press conference with NYC Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, Executive Director of New York Restoration Project Lynn Kelly, at the Central Park Arsenal to announce the funding, which will be distributed to the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and The Bronx is Blooming.

Sen. Gillibrand helped secure this funding in the Inflation Reduction Act which included $1.5 billion over the next 10 years for the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry program.

✰✰✰

GOV. HOCHUL APPLAUDS SCREENWRITERS’ TENTATIVE DEAL

STATEWIDE — SAYING THAT HUNDREDS OF BUSINESSES AND FILM PROJECTS ACROSS NEW YORK WERE IMPACTED in the Screenwriters Guild Strike, NY Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday, Sept. 25, applauded the tentative agreement to end the five-month walkout. “For months, negotiations brought the film industry to a halt, impacting hundreds of small businesses, film projects and thousands of workers all across New York State…New York’s film industry is the backbone of our economy, creating more than 50,000 direct and indirect jobs each year and generating at least $35 billion in investment over the past decade.”

Gov. Hochul added, “I was proud to stand with workers on the picket line and meet last week with MPA studio executives to urge them to reach a timely agreement. She expressed hope also that the Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists would also progress toward a labor agreement to get New Yorkers back to work.

✰✰✰

HOCHUL: GOP’S GOV. SHUTDOWN WILL HAVE ‘SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS’ ON HEALTH & SAFETY OF NEW YORKERS

STATEWIDE — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SAID THE LOOMING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, which she called “another problem originating from Congressional Republicans,” would furlough many of the state’s 51,000 federal employees, and “will have significant impacts on the health and safety of New Yorkers.” In a statement on Monday, she listed some of the programs that would be affected, including Section 8 housing vouchers and transfers, food inspections, nutritional benefits for pregnant mothers, infants and children, storm disaster aid, funds for New York’s asylum-seeker crisis and more.

On the national level, financial markets could be rattled as millions of federal workers face delayed paychecks, including many of the roughly 2 million military personnel and more than 2 million civilian workers — from Transportation Security Administration agents who operate security at airports to Postal Service workers to passport agents, PBS reports.

✰✰✰

SCREENWRITERS UNION REACHES TEMPORARY DEAL
TO END STRIKE THAT LASTED FIVE MONTHS

NATIONWIDE — THE UNION THAT REPRESENTS SCREENWRITERS ON SUNDAY, SEPT. 24, REACHED A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT with Hollywood studios to end a historic strike after nearly five months, reports the Associated Press. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the latter representing studios, issued a joint statement announcing the tentative deals, whose details have not been fully publicized. The agreement still faces two crucial votes: those of the boards of the WGA’s eastern and western branches, and then the union’s entire membership must approve it.

While the actors remain on strike in a separate dispute, negotiators hope that the deal with the screenwriters will also encourage them to reach an agreement.

✰✰✰

NEW FAITH-BASED ONLINE TOOL
GAUGES VIEWS ON RACISM

NATIONWIDE — A NEW FAITH-BASED RESOURCE ON RACIAL JUSTICE IS AVAILABLE via the National Association of Evangelicals, reports the Religion News Service. The online “Racial Justice Assessment tool,” which on Monday, Sept. 25, was posted on the organization’s website, offers an assessment questionnaire and is designed to provide users with suggestions of books, videos, articles and online courses to consider based on their answers to a brief survey about racism and equality. Recent research has shown gaps in various religious groups’ views on racial matters. For example, on the question of whether overlooking racism is a bigger problem than perceiving racism where it may not actually exist, a majority of white evangelicals, mainline Protestants and Catholics said that the latter is a larger issue, but Black Protestants and non-religious Americans disagreed with that perspective.

The collaborative hopes to continue to expand its offerings, including a fall retreat for Black and Indigenous people of color that aims to provide “spiritual encouragement” for evangelical leaders who work on racial justice and reconciliation, lead predominantly white organizations or are involved in starting multiethnic churches.

