Subscribe to our newsletters

Brooklyn Today — Daily Top News in Brooklyn

Bluedot Living Brooklyn — Simple, Smart, Sustainable Stories

Good Food Brooklyn — People Who Make It Happen

Daily Bulletin — Legal & Courthouse News

BKLYN Live — Performance, Arts & Culture

Brooklyn Space — For Living, Working, Investing

Leave this field empty if you're human:

✰✰✰

NEW CARIBBEAN FOOD STALL ATTRACTS VIRAL CROWDS

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A NEW CARIBBEAN FOOD BOOTH AT THE POPULAR DEKALB Market food hall in Downtown Brooklyn has been drawing huge crowds thanks to its viral popularity online, reports BK Reader. Fat Fowl, a newcomer to the marketplace, offers unique twists on island classics, such as fan-favorite juicy oxtail grilled cheese sandwiches, lavender rotisserie chicken and curry shrimp burgers. Chef Shorne Benjamin, a St. Lucia native and veteran of several cooking shows and competitions, says he was inspired by dishes from his childhood and that the restaurant’s menu is the product of decades of dreaming. “The oxtail grilled cheese has been in mind for 12 years, even when I was in culinary school. I just wanted to look at oxtail differently … For me, I just wanted to refine it.”

Benjamin also says he’s grateful for Fat Fowl’s social media stardom, with posts regularly earning six-figure “like” counts, drawing crowds from other states to brave the long lines and telling the Reader, “just to be known as Fat Fowl is a blessing.”

✰✰✰

PARKER ACCUSED OF 2004 RAPE IN LAWSUIT

FLATBUSH — STATE SEN. KEVIN PARKER IS FACING A LAWSUIT OVER THE ALLEGED rape of a volunteer worker in 2004, during his first term in the State Senate, reports amNY; the lawsuit was filed on Friday, ahead of this week’s deadline on a statewide one-year suspension window of the statute of limitations on sex crime civil suits by adults. Plaintiff Olga Jean-Baptiste alleged in the suit that the two met while coordinating relief efforts for Haiti following a devastating earthquake in the Caribbean island nation; after meeting Parker in her apartment at his request, Jean-Baptiste says the senator grabbed hold of her against her will, led her to her bedroom and then forced her to have sex. 

Parker in 2005 was charged with assault for punching a traffic agent, and in 2009 was again charged with assault for attacking a New York Post photographer, an offense for which he was sentenced to three months’ probation. 

✰✰✰

HANIF, BRISPORT ARRESTED AT PALESTINE PROTEST

MIDTOWN — BROOKLYN COUNCILMEMBER SHAHANA HANIF AND STATE SEN. JABARI Brisport were arrested on Friday night at a protest organized by the Democratic Socialists of America at Bryant Park in Manhattan, reports the New York Post, along with over 100 other activists calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip. The group was taken into custody by the NYPD after staging a sit-in blocking 5th Avenue in front of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Midtown office; the two politicians called in social media posts for Gillibrand to join them in pressing Israel to halt hostilities: “A ceasefire is the only way to bring all hostages home! #ReleaseTheHostages!” Hanif wrote on Instagram, while Brisport wrote on X (Twitter,) “We will not let our leaders repeat the mistakes of the past by escalating this war.”

Others slammed the rally, including Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis, who told the Post, “They have no moral compass. They have shown us who they are… On Election Day we must show them who we are. They can’t even bring themselves to condemn Hamas.”

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN ASSEMBLYMEMBER TAKES HOME
‘THE STARS OF NEW YORK DANCE’ CROWN

DOWNTOWN — NYS ASSEMBLYMEMBER MONIQUE CHANDLER-WATERMAN (D-East Flatbush) and David Myrie of Taylor Lovett Dance Academy were voted this year’s Dance Champions in the popular competition, “The Stars of New York Dance.” Their performance was inspired by the movie “Dancehall Queen.” Students from the Taylor Lovett Dance Academy performed with them. The competition, which raises dance education funds for children, features local officials and business, religious and nonprofit leaders who work with professional dancers. Previous competitors include Mayor Eric Adams, former Comptroller Scott Stringer,  Attorney General Letitia James, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo and many others. 

