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New York City Mailed Misinformation on New Health Insurance to Retired City Employees — and Won’t Send Out a Correction

Guides sent to a quarter million retired city employees contained false information on the availability of dozens of treatments under the new plan.

Sam Mellins   ·   December 9, 2021
Women Sent from Rikers to Maximum-Security Prison: ‘They Treat Us Like State Property’

Governor Hochul and Mayor de Blasio’s quixotic plan to relocate women from Rikers Island to the Bedford Hills state prison has prompted fierce opposition from women who insist they do not want to go.

Tana Ganeva   ·   December 9, 2021
New York Utilities Polarize Over Push to Ban Natural Gas

A proposed gas ban has pitted ConEd against big oil, real estate lobbyists, and other investor-owned utilities.

Lee Harris   ·   December 1, 2021
A Homeless Amazon Worker Tried to Organize a Union. Then Amazon Fired Him.

Daequan Smith loved working at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island. After he started organizing with the Amazon Labor Union, he found himself out of a job.

Amir Khafagy   ·   November 23, 2021
NYC Could Ban Gas in New Buildings This Year

The fight heated up at a hearing Wednesday, with debate centered on when, not if, a gas ban should go into effect.

Colin Kinniburgh   ·   November 18, 2021
Retired City Workers Voice Opposition to New City Health Plan in Chaotic Public Hearing

More than 50 retirees said they opposed the plan. Zero said they supported it.

Sam Mellins   ·   November 11, 2021
A Year After Reforms were Promised, People Leaving New York Jails and Prisons Still Lack IDs

Reentering society without ID makes jobs and apartments almost impossible to get. Still, many people leaving prison lack the essential paperwork.

Sam Mellins   ·   November 4, 2021
Homeless Man Spent Over 800 Days in Rikers After Stealing Cold Medicine from Duane Reade

Blind in one eye and at risk of losing vision in the other, 58-year-old Reginald Randolph has spent much of the past three years in jail. Now he’s on the verge of being sent to state prison for four more years.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg   ·   November 2, 2021
Nine Years After Sandy, Cuomo’s Climate Adaptation Program has Disappeared into a ‘Black Hole’

With $750 million from the federal government, Albany asked New Yorkers in 2013 to decide how to protect their communities from future storms. Planning participants say their projects have stalled.

Atman Mehta   ·   October 28, 2021
Court Blocks Controversial Medicare Switch for Retired NYC Workers

A judge’s decision delays the Oct. 31 deadline for former city employees to decide whether they want to move to private Medicare Advantage or pay for alternatives.

Sam Mellins   ·   October 22, 2021
Retirees Flee City Medicare Program as Deadline Looms for Move to Private Health Plan

Uncertainty about coverage and costs under Medicare Advantage has a quarter million former city workers on edge. Two lawsuits seeking to block the move are slated to be heard in court Wednesday.

Sam Mellins   ·   October 20, 2021
Tenants Suffer As City Sells Landlords’ Tax Debt to Speculators

Critics of New York City’s tax lien sales system say it encourages landlords to evict tenants and ignore building violations.

Peter Senzamici and Allison Dikanovic   ·   October 15, 2021
Meet The New York City Taxi Drivers Protesting Outside City Hall

Many drivers will face financial ruin if the city cannot help them refinance their debts. Below are eleven of their stories.

Daniel Efram   ·   October 8, 2021
Hundreds of Thousands of Co-op Residents Shut Out of State’s Rent Relief Program

“Staff at OTDA seem to be ignoring the plain meaning of the law,” said Senate Housing Committee Chair Brian Kavanagh.

Andrew Giambrone   ·   September 30, 2021
Death at Rikers: How NYC Judges Fueled the Swelling Jail Population

An analysis by New York Focus and Gothamist/WNYC reveals the judges who set bail most frequently, driving up the jail population as it entered crisis.

Akash Mehta and George Joseph   ·   September 27, 2021
As Rikers Crisis Persists, Prosecutors Continue to Request High Bail

“We only ask, and the court sets the bail,” the president of the state prosecutors’ association said.

Sam Mellins   ·   September 24, 2021
Cab Drivers Are Drowning in Debt. The City’s Plan Won’t Help.

The city’s taxi agency has ignored drivers’ demands and proposed a plan that the comptroller warns ‘would spend more money to forgive less debt.’

Wen Zhuang   ·   September 23, 2021
He Says He Was Wrongfully Convicted. His Trial Prosecutor Led The Unit That Rejected His Petition.

Anthony Sims’ case shows the conflict of interest inherent in Conviction Review Units led by former prosecutors, critics say.

Ethan Corey and Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg   ·   September 23, 2021
Will ‘Blue Collar Mayor’ Adams Give City Unions What They Want?

With deep ties to both organized labor and the city’s business elite, Mayor Eric Adams will face tough tradeoffs on union contracts.

Doug Turetsky   ·   September 21, 2021
Nobody knows it, but Bill de Blasio is America’s best climate mayor

And that’s still vastly short of what’s needed.

Pete Sikora   ·   August 31, 2021
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