✰✰✰

‘WE ARE BROWNSVILLE,’ PROCLAIMS
NEWLY-UNVEILED MURAL

BROWNSVILLE — A NEW MURAL HAS BEEN UNVEILED AT THE MARCUS GARVEY APARTMENTS, proclaiming “We are Brownsville.” The mural, entitled “We Are, I Am,” gracing the corner of Rockaway Boulevard and Dumont Avenue, depicts a crowd raising signs proclaiming “We are Brownsville,” a young woman passionately speaking into a megaphone, and a man holding a long planted vine in the palm of his hands. Marcus Garvey was selected as the mural’s installation site when Groundswell, an organization that brings together artists, youth, and local partners to use art as a tool for social change, received a grant from the Department of Criminal Justice Services to produce a community-driven art project that would both galvanize and beautify the neighborhood.

Mural participants participated in a series of workshops and solicited feedback from community members to ensure that their perspectives were reflected in the design.

✰✰✰

HEALTH INSURANCE RESTORED FOR 500K PEOPLE KICKED OFF MEDICAID BY COMPUTER GLITCH

NATIONWIDE — ROUGHLY 500,000 PEOPLE WHO RECENTLY LOST MEDICAID COVERAGE ARE REGAINING their health insurance as states work on fixing computer glitches that didn’t properly evaluate people’s eligibility after the end of the coronavirus pandemic, PBS/AP reported on Thursday. The computer issues affected people in 29 states and the District of Columbia and likely included a significant number of children, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Around 70,000 New Yorkers, including about 41,000 children, were inappropriately dropped from Medicaid in June, July and August because of the glitch, and will have their coverage reinstated for an additional 12 months, New York Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri said.

✰✰✰

FORMER MARS FUDGE & FRUIT CO. SITE TRANSFORMED INTO AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR SENIORS

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING LOTTERY FOR SENIORS has kicked off in Bedford-Stuyvesant, with 20 slots reserved for seniors at risk of homelessness and other set-asides for seniors with mobility, sight or hearing disabilities. The former Mars Fudge and Fruit Company site has been reborn as the 63-unit 811 Lexington Avenue Senior Residences. The $36 million complex is a result of a collaboration between IMPACCT Brooklyn and the Northeastern Conference of Seventh Day Adventists. The lottery closes on Nov. 9, 2023, details online.

Greek diners across NYC used to buy fillings for their fruit pies at the now-defunct Mars Fudge and Fruit Company, including the “ubiquitous lemon meringue pie … filled with Mars’s Lemon Supreme,” the New York Times reported in 1991.

✰✰✰

NYC HEALTH DEPT. WARNS OF ‘HISTORIC’ OVERDOSE CRISIS, SURGE IN DEATHS

CITYWIDE — THE NYC DEPT. OF HEALTH ISSUED AN ADVISORY on Monday warning that overdose deaths across the city jumped 12% in just one year, and the opioid Fentanyl was detected in 81% of these deaths. Provisional data show 3,026 overdose deaths in 2022, the highest number of deaths since reporting began in 2000. “This crisis is killing a New Yorker every three hours and is impacting every individual and family in our city and in our nation,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. “Everyone should carry naloxone, get trained to use it and to recognize the signs of overdose,” he said, adding that no one should use or allow anyone else to use drugs alone.

Black New Yorkers between the ages of 55 and 84 had the highest rate of overdose deaths between 2021-2022, DOH said.

✰✰✰

ELIJAH HUTCHINSON TAPPED FOR TOP CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE POST

CITY HALL — MAYOR ERIC ADAMS ANNOUNCED on Monday the appointment of Elijah M. Hutchinson as executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, which is responsible for reducing NYC’s emissions and preparing the city for the intensifying impacts of climate change. Prior to this appointment, Hutchinson, a resident of Brooklyn, led coastal resilience and new greenway initiatives as vice president for waterfronts at the NYC Economic Development Corporation. “Our Office of Climate and Environmental Justice is the tip of the spear in our fight to dismantle decades of environmental racism and build a cleaner, greener, more sustainable city,” Adams said in a statement.