The event was held in the theater at CUNY’s City Tech in Downtown Brooklyn and was hosted by NY1’s Errol Lewis.

✰✰✰

CERT TRAINEES WILL PARTICIPATE
IN DISASTER SIMULATION DRILL

CADMAN PLAZA EAST — NEW YORK CITY POLICE AND FIRE DEPARTMENT personnel will be in action around Red Cross Place on Tuesday, Nov. 21, as part of a Community Emergency Response Team (Cert) Training class. They will be conducting a disaster simulation drill starting around 6:30 p.m. CERT is a volunteer corps that provides basic response skills needed for fire safety, light search and rescue, community disaster support, disaster medical operations and traffic control.

Readers wishing to learn more about or undergo training can visit http://www.NYC.gov/CERT.

✰✰✰

NAVY APPRENTICE FROM BROOKLYN
TAKES JOY IN BECOMING US CITIZEN

CANARSIE AND MISSISSIPPI — SEAMAN APPRENTICE ABRIL ROJAS LOPEZ of Brooklyn is training with the United States Navy. The 2023 graduate of Victory Collegiate High School in Canarsie is currently attending the Naval Technical Training Center (NTTC) Meridian, where instructors teach sailors to be combat-ready warfighters while providing the tools and opportunities for continuous learning and skill development. Rojas Lopez, in particular, is training to be a personnel specialist, in which she will be “responsible for performing administrative work and handing sailors’ pay,” she explains and credits the Navy with helping her get her US citizenship.

“Becoming a citizen was a goal of mine,” she said. “The Navy helped me throughout the whole process, and everything was paid for. I got my citizenship during boot camp, and I’m now the first person in my family to become a citizen.”

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN MUSEUM ACQUIRES 300 NEW WORKS, EXPANDS EXHIBIT SPACE FOR AMERICAN ART

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM HAS MADE MORE THAN 300 NOTEWORTHY ACQUISITIONS THIS YEAR. The American holdings, in particular, have continued to broaden to represent the diversity of the United States, with more space created for Black and Asian American artists such as Laura Wheeler Waring, Grafton Tyler Brown, and Hisako Hibi. The Museum has strengthened its Contemporary Art collection by representing Native American artists such as Dyani White Hawk, Dwayne Wilcox and other notable contemporary artists such as Rashid Johnson and María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Together, these works deepen the Museum’s commitment to representing generations of emerging and established artists in a wide range of disciplines.

The Museum will host an unveiling next year of reinstalled American Art galleries, slated to open in late 2024.

✰✰✰

✰✰✰

DOE FUND WILL DONATE CARE PACKAGES
TO ITS CRYSTAL TOWER RESIDENTS

EAST FLATBUSH — TENANTS AT THE CRYSTAL TOWER RESIDENCE ON ROGERS AVENUE WILL RECEIVE A PRE-HOLIDAY THANKSGIVING giveaway on Tuesday, Nov. 21, from The Doe Fund, which opened the apartment complex in 2020. A prominent homeless services nonprofit serving New Yorkers, The Doe Fund, along with generous community partners in East Flatbush, will distribute kits of essentials and winter clothing that the students of KIPP AMP Elementary School have donated. Moreover, Selin Olmsted Studio will donate designer eyewear to the tenants and other residents of The Doe Fund’s housing portfolio. Kula for Karma, a nonprofit that provides mindfulness-based mental health care for marginalized populations, will lead a guided meditation for the residents.

The Doe Fund, which manages permanent affordable and supportive housing in Brooklyn, will also kick off its #DoeTogether campaign, which provides people chances to get involved throughout the holidays to combat homelessness. 

