by Cayla Bamberger, published December 21, 2022

Dozens of parents and NYC council members rallied Wednesday for long-sought reform bills that require city workers to verbally inform families of their legal rights at the start of a child welfare investigation.

Under existing law, parents have the right to know the allegations against them of abuse or neglect, speak with an attorney, and refuse to let the Administration for Children’s Services enter their homes absent a court order or emergency.

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by John Annese and Graham Rayman, published December 18, 2022

“A packet of drugs in a McDonald’s salad. Vacuum-sealed marijuana in a lunch box. Hennessy cognac in AriZona Iced Tea bottles, and Ciroc coconut-flavored vodka in Poland Spring water bottles.

These are all examples of contraband smuggled into New York City jails in recent years — not by detainees or their visitors but by correction officers.

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by Tandy Lau, published December 15, 2022

Edgardo Mejias is the 19th person to die in—or shortly after in—Department of Corrections (DOC) custody this year. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island this past Sunday, Dec. 11 at approximately 5 p.m. 

“Mr. Mejias’ passing fills our hearts with sadness, and we extend our heartfelt sympathies to all who held him dear as we recognize how hard it is to lose a loved one during the holidays,” said DOC Commissioner Louis A.

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by Rachel Vick, published December 14, 2022

Appearing before the City Council’s Committee on Criminal Justice on Tuesday, Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina said that he was unsure if the city would be able to close Rikers Island by 2027 as required by city law.

Citing the jail’s high population – and his expectation that it will continue to rise in the coming years – Molina suggested that moving to borough-based jails with lower capacities is unlikely.

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by Bobby Cuza, published December 14, 2022

“Since the summer of 2020, a retail space at Broadway and 8th Street in Manhattan that formerly housed a Gap store has sat empty.

Now a new store is set to open, and it’s not just any store: the space will likely be home to New York’s first-ever legal adult-use cannabis dispensary.

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By Amelia Pollard, Tiffany Kary, and Gregory Korte, published December 12, 2022

“New York regulators and law enforcement are starting to crack down on an onslaught of illicit pot sellers exploiting the run-up to the state’s first recreational marijuana sales.

Scores of so-called weed bodegas have popped up in storefronts across the city hawking pre-rolled joints, edibles and gummies that tout cannabis’ psychoactive ingredient THC.

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by Isabel Song Beer, published 11/30

The New York City Parks Department (NYC Parks) cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new $26 million waterfront area on the city’s Lower East Side.

The new area, a recreation deck at Pier 42, is an ESCR mitigation project and features a 2.3-acre deck space with a turf soccer field, tennis courts, half-basketball courts and other amenities.

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by Andrea Marks, published 11/26

“WHILE KERI BLAKINGER was incarcerated, she papered her cell walls with pictures her romantic partner drew for her. “I was dating someone who liked drawing things instead of using words, and having those drawings and being able to look at them and put them on the cell wall — that was all meaningful,” says Blakinger, a journalist whose 2022 memoir Corrections In Ink chronicles her heroin addiction and 21 months behind bars.

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NEW YORK – Just in time for the holiday season, New York City is rolling out its largest-ever Open Streets plan.

For the first time in half a century, part of Fifth Avenue will be car-free.

As CBS2’s Dick Brennan reports, the holiday season has hit Midtown, and it’s beginning to look a lot like gridlock, both in the streets and on the sidewalks.

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November 22, 2022 by Emily Davenport

The testing lab that found arsenic in the water at the Riis Houses may have retracted its findings, but that’s cold comfort for the building’s residents, who have a massive backlog of other problems. 

Nor residents at Wald Houses or Baruch Houses — other New York Housing Authority complexes located on the Lower East Side waterfront in Councilmember Carlina Rivera’s district.

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