The appointment was praised by Brooklyn leaders including Lindsay Greene, president and CEO, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, who said that Hutchinson “deeply appreciates that climate issues are deeply entertained with issues of racial and economic justice.”

✰✰✰

REPORT: NYC AMBULANCE RESPONSE TIMES INCREASE, ENDANGERING LIVES

CITYWIDE — THE AVERAGE TIME for a city ambulance to respond to a life-threatening emergency has increased by 36 seconds (to 10:43 minutes) compared to last year, reports Work-Bites, which obtained the data from the recently released Mayor’s Management Report for fiscal year 2023. Reflecting a troubling trend, response time is 1:21 minutes longer this year than it was four years ago. The publication points out that brain death starts to occur 4–6 minutes after cardiac arrest, and that “few attempts at resuscitation succeed after 10 minutes.” Uniformed Firefighter Association President Andy Ansbro told Work-Bites, “Five years ago, you had a 25% better chance of surviving a heart attack than you do today.”

Some reasons listed for the longer response times are the city’s aging ambulance fleet, with fewer rigs available to be deployed; an increase in medical emergencies; and streets jammed with more traffic.

✰✰✰

CITY TO COURTS: EXEMPT MIGRANTS FROM RIGHT TO SHELTER MANDATE

CITYWIDE — THE CITY WANTS TO EXEMPT NEWLY-ARRIVED IMMIGRANTS FROM ITS RIGHT TO SHELTER MANDATE, a senior official for Mayor Eric Adams told NPR and Gothamist on Thursday. The mandate, which requires the city to provide a bed to anyone on request, has caused a crisis, Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for health and human services, told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer. The city is preparing to tell a judge that, essentially, the right to shelter, “I don’t think that the right to shelter as it was originally written should be applied to this humanitarian crisis in its present form,” said Williams-Isom.

A legal battle over this latest move is expected; as the state and the Legal Aid Society, representing homeless persons, have been in protracted negotiations, with the latter vehemently opposed to any such rollback of the right to shelter.

✰✰✰

MORE RATS FOUND AT MAYOR ADAMS’ BROOKLYN BUILDING

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — MAYOR ERIC ADAMS has been slapped with yet another $300 ticket for failing to rid his four-story building of a rat infestation, making this the fourth rat-related summons the mayor has been hit with since May 2022, the Daily News reports. “Fresh rat droppings … were observed at front right in the garbage storage area and near the property line,” according to a copy of the summons reviewed by the Daily News.

The inspector also wrote that she spotted multiple “rat burrows” in the yard. The mayor’s property is located on Lafayette Avenue in Bed-Stuy.

 ✰✰✰

COLTON TO CITY: URGENT FIX NEEDED FOR CHRONIC RAINWATER PONDING

BENSONHURST & MAPLETON — THE CITY MUST FIX THE PONDING OF RAINWATER AND INSTALL CATCH BASINS at a corner in Bensonhurst/Mapleton that has chronic flooding, says Assemblymember William Colton (D-47), who represents the area. The south side of the intersection of Avenue O and West 4th Street, which lacks catch basins, is chronically flooded whenever it rains because there’s no way for the water to drain. He said he has repeatedly asked the city to install the catch basins.

Saying that he’s repeatedly asked the city to correct the problem, Colton added, “After a downpour, it’s hard to cross the street without wading through the deep puddles, which is a huge difficulty for senior citizens, as well as wheelchairs and baby carriages. And with West Nile Virus still around, the standing water is a potential breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry the disease.”

✰✰✰

ELDERLY SCHOOL BUS DRIVER IN COLLISION THAT KILLED CYCLIST

BOROUGH PARK — THE ELDERLY DRIVER OF A YESHIVA SCHOOL BUS filled with toddlers struck and killed a bicyclist in Borough Park on Thursday, Sept. 21, reports the Daily News. The 44-year-old cyclist was proceeding along 41st Street in Borough Park when the bus driver made a right turn onto Fort Hamilton Parkway and struck him, around 3:15 p.m., according to NYPD reports. The bus was transporting 20 girls, all under five years old, from their school.