✰✰✰

SEN. GILLIBRAND SECURES MORE THAN $54 MILLION
TO REIMBURSE CITY FOR PANDEMIC COSTS

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY WILL BE REIMBURSED MORE THAN $50 MILLION FOR PANDEMIC-RELATED COSTS. U.S. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand on Monday, Nov. 20, announced $54,677,371.55 in federal funding, allocated through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to reimburse the New York City Office of Management and Budget for the cost of emergency protective measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine administration and distribution.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency protective measures were vital to preventing the spread of COVID-19,” said Senator Gillibrand.

✰✰✰

DINAPOLI: STATE’S PARATRANSIT COSTS DECLINED,
IN PART DUE TO ‘BROKER SERVICES’ MOVE

STATEWIDE — COSTS FOR THE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY’S (MTA) PROGRAM TO PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES have declined in recent years, in part due to the MTA’s move to alternative transit services, according to the latest report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The alternative transit services provided $102.7 million in savings during 2022, although there were initially measures of customer dissatisfaction resulting from the move to “broker services.” New Yorkers eligible for paratransit services are offered five modes of transit under NYCT’s umbrella of “carrier services”: primary carrier, broker, voucher, street hails, and E-Hail. The MTA defines primary carriers as NYCT-owned blue and white Access-A-Ride vehicles operated by private contractors. Brokers provide for-hire vehicles, metered taxis, and wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

The MTA’s New York City Transit (NYCT) unit provides paratransit services, known as Access-A-Ride, which, at 180,000 users throughout the five boroughs, is the largest paratransit system in the nation.

✰✰✰

SIENA POLL: 75 PERCENT OF NY VOTERS SAY
ANTISEMITISM HAS INCREASED SINCE OCT. 7 

STATEWIDE — NEARLY THREE-QUARTERS OF NEW YORKERS THINK JEWS IN NEW YORK ARE currently experiencing a great deal (37%) or some (36%) antisemitism, and of those, 75% said that the level of antisemitism has increased since the attacks on Oct. 7, according to a new Siena College poll of registered New York State voters released on Monday, Nov. 20. By contrast, 62% say Muslims in New York are experiencing a great deal (24%) or some (38%) Islamophobia, and of those, 59% say that has increased since Oc. 7.

Dr. Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, points out that nearly six in ten people say the Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens are an unspeakable crime that should be condemned without hesitation or explanation, while 25% say they condemn the murder of civilians but believe the attacks were a result of decades of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

✰✰✰

JEFFRIES, DSA TRADE BARBS OVER PALESTINE WATERMELON PROTEST

FORT GREENE — HOUSE MINORITY LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES ANGRILY SPARRED with progressive activists over the weekend after the Democratic Socialists of America used watermelon imagery and watermelon signs at a Friday pro-Palestine protest outside the congressman’s Fort Greene office, reports the New York Post; while watermelons have historically been used in protests to represent the colors of the Palestinian flag, the fruit has also been used in negative racial stereotypes associated with Black Americans. A spokesman for Jeffries told the Post in a statement, “The use of racially inflammatory imagery should come as no surprise given the role NYC-DSA and other gentrifiers have played in aggressively attacking black elected officials;” Jeffries, a leading candidate for House Speaker, has been a strong supporter of Israel during the ongoing conflict in the Gaza strip, drawing the ire of some in the Democratic party who have called on him to push Israel to accept a ceasefire.

The DSA did not respond to a Post request for comment, but fellow Brooklyn official state Sen. Jabari Brisport, who has advocated for the ceasefire demand, fired back at supporters of Jeffries on Thursday on X (Twitter,) writing, “It’s pretty racist to say that Palestinians can’t use a watermelon symbol because *only* Black people eat watermelon.”

