BY USMAN ALI CHOHAN An increase of demonization and hate crimes towards Muslims in America and those of Middle Eastern background has been one disturbing result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as it reaches into its second month, after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th and Israel retaliated by attacking the Gaza Strip. A series of New York City incidents went viral in mid-November, shaking many city residents. An older man began harassing 24-year-old Mohammed Hussein while Hussein was preparing food at Islam Mustafa’s Q Halal Cart on the Upper East Side. Over the course of several weeks ..read more

BY DIANA BAUTISTA Being one of many low-income communities in Brooklyn, Bushwick faces exceptional environmental hazards, one of which is the lack of canopy. One non-profit organization, Trees New York, is addressing the challenges by planting trees in treebeds around neighborhood schools, libraries, playgrounds, parking lots, and walkways.  Tree Canopy Coverage and Heat Vulnerability by Community District. Graphic by The Nature Conservancy The neighborhood exhibits a canopy coverage range of 16-32 percent, coupled with a heat vulnerability ranking of 2-3, according to The Nature Conserva ..read more

BY ANDY OLIVAN Immigrant families come to this country to escape the hardships of their countries of origin, seeking employment opportunities to provide for their families. Because of their immigration status, asylum-seeking migrants are excluded from a lot of service programs available to other city residents, including daycare programs. Now a new program offers daycare for these migrants’ children. A year ago Promise NYC launched a first-of-its-kind program that provides childcare assistance to low-income immigrant families who were previously ineligible for federally-funded childcare progra ..read more

BY JOSH NARISMA Delivery trucks are spewing increasing levels of pollution across New York State, prompting the State Senate to adopt legislation intended to curb such emission levels. Hundreds of thousands of packages enter Manhattan alone on a yearly basis, and this number is only going up. The environmental impact of e-commerce was one of the major topics of discussion at the Columbia University capstone briefings on December 5. Environmental professionals and climate academics gathered at the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life to watch Masters students present their projects for the Su ..read more

BY SERIN SARSOUR Through a student-led Instagram account profile called ‘CUNY By Students,’ interns are heavily pushing out content that appeals to other students in hopes of increasing enrollment at the university. The account was created in October 2020, and allows for a unique form of representation of and by students in the age of new media. “CUNY aspires to show students that the future is bright for us! We are trying to make CUNY a more fun environment. We just hope to reach more students and show them how cool CUNY students are,” said Rachel Dong, a junior at Baruch College and a dig ..read more

BY MAXWELL SCHUSS Once a commercial hub for industrial factories and warehouses, the Triangle Below Canal Street has gone through two major cycles of cultural transformation. In its latest incarnation, the lower Manhattan neighborhood has become one of the most expensive areas to live in the Big Apple. The median price of all currently available rental listings in TriBeCa is $7,015, rounding out to about $98 per square foot. Meanwhile for Manhattan as a whole, the median price for available listings sits at $4,295, roughly $80 per square foot. The prime location, abundance of parks, spacious a ..read more

BY DAMIEN OVALLE “If we don’t get it, shut It down!” chanted pro-Palestinian protesters marching down Bay Ridge Parkway on December 2. Nearly a hundred demonstrators to demand a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The Mas Youth Center, a Muslim youth center, organized the “all out for Palestine”march which started in Bay Ridge Brooklyn and wound up at the group’s center in Bensonhurst. The Mas Youth Center serves Muslim youth in the Bensonhurst area. For the December 2 march, the center connected with other organizations, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, a nati ..read more

BY JACK DWECK Across New York, people have been receiving suspicious phone calls, messages and emails made to look real by scammers using artificial intelligence, which has become more powerful in the months leading up to the holiday season. “We are living in unprecedented times,” said Roma Majumder, McAfee’s Senior Vice President of Product. “Consumers are navigating a world where advanced AI has exponentially increased the volume and sophistication of scams, making real-time threat and scam protection more important than ever.” McAfee, one of the major companies that provide computer saf ..read more

BY MEGAN MODESTE USPS packages in the Flatlands, Brooklyn area have begun going missing frequently. Residents are outraged with the quality of USPS package deliveries arriving in the neighborhood. As the holiday season is here, many people around New York are Christmas shopping. Delivery trucks are delivering packages daily, but according to a USPS worker someone has been going around the Flatlands area stealing packages from residents in the neighborhood. There are two USPS offices just blocks away from each other in the 11234 area. Mail for residents in this area comes from these locations a ..read more

BY BRET BOTFELD AND ALLISON DUBROW Megan Campbell enters her first season as head coach of the Brooklyn College women’s basketball team, inheriting a program seeking its fourth straight CUNY Athletic Conference championship. Campbell’s predecessor, Alex Lang, leaves behind a history of winning in his 20 years as head honcho. Campbell served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs’ the last two seasons. During her tenure, she won back-to-back conference titles, and the program’s first ever NCAA tournament win in 2022. “After I was promoted, Alex told me to be myself, have my own coaching style ..read more