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What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, December 8, 2022

December 8, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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‘GET STUFF BUILT’PLAN AIMS TO REDUCE WHAT MAYOR CALLS BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLES: Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, December 8 unveiled “Get Stuff Built,” a comprehensive, three-pronged effort to address New York City’s affordable housing crisis and underlying housing shortage by rapidly accelerating the pace of housing production, with a “moonshot” goal of meeting the need for 500,000 new homes over the next decade. His office has released the Building and Land Use Approval Streamlining Task Force (BLAST)’s report, titled “Get Stuff Built,” a report that includes 111 concrete actions the city will take to create more housing more quickly by cutting red tape, streamlining processes, and removing what they call bureaucratic obstacles that are slowing housing production and economic recovery

It remains to be seen whether these projects would still have to undergo the Uniform Land Use Review Process and approval by the local Community Boards.

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STABBING VICTIM WAS FROM BROOKLYN: The NYPD has identified the victim of a stabbing in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday night just after 11 p.m. Police and EMS who responded found a 24-year-old male, now identified as Brooklyn resident Carlos Rosario of Powell Street, in Brownsville.

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No arrests have yet been made and the investigation remains ongoing. 

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BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER PRAISES PASSAGE OF ‘RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT’: The U.S. House of Representatives has cleared the Respect for Marriage Act in a bipartisan vote of 258-169. The landmark legislation, which now goes to President Biden’s signature into law,  recognizes same and interracial marriages and prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race or ethnicity. While the bill only months seemed to have low chances of being enacted, it was bolstered when a coalition of prominent Republican donors, some of whom are gay, came forward with their support.

 This pivotal legislation preserves more than the right for gay and interracial couples to marry, but sends a powerful and resounding message that discrimination is unwelcome in our modern society,” said U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-9th District), who represents a large swath of Brooklyn ranging from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Sheepshead Bay.

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CITY COUNCIL BILLS CREATE PROGRAMS FOR ENTERING CIVIL AND PUBLIC SERVICE: The City Council on Wednesday voted on a legislation package to expand career pipelines into the municipal workforce. One of the bills in the package requires the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) to establish a civil service ambassador program providing educational materials, such as presentations and educational materials to high schools, universities, juvenile justice facilities, foster care programs, to populations that would benefit from joining the civil service and learning about the examination process. The second bill would create a public service corps program that offers internships at various city agencies.

These programs are efforts to recruit New Yorkers of diverse backgrounds to share in the benefits of joining public service.

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REDUCING AUTO-PART THEFT, RANKED CHOICE VOTING AND OTHER CITY HALL RESOLUTIONS: City Council voted also on legislation covering a variety of issues, including the establishment of an increasingly urgent program to reduce thefts of catalytic converters from vehicles. The bills aim to improve the design of ranked choice voting ballots for accessibility, and create a financial assistance program to reduce the costs of purchasing and installing backwater valves.

The Council also voted on environmental-related resolutions: create a plan that commits to meeting Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) targets, and ensures that appropriations of funds to New York City from the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022 are commensurate with the city’s contribution to state tax revenue.

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COMPREHENSIVE BOROUGH PLAN TO ADDRESS LAND USE AND HEALTH: The Office of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso is undertaking a comprehensive planning effort for the borough that will focus on improving public health outcomes for Brooklynites, and will address the decades of planning that led to inequitable results across Brooklyn. First and foremost, the Comprehensive Plan, now in its first stage of engagement, which includes constituents’ feedback on a robust existing-conditions report, will be used to guide Brooklyn Borough Hall’s land use decisions.

Borough President Reynoso has a Charter-mandated role in reviewing applications moving through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the city’s process for the review and approval of discretionary land use changes. While ULURP is not a substitute for sound planning, the Comprehensive Plan will allow the Borough President to submit ULURP recommendations with accountability and predictability to the public based on the Plan recommendations.

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REGULATION TO REINFORCE ‘NO SURPRISES ACT’ IN HEALTH NETWORK COVERAGE: A new regulation that the New York State Department of Financial Services has adopted will protect consumers from unfair, surprise costs when they relied on incorrect information in their insurer’s health care provider directory, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday. According to this regulation, provider directory misinformation occurs when: A provider who does not participate in the insurer’s network is incorrectly listed as an in-network provider in the insurer’s online or hard copy provider directory; in response to a consumer’s request for information by telephone or electronic communications; an insurer indicates in writing that a provider is in-network when in fact that is not the case; and when an insurer fails to provide network status information in writing to a consumer within a certain number of days of the consumer’s request for such information by telephone or through electronic means.

The new regulation is consistent with the federal ‘No Surprises Act’ requirements protecting consumers against provider directory misinformation.  