✰✰✰

BOTANIC GARDEN LAUNCHES ‘LIGHTSCAPE’ WINTER SHOW 

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — THE BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN ON FRIDAY OFFICIALLY OPENED “LIGHTSCAPE,” its annual holiday light art show, as Brooklynites gathered on the Cherry Esplanade to watch BBG president Adrian Benepe “flip the switch” and illuminate the mile-long, million-plus-light trail; guests will take an “otherworldly nighttime journey” through 18 separate installations, accompanied by a curated playlist (including a Brooklyn hip-hop zone celebrating the genre’s 50th anniversary) and holiday treats like hot buttered rum and s’mores. New installations include “Submergence,” an interactive experience featuring thousands of points of suspended light; “Sea of Light,” a moving sequence illuminating the full Cherry Esplanade; “Trinity,” a display of botanical archive illustrations projected on three ancient horse chestnut trees; and “Supernova,” a 24-foot-high illuminated Moravian star.

Lightscape will be open through New Year’s Day; hours and tickets are available online at bbg.org/lightscape. 

✰✰✰

FDNY JOINS COAT DRIVE

CITYWIDE — THE FDNY ON FRIDAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL BE PARTNERING WITH New York Cares for its 35th annual winter Coat Drive; the department will be opening up donation sites at 49 firehouses across the five boroughs to drop off clean, new or gently used jackets and coats for the New Yorkers who need them most. New York Cares will distribute the donated items to social service agencies, public schools, religious institutions, and transitional housing shelters that serve vulnerable populations.

FDNY Battalions are now accepting donations from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through Dec. 31 at stationhouses across all five boroughs; for a full list of locations, visit the Coat Drive Map on New York Cares’ website. Please note: FDNY members at these locations may not be present during drop-off hours if they are responding to an emergency.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN BARISTAS JOIN STARBUCKS STRIKE

BUSHWICK — BARISTAS AND OTHER WORKERS AT BROOKLYN STARBUCKS locations in Bushwick and Clinton Hill joined the nationwide Starbucks Workers United union in striking on Thursday, reports Patch, as part of the “Red Cup Rebellion” protest, designed to hit sales on Red Cup Day, a promotion during which the coffee chain gives out free reusable cups that typically represents one of its busiest days of the year. Union organizers said they hoped to draw more attention to ongoing Starbucks unionization efforts and held surprise protest actions at several non-union Starbucks locations around the city on Wednesday; the group is demanding wage increases, an end to understaffing and limits on online orders, which baristas say can quickly outpace stores’ capacity to fill them during busy periods.

SWU expected as many as 5,000 workers across the country to join in the protest; city Starbucks workers on Thursday picketed at local stores before joining larger protest actions at central points, including in Downtown Brooklyn and at Astor Place in Manhattan.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS HISTORIC DISTRICT ANNIVERSARY

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — NOV. 23 MARKS THE 58TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE designation of Brooklyn Heights as the city’s first historic district in 1965, following its achievement of National Historic Landmark status in Jan. of that year. The title was intended to help preserve the area’s historic character and charm, particularly that of its characteristic brownstone townhouses and tree-lined streets. The Landmarks Commission’s designation report from 1965 noted that the area had been economically depressed for decades prior to the Second World War, reaching a nadir in the 1940s, but as young couples began to move back to the neighborhood following the construction of the BQE and Promenade in the 1950s — largely sparing the Heights from the destruction faced by other Brooklyn neighborhoods — pride in the Heights’ historic value led to an upwelling of support, led by the Brooklyn Heights Association, against efforts to demolish or modernize existing buildings.

“From the totality of all this, the interesting old buildings arranged on irregular streets, with unexpected vistas, emanates an appearance and even more a spirit and character of Old New York which no single part thereof, and certainly no individual Landmark, could possibly provide. It is this ‘collective emanation,’ which distinguishes a Historic District, and particularly Brooklyn Heights, from a Landmark and gives it a unique aesthetic and historical value.” – Otis Pratt Pearsall, Brooklyn Heights Association.

✰✰✰

A DIRTIER (& RATTIER) NYC UNDER ADAMS’ REVISED BUDGET

CITYWIDE — UNDER MAYOR ERIC ADAMS’ MODIFIED CITY BUDGET, the Sanitation Department will cut the number of litter baskets, reduce trash pickup and delay the citywide implementation of composting, Gothamist reports. In addition, the city’s investment in rat exterminators will be slashed, officials told The City. 

