What’s News, Breaking: Wednesday, March 27, 2024

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS PROPOSE THAT
CRIMINAL TRESPASSING LAW INCLUDE SQUATTERS

ALBANY STATEHOUSE — A NEW PROPOSAL WITHIN THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY WOULD REDEFINE CRIMINAL TRESPASSING TO INCLUDE “SQUATTING,” the apply that permits an individual to go into and take refuge in a house to which they have got no prison rights or permission. Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R,C/-64-Brooklyn and Staten Island) and his colleagues within the Assembly Minority Conference on Wednesday, March 27, introduced the invoice (which fellow Brooklyn Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny /R-46) is cosponsoring), has moved to committees in each properties of state legislature. New York regulations these days permit an individual to go into and are living in a house they don’t personal with out the landlord’s permission, paying hire or software expenses for 30 days. The home-owner should then take that specific to landlord-tenant courtroom to have that individual got rid of to evict him/her, a long procedure.

Tannousis reported that contemporary social media movies display migrants teaching every different on take ownership of vacant properties to which they have got no rights together with properties on the market or properties from which the homeowners are away for a brief length.

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MTA GIVES OFFICIAL GREEN LIGHT
TO ITS CONGESTION PRICING PLAN

CITYWIDE — THE MTA BOARD ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, GAVE ITS FINAL OFFICIAL APPROVAL OF CONGESTION PRICING, the newest step within the transit company’s plan to price drivers a $15 sunlight hours toll to go into Manhattan south of sixtieth Street, reviews Gothamist. The approval procedure, which stretched 5 years from the unique proposal, integrated exemptions granted previous this week to college buses, sure commuter buses and city-owned fleet automobiles. The MTA’s function is to fund wanted upkeep and upgrades to the subway machine, however the plan nonetheless faces hurdles, together with some lively class-action court cases, one in every of which the NAACP filed simply closing week.

Taxi drivers objected to the tolls right through the assembly as they face a $1.25 surcharge that the board authorized on taxi journeys getting into the congestion zone; then again, yellow and inexperienced cab drivers received’t need to pay the $15 toll, a subject that MTA Chair Janno Lieber addressed in a press convention following the vote, in step with Spectrum News New York 1.

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CITY LAUNCHES ENGLISH LEARNING
AND SUPPORT CENTER
PROGRAM FOR IMMIGRANTS

 CITYWIDE — THE MAYOR’S OFFICE OF IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS on Wednesday, March 27, introduced its (MOIA) English Learning and Support Centers positioned around the metropolis to make stronger longtime and lately arrived immigrant New Yorkers to be told English and get related to metropolis assets. More than 60 library branches — together with the Brooklyn Public Library — and different non-profit organizations will obtain greater than $1 million in metropolis investment to release the facilities. The MOIA English Learning and Support Centers (together with Life of Hope in East Flatbush and Mixteca in southern Park Slope) will attach immigrant New Yorkers to amateur and intermediate-level English categories, using “We Speak NYC,” an award-winning curriculum that town evolved as a device to show English and train New Yorkers on metropolis assets and products and services.

MOIA has additionally supplied subtitles for We Speak NYC episodes within the following languages: Arabic, Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Nepali, Polish, Russian, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Urdu, and Wolof.

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BIPARTISAN BILL WOULD FACILITATE
CO-OP HOME PURCHASES FOR VETERANS 

CAPITOL HILL — A BIPARTISAN BILL IN CONGRESS AIMS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR VETERANS IN NEW YORK CITY AND ACROSS THE NATION to buy co-ops. The Fair Access to Co-Ops for Veterans Act (H.R.7703), which Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-11) and Grace Meng (D-06) presented on Wednesday, March 27, would amplify the Veterans Home Loan Guarantee program to incorporate co-ops, permitting the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to ensure co-op loans to eligible veterans. The invoice would additionally direct the VA to promote it this co-op program to eligible veterans, taking part lenders, and realtors. Rep. Malliotakis identified that co-ops account for more or less 1 / 4 of NYC’s housing marketplace.

In 2006, Congress handed a invoice making a five-year pilot program permitting veterans to buy cooperative housing. Prior to this law, the VA Home Loans program may just now not be used for co-ops. However, the pilot program expired in 2011 and was once by no means renewed.

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CITY AUTHORIZES E-CARGO BIKES,
EXPANDING SAFETY RULES FOR STREETS

CITYWIDE — THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAS AUTHORIZED THE USE OF E-CARGO BIKES ON CITY STREETS and has established key security requirements. New regulations that DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez introduced on Wednesday, March 27, are designed to make deliveries more secure and extra sustainable through lowering the choice of massive supply vans on New York City streets. The regulations amplify the prison definition of “bicycle” to incorporate “pedal-assist bicycle” and outline “commercial bicycle” as a bicycle used to move business items, they usually determine a “Commercial Bicycle Loading Only” zone — devoted area on the curb for pedestrian security. The e-cargo motorcycle pace prohibit was once lowered from the proposed 20 miles in step with hour to fifteen mph, and e-cargo motorcycles should now not be parked or be left unattended on a sidewalk for any explanation why — even quickly.