Witnesses told the Daily News that the very distraught driver said he had recently undergone heart surgery, and that the girls were crying. Neither the names of the school nor the bus company had been released as of press time.

✰✰✰

NYU LANGONE HOSPITALS, INCLUDING IN BROOKLYN, WIN AWARDS FOR QUALITY AND PATIENT SAFETY

SUNSET PARK — NYU LANGONE HOSPITAL SYSTEM HAS ONCE AGAIN BEEN NAMED NO. 1 IN THE NATION for quality and patient safety by Vizient, Inc., a leading healthcare performance improvement organization. Vizient determines its rankings based on mortality and infection rates, patient experience scores, and other critical quality measures. NYU Langone won Vizient’s Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award, which ranks NYU Langone hospitals in Manhattan as No. 1 out of 116 comprehensive academic medical centers for the second consecutive year. Moreover, NYU Langone Brooklyn, part of the network, also ranked high — number 7 nationwide in the same category.

NYU Langone-Brooklyn was the only one to earn an “A” rating for the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, with Magnet recognition for excellence in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

✰✰✰

NYPD RELEASES IDENTITY OF CYCLIST KILLED IN SCHOOL BUS COLLISION

BOROUGH PARK — THE NYPD ON FRIDAY MORNING, SEPT. 22, RELEASED MORE INFORMATION regarding Thursday’s fatal crash within the 66th Precinct, which involved a cyclist and a school bus filled with children under age five. Police have identified the 44-year-old cyclist who was struck and killed while heading southbound along Fort Hamilton Parkway as Luis Perez-Ramirez, 44, of 20th Avenue. The 66-year-old driver of an International PB105 school bus, which was making a right turn from southbound Fort Hamilton Parkway to westbound 41st Street when he struck Perez-Ramirez, remained on the scene. The NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is on the case.

EMS first responders brought Perez-Ramirez, who had suffered severe body trauma, to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased.

✰✰✰

CITY COUNCIL ACCUSES ADAMS OF OBSTRUCTING INVESTIGATION INTO UNVETTED CONTRACTS FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

CITYWIDE — NONE OF THE SIX CITY CONTRACTORS INVITED TO TESTIFY about the Adams administration’s use of unvetted contracts to care for the city’s 110,000 asylum-seekers bothered to show up to Thursday’s New York City Council hearing, angering Councilmembers, City & State reports. Mayor Eric Adams is “deliberately obstructing oversight of more than $1 billion in city contracts for asylum-seeker services,” Councilmembers alleged. The Council held the joint committee hearing to investigate city spending for emergency shelters, medical care and staff. While Zach Iscol, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, said that “many” of the city’s nearly 200 immigrant services contracts were secured through a competitive bidding process, the Council said records showed that only three contracts had been secured through competitive bidding.

City Comptroller Brad Lander last week threatened to suspend the mayor’s blanket emergency procurement authorization, following allegations of mismanagement and a lack of transparency from City Hall.

✰✰✰

JOURNALISTS ARE AT THE HEART OF SATURDAY’S DIOCESAN MASS

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — JOURNALISTS AND MEMBERS OF THE NEWS MEDIA WERE SET TO GATHER as a community on Saturday morning, Sept. 23, at 10 a.m. for a Mass dedicated to them. The Most Reverend Robert J. Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn, is the celebrant at a Mass for Journalists at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights, praying for those in the news industry whose reports both educate the public and often move them to action. Bishop Brennan is expected to point out that journalists’ work is vital to democratic and just societies, but reporters often find themselves under threat in oppressive governments. Research shows that 455 journalists have been killed while on the job between 2016 and 2021, and that the imprisonment of journalists has reached record highs.