The reduced sanitation budget is just one of many citywide cuts Adams has imposed affecting education, policing, libraries and basic services.

✰✰✰

COPS SEEK TRIO ROBBING COFFEE SHOPS, RESTAURANTS ACROSS BROOKLYN

BOROUGH-WIDE — POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR THREE ROBBERS who broke into a series of coffee shops, restaurants and one small law office during the early morning hours across Brooklyn, stealing cash in amounts ranging from $200-$1,500 and random property. In the first incident, the men broke into a coffee shop on Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn at 12:49 a.m. on Oct. 23. They struck another coffee shop on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights on Oct. 27 at 3:40 a.m. On Oct. 30 at 3:10 a.m., they broke into a law office on Smith Street in Boerum Hill. On Nov. 15 at 2:40 a.m., they hit a bagel shop on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope — but did not steal anything at this one location. That same night, ten minutes later, however, they broke into a sushi restaurant, also on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, robbing cash and property.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782), or visit https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/

✰✰✰

RUMOR MILL: ANDREW CUOMO AS NYC MAYOR?

CITYWIDE — SOURCES TELL VANITY FAIR THAT REAL ESTATE INTERESTS are urging former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to stage a political comeback by running for NYC mayor if embattled Mayor Eric Adams is pushed out of office by his legal troubles. Cuomo is downplaying the speculation — but still keeps up a steady schedule of speeches, tweets, TV appearances and visits to churches in Brooklyn.

Cuomo resigned as governor of New York in disgrace in 2021 following allegations of sexual harassment by 11 women.

✰✰✰

HOCHUL WARNS HOLIDAY TRAVELERS: MAJOR STORM TO HIT NY DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING

STATEWIDE — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL WARNED OF A MAJOR STORM just in time for Wednesday, Nov. 22, the busy travel day before Thanksgiving. In Brooklyn, Wednesday is likely to be cold and rainy. But if you plan on driving upstate that day, Hochul has one word — don’t. “Our state forecasters and National Weather Service are tracking a lake effect snowstorm. We believe it’s going to have major impacts. As a result of those forecasts, I’m directing all of my state agencies from Homeland Security, DOT, Thruway Authority, National Guard, Parks and DEC to be prepared,” she said in a release Friday.

“Do not make next Wednesday be your main day to travel, or else you’ll get stuck,” she urged travelers planning to head north next week.

✰✰✰

HEIGHTS PENTHOUSE TOPS SALES CHARTS

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A PENTHOUSE APARTMENT AT ONE BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK took the top spot on the borough’s luxury sales charts last week, reports the Real Deal, with a last asking price of $6.5 million for 3,400 square feet at the top of the refurbished 1928 condo building. The penthouse features three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a massive wraparound terrace with views of the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline; in addition to luxury touches like oak herringbone floors, building residents also enjoy amenities like an in-house gym, screening room and billiards room.

One Brooklyn Bridge Park is part of a cluster of high-priced residential buildings at the park’s Pier 6 southern end; the pricey penthouse is nowhere near the record for the address, which was set in 2015 by an 11,000 square-foot triplex listed at $32 million.

✰✰✰

AMAZON CAN NO LONGER ENTER YOUR APARTMENT BUILDING WHENEVER IT WANTS 

ALBANY — GOV. KATHY HOCHUL SIGNED ON FRIDAY A BILL SPONSORED BY BROOKLYN ASSEMBLYMEMBER JO ANNE SIMON that would prevent companies like Amazon from installing keyless devices in residential buildings, which allow company drivers to unlock entrance doors without the knowledge or written consent of owners, board of directors or other authorized party. Under Amazon’s “Key for Business” program, the company installs electronic unlocking devices in residential buildings to speed up their rounds, leaving tenants unaware of who has access to their building and causing serious security concerns. In some cases, the Amazon devices interfere with a building’s own security system or intercoms.