The finalized regulations additionally building up low- or no-emission choices for freight deliveries — together with programs and groceries — through permitting the usage of pedal-assist electrical shipment bicycles that can be as much as 48 inches large and feature as much as 4 wheels.

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NYC IS GIVING PREPAID DEBIT CARDS TO MIGRANT FAMILIES

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY HAS STARTED handing out pay as you go debit playing cards to migrant households as a pilot program, NY1 reviews. Giving migrants the finances for meals and child provides without delay makes it less expensive to feed them and generates revenue for native companies, town stated. A family members of 4 with two kids beneath 5 will obtain about $350 every week. The program is anticipated to amplify to more or less 115 households.

Adams fended off accusations revealed within the New York Post that he had a previous dating with the founding father of Mobility Capital Finance (MoCaFi), the corporate that were given the $50-plus million contract for the debit playing cards. “There’s no relationship. We don’t hang out and go [to] the Hamptons together. We don’t go to the baseball game together,” Adams stated, in step with Politico. 

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POLICE SEEK STABBING SUSPECT

SUNSET PARK — POLICE ARE ASKING FOR HELP IDENTIFYING AN UNKNOWN MAN, WHO within the early morning hours of Monday, March 18, approached a 27-year-old male sufferer on 4th Avenue close to Green-Wood Cemetery and stabbed him within the chest more than one instances with an unknown object. The sufferer was once transported to NYU Langone Hospital in strong situation. The suspect is described as round 5’9”, with a gentle complexion and a neck tattoo, and was once closing observed dressed in a black North Face jacket with an emblem on the front and back; footage launched through police display him dressed in a steel move necklace, ripped denims and a ballcap with the letter B on it.

Anyone with information referring to this incident is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public too can put up their guidelines through logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or on X (Twitter) @NYPDTips.

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NEW YORK OFFERS TO ASSIST COMMERCE FLOW AFTER BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSE

EAST COAST — NEW YORK STATE STANDS READY to help the waft of trade following the cave in of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland early Tuesday morning, Gov. Kathy Hochul stated. The stunning near-total cave in adopted the collision of an out-of-control containership with a bridge make stronger. Video presentations a just about instantaneous cave in, with automobiles plunging into the water. “New York Harbor stands ready to assist any way we can [to] continue the flow of commerce, so it’s not disrupted. We have over 66 bridges in our harbor area, so we know the vulnerability of what can happen when one is down,” Hochul advised Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe broadcast Tuesday. According to the New York Times, the huge vessel issued a Mayday alert sooner than the crash, permitting some building employees to flee in time.

The bridge, a part of Interstate 695, is a big Baltimore site visitors path, and the main artery used to go back and forth from New York City to Washington, in step with Bloomberg Daybreak’s U.S. podcast.

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MIKE TYSON’S CANNABIS GUMMIES, SHAPED LIKE EARS MISSING A CHUNK, LAUNCH IN BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN — CANNABIS-INFUSED GUMMIES LAUNCHED BY BROOKLYN-BORN BOXING GREAT MIKE TYSON cross on sale lately, and he’s bringing them to his local borough. “Mike’s Bites” are to be had at Grow Together, one of the crucial few prison weed retail outlets in King’s County, together with the Housing Works hashish retailer in Manhattan. The gummies are formed like an ear with a chew taken out of them, recreating Tyson’s infamous 1997 boxing match with Evander Holyfield right through which he bit off a bit of Holyfield’s ear and began a close to rebellion, ESPN reported. “Growing up in Brooklyn, I could have never imagined a time when cannabis would be legally utilized to enhance both mental and physical well-being. Yet, here we are,” Tyson stated in a commentary Tuesday.

Tyson, 57, has been a lot within the news in recent years as he’s slated to struggle Jake Paul, 27, in a controversial match to be streamed on Netflix on July 20. Tyson has now not fought professionally since 2005, whilst Paul, 30 years his junior, has a peak and succeed in benefit. Still, a large number of boxing analysts give former international champ Tyson the chances.

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SMORGASBURG AND BROOKLYN FLEA SET TO REOPEN IN APRIL

BOROUGH-WIDE — FROM ETHIOPIAN STEWS TO KOREAN MEDICINE COOKIES, Montreal potato puff poutine, Colombian scorching canines and French-American pastries — food and drinks from around the globe can be to be had as Smorgasburg’s 14th season will get underway. Of the just about 20 beginners becoming a member of Smorgasburg’s returning roster of 60 vendors, six are first-generation immigrant-owned companies and 11 are husband-and-wife- or family-run, Smorgasbord stated in a unencumber Tuesday. All markets go back the primary weekend of April: Saturdays in Williamsburg, Sundays at Prospect Park and Fridays at World Trade Center. 

On a similar word, the Brooklyn Flea vintage and antique marketplace will reopen in DUMBO beneath and adjoining to the Manhattan Bridge Archway on weekends beginning April 6.