The Tablet and Currents News are part of DeSales Media Group, named for the late 16th-century patron saint of journalists, St. Francis de Sales. This diocesan ministry provides communications and technology services to the Diocese of Brooklyn and other dioceses.

✰✰✰

CROWN HEIGHTS ‘BABYSITTER’ CHARGED IN THE DEATH OF HIS GIRLFRIEND’S BABY BOY

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A MAN WHO IS ACCUSED OF BEATING AND MURDERING THE CHILD HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BABYSITTING was arraigned in State Supreme Court on Friday, Sept. 22. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez identified the defendant as Latrell Lewis, 23, of Crown Heights, at whose arraignment Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo presided. Lewis is charged with several counts of murder and manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, in connection with the Aug. 27 death of two-year-old Nasir Carter Paris. Nasir’s mother had left him in Lewis’ care at her home in Bergen Beach while at work. The city Medical Examiner determined from an autopsy that the child’s injuries are consistent with multiple, inflicted, blunt force traumas, and included hemorrhaging in vital organs, and skull fractures.

The defendant, who is also charged in connection with an April 23 incident involving the same child, is being held without bail and could face a 25-to-life sentence if convicted.

✰✰✰

TWU CRITICIZES MTA CHAIR ON HIS SUPPORT OF CONGESTION PRICING

CITYWIDE — TRANSIT WORKERS INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT JOHN SAMUELSEN HAS REBUKED THE MTA BOSS FOR HIS APPARENT TREATMENT of the now-approved city congestion pricing as a “thinly veiled” cash cow for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, reports the New York Post. A member of the Traffic Mobility Review Board which is responsible for setting congestion pricing fees and exemptions, Samuelson accused MTA CEO Janno Lieber — who aims to reduce the downward trend of ridership — of treating the expected revenues as an ATM for the agency, saying that he should instead be focused on creating incentives for drivers to use mass transit. Likewise, local elected officials, including Brooklyn Congressmember Nicole Malliotakis (R-11/southwestern Brooklyn), an outspoken critic of congestion pricing, were quoted saying that the MTA must improve the safety of commuters and penalize fare-beaters.

A wave of stabbings and other unprovoked pushing attacks have made riders fearful of using the subway. There were 25 incidents of people being shoved onto tracks as of October 2022, and several thus far this year — most recently on Sept.12.

✰✰✰

CITY ANNOUNCES NEW DEADLINE POLICY FOR MIGRANTS STILL NEEDING SHELTERS

CITYWIDE — A NEW POLICY FOR ADULT MIGRANTS, GIVING THEM 30-DAY NOTICES AND INTENSIFIED CASEWORK has been implemented, effective immediately, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Saturday, Sept. 22. The mayor made his announcement as the number of asylum seekers in the city’s care exceeded 60,000. Adult asylum seekers who have not secured alternative housing after their current 60-day notice has expired, and who subsequently return to the Asylum Seeker Arrival Center, will receive a placement with an additional 30-day notice coupled with further intensified casework services. Moreover, all adult asylum seekers applying for shelter at the arrival center for the first time will receive a 30-day notice paired with intensified casework services.

The Mayor’s Office points out that, with 300-500 migrants arriving each day, the city has endeavored to accommodate them without having yet received the substantial help necessary from federal and state partners.

✰✰✰

WHITE HOUSE OPENS FIRST-EVER OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PROTECTION 

NATIONWIDE—PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN HAS ESTABLISHED THE FIRST-EVER WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION to reduce gun violence, and to expand upon key executive and legislative action. including last year’s historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that President Biden signed, to end the scourge of gun violence in America. This legislation keeps guns out of the hands of individuals under 21 who are prohibited from purchasing firearms, and empowers the Justice Department with new authorities to prosecute firearms traffickers, and provides counseling to those affected by gun violence, particularly mass shootings.

Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor and key leader in the administration’s effort to end this scourge, will oversee the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention Stefanie Feldman, a longtime policy advisor to President Biden on gun violence prevention, will serve as Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, alongside leading gun violence prevention advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox.