“New Yorkers deserve to feel safe and stay healthy in their own homes,” Simon said in a release, adding, “This law will ensure New Yorkers are aware of any such devices being installed in their building because it will now require written consent.”

✰✰✰

NYC COUNCIL HEARING MONDAY ON POLICE RADIO ENCRYPTION AND MEDIA TRANSPARENCY

LOWER MANHATTAN — THE CITY COUNCIL IS HOLDING A JOINT HEARING on Monday on the New York Police Department’s radio encryption plans, the press credential issuance process and governmental social media account archiving. On the encryption issue, the Council said in a release, “As the NYPD moves ahead with its plans to further encrypt radio transmissions, and the impacts are better understood, media organizations, journalists and volunteer first-responder groups are expressing concerns about how this interferes with their efforts to serve the public.”

The hearing will take place Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. in the Committee Room, 16th Floor, 250 Broadway in Manhattan, and will be livestreamed at https://council.nyc.gov/livestream/

✰✰✰

FIRE AT BUSHWICK WAREHOUSE

BUSHWICK — A HEAVY FIRE ENGULFED THE LOADING DOCK OF A BUSHWICK COMMERCIAL BUILDING on Thursday, reports Patch, before being eventually contained thanks to the efforts of 140 firefighters. The fire was called in by a local resident in the early afternoon but was brought under control by 3:15 p.m., although one firefighter sustained minor injuries; reports on news app Citizen indicate that first responders said that search efforts were hindered by “heavy clutter” inside the building, which was described as a warehouse or factory by the Fire Department.

Videos posted from the scene show the FDNY’s Robotics Unit preparing to deploy a drone; the Fire Department uses drones and other robots – including a Dalmatian-spotted robot “dog” — to help search hazardous areas and monitor firefighters during operations.

✰✰✰

FOURTH PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES IN TWO WEEKS AS HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER KILLS ELDERLY WOMAN

FORT HAMILTON — AN  OLDER WOMAN CROSSING THE STREET IN FORT HAMILTON is the latest victim in what has become a spike in fatal collisions around Brooklyn involving pedestrians and motorists. The 72-year-old woman, whose name police withheld, was crossing with her shopping cart near Marine Ave. and 96th St. on Thursday, Nov. 16, around 6:50 p.m. when the driver of a dark-colored sedan crashed into her, sending her onto the vehicle’s roof and windshield before she wound up stuck underneath a parked car, a witness told the Daily News Thursday night. The witness said the driver never slowed down and continued racing up Marine Avenue and that his car dragged the shopping cart for several yards. Medics did not reach the woman in time to save her.

According to statistics from Open Data NYC and Patch, the woman’s death marks the fourth pedestrian fatality in just two weeks.

✰✰✰

SCHUMER: ‘HOLD CHINA ACCOUNTABLE’ ON FENTANYL

NATIONWIDE — SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, ON THURSDAY, HAILED A DEAL STRUCK BETWEEN President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday designed to crack down on the production and smuggling of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals, as well as efforts already being made by the Chinese to rein in companies manufacturing these items, but warned that the U.S. should be ready to “hold China accountable” for compliance with its commitments. Under the agreement, China will take action against companies making precursor drugs, as well as join the U.S. in launching a counter-narcotics working group to bolster law enforcement information sharing. According to a press release from the senator’s office, China is the world’s largest producer of illicit fentanyl and could be responsible for over 90 percent of the illicit fentanyl found in the U.S.; in 2022, NYC saw overdose deaths reach record numbers at over 3,000, predominantly driven by illicit fentanyl.

“During my visit to China last month, we were pointed and direct with President Xi. I told him the devastating impact I have seen the opioid crisis have on New York families. I am pleased to see China take what could be a major step forward to cut off the flow of fentanyl, and I am going to be watching like a hawk for progress,” Schumer said in a press statement.