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16-YEAR-OLD BOY ATTACKED, ROBBED  NEAR BARCLAYS CENTER

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A 16-YEAR-OLD BOY WAS WALKING NEAR BARCLAYS CENTER on Tuesday, March 12 at more or less 4:45 p.m. when 4 strangers approached him and attacked, punching and kicking him. The attackers forcefully got rid of the sufferer’s Moose Knuckle jacket and stole his pockets, Metrocard, money app card and a charger, police stated.  The robbers fled in opposition to Flatbush Avenue to portions unknown. EMS spoke back and transported the sufferer to Brooklyn Hospital in strong situation with a laceration to the highest of his head.

Anyone with information is requested to name the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or discuss with the Crime Stoppers website online at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/

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LITHIUM-ION BATTERY SAFETY BILL GETS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT IN SENATE

 CAPITOL HILL — The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act now has bipartisan make stronger within the Senate, with two Republican Senators turning into co-sponsors of this safety-focused law, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, introduced on Tuesday, March 26. Schumer and Gillibrand, each Democrats from New York, stated that Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Mike Braun (R-IN) as cosponsors. The invoice will require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to decree a last shopper product security same old for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries utilized in e-bikes and different micromobility units to offer protection to in opposition to the danger of fires led to through such batteries. The FDNY reviews that during New York City by myself, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have led to greater than 600 fires since 2021. Last 12 months noticed 268 e-bike and e-mobility software battery fires in NYC, a dramatic building up from 3 years previous.

 The invoice, which additionally has bipartisan make stronger within the House, handed committee unanimously, 42-0. Among the House individuals from Brooklyn who additionally make stronger this invoice are Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-9), Dan Goldman (D-10 and Nicole Malliotakis (R-11/southwestern Brooklyn).

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 LOCAL LEADERS DELIVER TO CITY HALL 52K-SIGNATURE PETITIONS AGAINST MEN’S SHELTER 

GRAVESEND TO CITY HALL —AS PART OF A MONTHS-LONG CAMPAIGN TO STOP A GRAVESEND SITE FROM BECOMING A HOMELESS SHELTER, Assemblymember William Colton (D-47) and City Councilmember Susan Zhuang (D-43) delivered petitions containing roughly 52,000 signatures in opposition to a deliberate homeless refuge of their districts. Colton had already pre-empted a refuge on Bath Avenue whose developer, Tejpal Sandhu of 86th Street NY LLC, is equal to for the proposed males’s homeless refuge at 86th St. and 25th Avenue in Gravesend. Colton alleges that the Sandhu Group makes a convention of establishing so-called inns in surprising places then rentals them to town at a price of 1000’s of bucks in step with resident per thirty days, all financed from taxpayer greenbacks.

 Calling the proposed refuge a “human warehouse,” Colton and Zhuang stated town should in finding everlasting tactics of addressing homelessness: via sustainable-wage jobs and everlasting housing for low-income and senior individuals.

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FT GREENE PARK TO HOLD NAT’L POETRY MONTH WORKSHOP

FORT GREENE – THE FORT GREENE PARK CONSERVANCY WILL BE HOLDING A National Poetry Month party subsequent month, that includes an open mic, performances from native poets, a ebook giveaway and a blackout poetry job with the Brooklyn Public Library. Dedicated wordsmiths too can sign up for the unfastened (Nothing however) Flowers workshop consultation led through Brooklyn-based poet Najee Omar, specializing in drawing creative inspiration from nice poets of the previous and from the wildlife. 

The Fort Greene Poetry within the Park match will happen on Saturday, April 13 from 11:30 a.m. to a few:30 p.m.; seats for the workshop are restricted, so the conservancy strongly advises RSVPing online on Classy.

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MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS PLACED IN PROSPECT PARK, IN NYC PILOT PROGRAM

PROSPECT PARK — MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS WILL BE PLACED AT KEY LOCATIONS round Prospect Park and at park occasions as a part of a pilot program introduced through the Prospect Park Alliance and the NYC Department of Health, the park introduced on Tuesday. The pilot program, Open Air Care Connections, seeks to take away the stigma round psychological well being care via group well being outreach, occasions and academic methods. Health employees and referrals can be supplied through the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn (NHS Brooklyn).

According to the NYC DOH, just about 25% of all New Yorkers enjoy anxiousness, and just about 18% melancholy. The pilot will run via June 30.

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REAL ESTATE’S ‘FUTURE OF NEW YORK’ CONFERENCE THURSDAY

CITYWIDE — DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN PARTNERSHIP’S REGINA MYER and different Brooklyn actual estate-connected figures can be talking at REBNY and Commercial Observer’s Future of New York match on Thursday, March 28. Future of New York, dubbed the true property trade’s “State of the Union,” takes position on Thursday, March 28 in Manhattan at 5 Times Square, twenty ninth Floor.

“The Future of NY event will provide visibility for the work that is being done behind the scenes to continuously reinforce and strengthen NYC’s economic resilience and global position,” match organizers stated in a unencumber. Register online.