✰✰✰

PUBLIC ADVOCATE OFFERS TO WHITE HOUSE NYC’S MODEL OF GUN VIOLENCE PROTECTION

NATIONWIDE — NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE WILLIAMS IS PRAISING PRESIDENT BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS’ LAUNCH of the White House Office of Gun Violence Protection. Writing from Washington while attending the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference, Williams stated, (excerpted here) “As the office takes shape, I urge the administration to center its strategies on the kind of holistic, community-driven violence prevention approach that President Biden witnessed during his visit to New York City last year, the kind I’ve promoted since my time as co-Chair of the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence a decade ago. In New York, our similar citywide office has found success and saved lives by embracing and investing in strategies that take on both the supply of guns that enables violence in our neighborhoods and the demand that drives it by investing in changing underlying conditions in those neighborhoods.”

“I have long pushed for collaboration across all levels of government on this issue, which should be a mandate of this new office,” stated Public Advocate Williams.

✰✰✰ 

CON EDISON CLIMATE STUDY SHOWS NYC TEMPERATURES RISING FASTER THAN  PREDICTED

CITYWIDE — CON EDISON’S 2023 CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY STUDY shows that temperatures in the New York City region are rising even quicker than forecasted in 2019 due to climate change. By 2030, the city will experience up to 17 days a year with temperatures of 95 degrees or higher, the study projects, up from four days a year historically. New Yorkers will experience up to 27 such days by 2040 and up to 32 such days by 2050. The risk of flooding, which can damage underground equipment, will increase as well, according to the study. The findings, filed with the New York State Public Service Commission on Friday, imply that the company must accelerate its investments to keep electric service reliable.

Con Ed recently broke ground on a clean energy hub in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn.

✰✰✰

CARROLL SECURES $150K FOR BROOKLYN CHILDREN’S MUSEUM

CROWN HEIGHTS — ASSEMBLYMEMBER ROBERT CARROLL on Thursday joined Atiba T. Edwards, acting president and CEO of Brooklyn Children’s Museum, to announce that he has secured $150,000 in state funds to support the museum, including $125,000 in capital funds and a $25,000 operating funds grant. The capital dollars will be used to help build the “Brooklyn Time Machine” exhibition, a permanent exhibition that will explore the history of Brooklyn throughout the centuries.

The operating grant supports free field trips so children can participate in a range of educational programs at the Museum, including SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT, which teaches children about using art for advocacy, finding their own voice and connecting with others.

✰✰✰

BIDEN ADMIN MOVES TO REMOVE MEDICAL BILLS FROM CREDIT REPORTS

NATIONWIDE — VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS ANNOUNCED Thursday that the Biden administration is beginning the process that could ultimately remove medical bills from people’s credit scores — a move that could improve the credit reports of millions of people. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau outlined the proposals that would help families financially recover from medical crises, stop debt collectors from coercing people into paying bills they may not owe, and ensure that creditors are not relying on frequently inaccurate data. CFPB research found that 58% of all third-party debt collections were for medical debt, more than credit cards, student loans, utilities and every other type.

This rule-making will “block medical debt collectors from weaponizing the credit reporting system,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra.

✰✰✰

NY A.G. ORDERS GROUP TO STOP IMPERSONATING ELECTION OFFICIALS, INTIMIDATING VOTERS

STATEWIDE — THE NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE on Thursday sent a cease-and-desist letter to a group accused of impersonating election officials, confronting voters at their homes and falsely accusing people of committing voter fraud, News1 reports. The letter orders the group NY Citizens Audit to immediately stop its voter intimidation efforts and turn over records on its training of and communications with its door-to-door canvassers. A.G. Letitia James’ letter says in some cases voters have reported that canvassers displayed false badges or other identification to portray themselves as election workers. NYCA Executive Director Marly Hornik denied the group engaged in any illegal canvassing.

NYCA has been described by Syracuse.com as a “shadowy fringe group” that makes false claims of massive election fraud but offers no evidence.