Tag Archives: NYC

NYC’s First Legal Weed Store Opens In East Village

Gothamist reports: New York City’s first licensed, recreational marijuana dispensary opened in the East Village Thursday afternoon, and other legal shops will follow in the coming weeks and months. Nobody is pretending the ability to buy weed at NYC stores is exactly new. Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a crackdown on the multitude of bodegas and smoke shops selling unregulated …

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Times Square Ball Readied For 2023 Drop [VIDEO]

Gothamist reports: The Waterford Crystal Ball sits on the roof of 1 Times Sq. all year long, mostly unnoticed despite being 12 feet in diameter and weighing some 11,875 pounds. This morning a crew of technicians went up there to update the ball’s party outfit with 192 new crystal triangles etched with a design evoking “The Gift of Love.” Times …

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Annual Prostitution Arrests In NYC Approach Zero

Gothamist reports: With little public attention, New York City has reversed how it polices prostitution, going from 20,000 annual arrests in 1985 to barely more than 100 this year. The plunge in arrests, gradual over the last decade, accelerated last year with decisions by borough district attorneys to stop prosecuting sex workers and dismiss thousands of open cases against those …

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Late New York City Priest Left Millions To Biological Son

The New York Times reports: Louis R. Gigante was always larger-than-life. A Roman Catholic priest, the son of Italian immigrants and brother of New York mobsters, Father Gigante swaggered through the crime-ridden and crumbling South Bronx with a baseball bat and a development company that built thousands of apartments for the poor. But it turns out even the legend could …

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Dance Of The Sugar Plum Lesbians

This story makes its 19th annual appearance on JMG… Grand Central Terminal functions as the mechanical heart of midtown New York City, pumping out several thousand workers and tourists on one beat, then sucking in several thousand more on the next. The rhythms of the terminal are fascinating. Beat. Four thousand, inbound from New Haven. Beat. Three thousand, outbound to …

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NYC Subway Shooter To Plead Guilty To Terror Charges

The New York Daily News reports: Frank James, who’s accused of wounding 10 people during a rush hour mass shooting on a Brooklyn subway, is expected to plead guilty in his federal terrorism case, according to a new court filing. James, 63, who was hit with upgraded charges last week, advised his lawyers “that he wishes to schedule a guilty …

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Mayor Urges New Yorkers To Mask Up Again [VIDEO]

The New York Times reports: Mayor Eric Adams put his face mask on again on Tuesday and encouraged New Yorkers to do the same. Mr. Adams held a news conference at City Hall to urge residents to take precautions in the face of a winter surge of Covid-19 cases and other illnesses. “With the holiday season in full swing and …

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Gay NYC Councilman Offered NYPD Protection After Anti-Drag Extremists Attack Neighbors, Deface Building

The Daily Beast reports: Gay New York City council member Erik Bottcher has told The Daily Beast that Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD have offered “any and all support and protection” after his apartment building was besieged by anti-Drag Queen Story Hour protesters, and the sidewalk defaced with hateful, homophobic slurs directed against him, including “OK Groomer,” “Child Predator,” …

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Two Anti-Drag Extremists Arrested After Breaking Into Apartment Building Of Gay NYC Councilman [VIDEO]

The New York Daily News reports: Two people were arrested Monday for breaking into a New York City Council member’s apartment building as crazed anti-LGBTQ activists targeted the pol, police said. The individuals, said to be furious over a recent drag story time session at a Manhattan library, targeted Councilman Erik Bottcher’s home and office, according to cops. The group …

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NYC’s “Bling Bishop” Arrested On Extortion Charges

The New York Times reports: Lamor Whitehead, a flashy Brooklyn pastor who was the victim of a brazen armed robbery last summer, was charged on Monday with fraud, extortion and lying to federal authorities. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Mr. Whitehead solicited money from victims, including a retired parishioner, through threats or false promises of enriching them, then kept the …

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Arctic Freeze To Imperil Holiday Travel For Eastern US

The New York Daily News reports: An Arctic air mass will descend upon the U.S. this week with plenty of precipitation and dangerously low temperatures, making for potentially nightmarish holiday travel conditions, forecasters say. As last week’s mega storm wound down before the first day of Chanukah, the possibility of a white Christmas for the eastern half of the country …

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Subway Shooter Hit With Ten New Terrorism Charges

Courthouse News reports: The man accused of shooting up a New York City subway in April now faces 10 federal terrorism charges, one for each of the 10 victims struck by the bullets in the attack. Identifying each of the victims by their initials, prosecutors filed the superseding indictment Friday charging Frank Robert James with 10 counts of terrorism on …

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Multiple Cats Apply To Be New York City’s “Rat Czar”

The Daily Beast reports: Nearly 900 would-be Rat Czars have responded to New York City’s solicitation for a citywide director of rodent mitigation. “It went wild,” a city spokesperson told The Daily Beast on Friday. “It really did, which is good.” The applicants included a number of cats. At least one feline’s submission had a photo attached. “It was a …

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DOJ Indicts “Wife Of Christ” For Blocking Manhattan Abortion Clinic: “We Are Gonna Terrorize This Place”

The New York Daily News reports: Two anti-abortion activists known for creating chaos when they visit New York were indicted Friday [DOJ link] for blocking access to a lower Manhattan Planned Parenthood clinic, federal prosecutors said. Bevelyn Beatty Williams and Edmee Chavannes surrendered in their home state of Tennessee to face charges that they tried to stop women from getting …

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Decades Of Evidence Lost In NYPD Warehouse Fire

New York City’s ABC affiliate reports: Decades-old evidence stored inside an NYPD warehouse has now been completely destroyed by a Tuesday fire. NYPD officials said it will take some time to figure out exactly what was lost and the impact it will have on cold case and cases up for appeal. The fire at the Erie Basin Auto Pound, a …

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NYC May Install “Pee Detectors” In Subway Elevators

New York City’s NBC affiliate reports: The MTA is sniffing around on testing pee-detection technology that alerts staff to clean wet and smelly messes in subway elevators. Richard Davey, president of New York City Transit, said Monday at a City Council transportation committee hearing that the agency is exploring urine sensors in station elevators that sometimes double as de facto …

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On The Rise Of Drone “Skyvertising” Over US Cities

Axios reports: Increasingly sophisticated drone show technology — which enables massive swarms of tiny lit-up drones to fly in sync with one another displaying well-known logos, characters and so on — is pushing “skyvertising” to new heights. The company behind popular mobile game Candy Crush recently launched 500 drones from New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from downtown Manhattan, …

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NYC Subway Agents To Patrol Platforms In New Policy

Gothamist reports: Subway station agents will leave booths to patrol platforms under a new policy announced by the MTA. The change goes into effect next year — and officials said the agents will be equipped with cell phones to notify MTA managers or the NYPD if they find problems in their stations. It’s a historic shift for the station workers, …

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NYC Issues Mask Advisory As COVID Cases Surge

Gothamist reports: New York City is experiencing a triple wave of respiratory viruses, and on Friday, city health officials warned residents to take extra precautions. Friday’s health advisory urged New Yorkers to mask up indoors and in crowded spaces, particularly if they’re at risk for severe illness (or know someone who is). The city health department is reporting more than …

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New York City Seeks To Thwart Turnstile Jumpers

The New York Post reports: The MTA wants to redesign subway turnstiles and emergency exit gates — the “superhighway” for deadbeats — to crack down on fare evasion, CEO Janno Lieber said Monday. “The exit gate — which is nominally supposed to be for fire, exiting purposes, to comply with the fire code — has become the superhighway for fare …

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