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RUSSIAN AGENT CHARGED WITH FRAUD, HAD TAMPERED WITH 2020 ELECTION: A man believed to be a Russian intelligence agent, and who is still at large, was charged Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, with fraud and money laundering in connection with the purchase and use of two luxury Beverly Hills condominiums. A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Andrii Derkach with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Acts (IEEPA), bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and four counts of money laundering in connection with that purchase, in which he concealed his interest in the transactions.

The defendant had been sanctioned in 2020 for attempting to interfere in the U.S. Presidential Election.

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POLICE SEEK ASSAILANTS IN ATTEMPTED DELI ROBBERY: Police are asking the public to help identify and locate individuals who were involved in an attempted robbery of a deli at 805 Franklin Avenue (near Eastern Parkway) in the 77th Precinct, last Friday afternoon around 1:25 p.m. The individuals (for whom the NYPD did not provide descriptions) punched and kicked two male store employees (ages 47 and 49) multiple times and attempted to remove ice cream and a cellphone before fleeing.  

The victims refused medical attention and no property was removed from the store.

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MAN’S BURNED BODY FOUND INSIDE APARTMENT: The NYPD has ruled an early Sunday morning incident in the 75th Precinct as a homicide. Upon responding to a 911 call at 283 Wyona Street, apartment 1 (East New York), police found an unconscious and unresponsive male, since identified as 18-year-old Josiah Green, with burns on the body. EMS first-responders pronounced the male as deceased.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death in this ongoing investigation, for which there have been no arrests made yet.

These three individuals are wanted in connected with an attempted store robbery on Franklin Avenue last Friday.
Photo: NYPD Crimestoppers
These three individuals are wanted in connected with an attempted store robbery on Franklin Avenue last Friday.
Photo: NYPD Crimestoppers
These three individuals are wanted in connected with an attempted store robbery on Franklin Avenue last Friday.
Photo: NYPD Crimestoppers

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GREEN PARTY URGES NEW YORK TO ADOPT A MORE AMBITIOUS CLIMATE PLAN: The Green Party yesterday urged the State legislature to return to Albany in January ready to enact a far more ambitious climate plan than what they claim is being prepared by Governor Kathy Hochul’s Climate Action Council and is staffed by holdovers from the Cuomo administration. The Greens assert that the draft plan, which Council members reviewed at the State Capitol complex on Monday with a scheduled December 19 vote, has far too many examples of corporate greenwashing, and that the governor has refused to share it with the public.

The Green Party demands also that New York State commit to raising at least $15 billion annually to immediately begin financing the transition to clean renewable energy, such as subsidizing the costs to enable residents to decarbonize their buildings. 

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MTA PREPARES FOR SANTACON: NO ALCOHOL ON TRAINS: The consumption of alcohol will be banned on Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road trains during this weekend’s SantaCon, the annual spirited convocation of the Santa Claus fraternity. The ban, which also encompasses all LIRR and Metro-North station platforms, will be in effect from 4 a.m. on Saturday, December 10, through noon. on Sunday, December 11.

(The real Santa Claus, of course, will be hard at work making toys and checking sky conditions for his annual sleigh ride across 24 time zones.(Five years ago, the Brooklyn Eagle’s Mary Frost covered SantaCon).

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NEW YORK RANKS THIRD ON ENERGY RESEARCH GROUP’S SCORECARD: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released its 2022 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard yesterday. Two of National Grid’s service areas — Massachusetts and New York —are among the top three states in energy efficiency. New York, which rose to third overall and was recognized as the “state to watch” in the Northeast region, has now for the 10th time placed in the top five states — according to ACEEE’s Scorecard.

National Grid wants its customers to know that it does not control energy prices; rather the utility company “buys energy from the wholesale market and passes it directly on to customers at the same price with no markup or profit, at the same time understanding the impact of energy supply price increases on customers and communities.

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COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM HOLDS TRAINING DRILL: A disaster simulation drill will be conducted Thursday evening, December 8, in downtown Brooklyn, as part of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training class. The drill will run from approximately 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the area of Cadman Plaza East and Red Cross Place, and commuter should expect to see FDNY and NYPD personnel in action.

Citizens wishing to become volunteers can learn more about CERT via http://www.NYC.gov/CERT.

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PATENTS FOR HUMANITY ACT AWAITS BIDEN’S SIGNATURE: The House of Representatives sent the Patents for Humanity Act (H.R. 5796), which the incoming Democratic Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-8th District) co-sponsored, to President Biden for his signature. The bipartisan legislation will codify into law an awards competition that the United States Patent and Trademark Office manages to recognize innovators who use game-changing technology to meet global humanitarian challenges. Applications are considered in categories including medicine, nutrition, sanitation, household energy and living standards, with the 2022 competition adding a category for COVID-19-related inventions.

Winning applicants, who receive an acceleration certificate to expedite select proceedings at the USPTO, as well as public recognition of their work, are selected by a panel of judges who look for inventions that either address humanitarian needs among an impoverished population or further research on humanitarian technologies.

 

 


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