New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a $111.6 billion fiscal 2025 executive budget plan on Wednesday, which includes restored funds for schools, child care programs and money for the Police Department, but did not include money for libraries to restore Sunday services. The Adams administration said better-than-expected economic growth, increased tax revenue, prudent accounting with City services and asylum seeker programs helped reverse planned budget cuts, according to a news release. Last year, the mayor had said he would reduce the City’s overall budget by about 5% due to ..read more

By: Shenal Tissera New York City mayor Eric Adams criticized the people who have caused disruption, like throwing chairs and bottles, during the protests in support of Palestine at college campuses in the city, and announced the addition of two New York City Police Department academy classes at his weekly press conference at City Hall on Tuesday. Hundreds of students and faculty were arrested on campus at Columbia University and New York University this week as they protested their institutions’ ties to Israel. Protesters from both schools demanded they divest all financial and acade ..read more

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislators came to a final agreement on a $237 billion fiscal year 2025 budget over the weekend, earmarking money for asylum seekers, housing construction and to help close down illegal cannabis stores. “We are delivering a common-sense agenda that makes New York safer and more affordable,” Governor Hochul said through a statement today. “I promised to fight for New Yorkers and tackle the thorny issues, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.” The budget, about three weeks late, includes a new tax incentive for real estate developers ..read more

Photo: Envato Elements   Following the end of the federal continuous coverage policy from the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 1.4 million New Yorkers were removed from Medicaid, reported Newsweek.    A Kaiser Family Foundation report highlighted that, while 3.3 million were able to renew their Medicaid, many lost coverage due to procedural issues such as missed deadlines or incorrect addresses. Nationally, about 19.6 million, or 30%, were disenrolled as states undertook the task of renewing Medicaid for millions. In New York, nearly half of the disenrollments were due to such a ..read more

Photo: Flickr – Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0)   New York legislators recently approved a $237 billion budget, focusing on housing initiatives and tackling unlicensed marijuana stores, reported NBC News 4 New York.    The budget includes a revived tax incentive for developers to allocate some new housing units at below-market rates. The plan also sets wage standards for workers on these projects but has faced criticism for favoring developers.   The budget addresses the issue of unauthorized cannabis shops in New York City by granting local authorities more power to close the ..read more

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is leading a new partnership between national and New York City-based institutions to reduce food-related carbon emissions. The Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge aims to reducing food-related carbon emissions in the private sector by 25 percent by 2030. The city’s integrated greenhouse gas inventory found that 20 percent of New York City’s overall emissions comes from the production and consumption of food. The Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge partners are committing to procuring and serving more plant-based foods, which have a sign ..read more

By: Shenal Tissera New York City Mayor Eric Adams declined to answer specific questions about the sexual assault lawsuit filed against him, and on the ongoing federal investigation into his 2021 mayoral campaign, during his regular press conference at City Hall on Tuesday. Adams was grilled several times on the city’s hiring of lawyer Alex Spiro as co-counsel for his sexual assault case. Spiro is dubbed a “celebrity lawyer,” by some media outlets because he has defended high-profile individuals, including Elon Musk and Robert Kraft. Adams repeatedly cited the lega ..read more

By Shenal Tissera New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the use of a chatbot that is currently spilling incorrect information about city regulations, as well as his policy decisions on crime and police misconduct, after he was recently grilled on a local radio show. Adams, during his weekly Tuesday media briefing, said he would not discontinue the use of the MyCity Business Services Chatbot, designed to provide information to current or future business owners, even after an investigation conducted by The Markup news site revealed that the AI chatbot repeatedly gave out false i ..read more

Article Courtesy NYCNewswire.com Vickie Paladino, a councilwoman from Queens, has been vocal about her concerns regarding squatters’ rights laws and their impact on property owners. (See Video Below) Paladino has expressed her frustration over current laws that she believes unfairly favor squatters over homeowners, particularly highlighting a law that allows squatters to claim ownership of empty buildings after 30 days. This situation has led her to push for legislative reforms aimed at providing property owners with more rights and extending the period before squatters can claim tenancy right ..read more

By Asar John New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he wants to restore the city’s sanctuary policy to one that existed under former mayors Ed Koch and Michael Bloomberg, after a series of robberies were committed as part of a crime ring organized by a Venezuelan migrant. The previous law allowed law enforcement to question a person’s immigration status if they were suspected of a crime. “I want to go back to the standards of the previous mayors who I believe subscribe to my belief that people who are suspected of committing serious crimes in the city should be held accountable,” said Adams at hi ..read more