✰✰✰

CITY COUNCIL GIVES CUNY SCHOOLS $550K TO EXPAND ANTI-HATRED PROGRAMS 

CITYWIDE — THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK HAS RECEIVED $550,000 FROM THE NEW YORK City Council to expand anti-hate initiatives that address religious and ethnic discrimination on CUNY campuses. The $550,000 builds on the work CUNY has been doing over the last year to confront bigotry and discrimination and to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate. This effort has included the distribution of $750,000 in state funds for Campus Climate Support Grants to address religious, racial and ethnic bigotry across the University. CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez pointed out that “CUNY is reaffirming its mission to root out antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of discrimination and bigotry, building new programs to ensure campuses remain bastions of tolerance, empathy and respect.”

While many groups are focusing only on antisemitism toward Jews, the word “antisemitism” actually relates to hatred of any person from the Semitic language group that includes Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.

✰✰✰

CITY TECH HOSTS TRAVELING EXHIBITS AS PART OF ANTI-HATE PROGRAMS

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — New York City College of Technology, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, has hosted visual arts exhibits as part of a larger educational program to combat hatred within its schools. The first exhibit held earlier this year, titled “I am a Jew,” explored Jewish identity through portrait photography and testimony. Another exhibit, running now through January 5, titled “Americans and the Holocaust,” is a 1,100-square-foot traveling exhibit of the U.S. National Holocaust Memorial Museum that City Tech is hosting at City Tech’s Ursula C. Schwerin Library.

City Tech is among 50 colleges and universities participating in the exhibit, and its professors have also integrated material from it into their fall 2023 course curricula. Upcoming classes after Thanksgiving include an Overview & Introduction to “Americans and the Holocaust” and “Racism, Eugenics & Antisemitism: Connections between Jim Crow and the Nuremberg Race Laws.”

✰✰✰

HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE SETS STAGE FOR VOTE TO EXPEL EMBATTLED SANTOS

BAY RIDGE AND CAPITOL HILL — A DAY AFTER TWO BROOKLYN CONGRESS MEMBERS DENOUNCED REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-03), the chairman of the House Ethics Committee has filed a resolution to expel the embattled Queens Congressman, according to several news reports. Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, on Thursday, issued a scathing report that called Santos “untrustworthy.” Santos, who has already withstood two attempts to expel him, faces this latest House vote — with his own party holding a slim majority — after the Thanksgiving holiday.

After the report was released, Brooklyn’s only Republican Congressmember, Nicole Malliotakis (R-11), also called for Santos to resign or be expelled. Democrat Congressman Dan Goldman, who serves much of western Brooklyn, also said he’d introduce a bill to expel Santos.

✰✰✰

MALICHITA CANTALOUPES RECALLED AMID SALMONELLA THREAT 

NATIONWIDE — CANTALOUPE IS THE LATEST FOOD TO BE RECALLED DUE TO A SALMONELLA RISK, according to the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Several lots of fresh cantaloupe from Sofia Produce, LLC, doing business as Arizona-based “Trufresh,” have been recalled for potential contamination with salmonella. The cantaloupes were packaged in cardboard containers labeled with the “Malichita” label and include several sales order numbers distributed between October 16, 2023 and October 23, 2023; these numbers are: 128663, 128712, 128713, 128662, 128680, 225252, 225231, 419719, 419721, 419828, 419803, 612235, 612273. New Jersey was the closest state where the fruit batches were delivered, although the USDA warns they may have been further trucked to New York and neighboring states.

Several other order numbers were subject to recall earlier.

Leave a Comment

---

Related Articles

Heartless romance scammer gets 4 years for swindling elderly in Brooklyn court

May 4 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Brooklyn legal community unites for suit drive to support local youth

May 3 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Court upholds New York’s ammunition background check law

May 3 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Man who attempted to shoot NYPD officer in Brooklyn gets 19 years in prison

May 3 | Robert Abruzzese, Courthouse Editor

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

Website

Comment