Melissa Russo
@MelissaRusso4NY
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Government Affairs Reporter News 4 New York
NYC
Joined November 2011
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I-Team EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn tenants say a year of 911 calls failed to produce relief from the racist arson suspect on their floor who threatened on video to "turn brown people black.”
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Breaking: Nurses at 8 hospitals including NewYork-Presbyterian, Montefiore, Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Maimonides, BronxCare, Richmond University Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center delivered 10-day notices to strike today.
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After voting today, Gov Cuomo said IF HE LOSES: “I’m gonna become a journalist and then just second guess everyone else, because that’s a lot easier. And say ‘Why’d you do this? Why’d you do that?’”Apparently he’s irritated with the questions he’s faced. And ducked.
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250 prisoners released early from Rikers bc of COVID-19 concerns have been arrested 450 times since. We take a look at one who has been rearrested 4X already. The NYPD is not happy. Neither are the victims. EXCLUSIVE video here:
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Rudy Giuliani just said that
@NYCSchools
@DOEChancellor
Richard Carranza should “go back to Cuba”
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Priceless: WATCH
@NYGovCuomo
reaction today when I ask if he’s concerned the absence of
@BilldeBlasio
while campaigning for President will impact NYC?
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Union Statement: “The best way for management to protect patients is to listen to nurses & settle fair contracts that protect patient care in the next 10 days. This notice means approx 16K nurses and counting will go on strike beginning Jan 9 in at least 8 hospitals…”
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Sources with nurses’ union
@NYSNA
say negotiations have not been going well. The respective contracts expire Dec. 31 at midnight. The 10-day notice is required to enable hospitals to hire temporary nurses in the event they walk off the job Jan 9th
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ICYMI, I met
@RudyGiuliani
on Friday at the WTC memorial to discuss the 20 yr anniversary of 9-11 for an upcoming report. Clearly, he is also quite focused on the federal investigation he is facing, which he called “lawless.”
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One hospital source says they always anticipated the nurses would issue the 10-day notices “to maximize leverage.” Nurses say they are overworked and hospitals understaffed. They want raises and none of the proposed cuts to their own health care benefits.
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Spotted in my hotel lounge:
@PeteButtigieg
hanging out & watching the impeachment hearings this afternoon. And maybe doing a little prep for tonight’s
@MSNBC
debate...
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Upper East Side Pastor of 25 years says "it's easier to meet people on the street. Peanuts style.
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Coming up at 11 on News 4:
@RudyGiuliani
says he is not “off the rails” and is not an alcoholic. He also says a “biased” FBI now wants to look back at 27 years of his emails.
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Exclusive: Adams administration fires spokeswoman who complained about a coverup of legal violations in shelters. Top NYC homeless officials say they didn’t know it was illegal to house families on floors and chairs in their shelter intake office.
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Madison Sq. Park today. For the first time in months, my child climbed a tree, alone, wearing a mask. I sanitized her hands every few minutes. Almost no one else social distancing or wearing masks.
@NYCMayor
@NYPDShea
@NYCSpeakerCoJo
@NYGovCuomo
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In an internal communication at Mt. Sinai today the hospital management said they have negotiated in good faith and offered more than 75K in additional wages & benefits for every nurse during the term of the 4-yr contract they have proposed…
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Exclusive: Emergency food programs say an alarming number of babies & toddlers of asylum seekers are going hungry in some NYC homeless hotels which apparently aren’t providing baby food/formula/enough milk. The Adams admin doesn’t acknowledge a problem.
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For what it's worth:
#LindsayLohan
showed up at 915 Wednesday for community service. I was there. Not two hours after children arrived.
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… In that same communication, Mt. Sinai mgmt said the nurses seem determined to strike and that despite their continued efforts to reach a fair and responsible agreement,
@nynurses
are pursuing proposals that would increase hospital costs by more than 40% in year 1.
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I will miss Mayor Dinkins. On so many occasions, I was the beneficiary of his kindness and decency. I have so many treasured Dinkins stories but will share a couple of favorites:
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SCOOP: Dead rats rotting in the ceiling of kids camp in the Jackie Robinson NYCHA Community Center. Maggots seeping from the cracks. The smell made kids & staff vomit. 2 summers in a row. Director says
@BilldeBlasio
ignored pleas for help.
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Is Governor Andrew Cuomo using weed (stories) to mask bad press? Watch this piece about how his administration seems to dump pot legalization stories whenever corruption headlines involving his administration get tough. Seems to be a pattern.
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In our previous reporting, we heard from nurses like Lorena Vivas of
@MountSinaiNYC
who said: “We’ve had enough of the maltreatment by management. We’re constantly understaffed and they’re earning money from us being understaffed.”
@nynurses
@GovKathyHochul
@NYCMayor
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Former Gov Andrew Cuomo denies dodging a Congressional inquiry for 9 months but today he received a subpoena commanding him to show up & answer Qs about his Covid-19 nursing home policies. Subcommittee chair cites "months and months of unjustified delays."
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In 2017, Governor Cuomo shot a ray of hope into New York prisons, enlisting lawyers to help reformed prisoners apply for his mercy. Hundreds of lawyers stepped up. Two years and thousands of pro bono hours later he has taken no action on their cases.
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Exclusive: The mother who took her life Sunday was a Colombian native living in the Hollis Family Shelter with her son, 15 and daughter, 7, accdg to several sources familiar w/ the case. They arrived in NY in May - separated from the father at the border.
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As Governor is announcing gyms, restaurants etc will close as of 8pm, tonight guess who is at the Park Slope Y? Statement here from
@NYCMayor
spokeswoman:
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Scene in lobby of Trump tower as Trump supporters try to drown out de Blasio rally with signs saying “worst mayor ever”
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EXCLUSIVE: New allegations that NYC is violating the right to shelter. This time - for women.
"Kathia Wiscovitch, a victim of domestic violence, says applying for a bed this week was so chaotic and scary - she walked out and moved into a rental car.
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I asked Andrew Cuomo today about an accusation from CynthiaNixon camp that he has not visited a mosque in the 7 yrs he’s been Gov. I asked if it’s true and if so, why not? Cuomo said he was “not going to respond.” Neither have his spokesppl. Hmmm...
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We have confirmed that Hillary Clinton is pressing the White House to do more about New York’s asylum crisis.
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Governor Cuomo hurried to open the Mario Cuomo Bridge before primary day with big splashy press events and Hillary Clinton but apparently the bridge isn’t safe yet. Thruway authority just put out this statement explaining that new span will be closed today after all.. excerpt:
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Migrants are about to get a faster track to work. Two sources briefed on President Biden's plans say he will grant TPS to Venezuelans who were here before July 2023. This reduces the incentive for future migrants to come here seeking immediate work.
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Lt Governor Brian Benjamin has turned himself in on campaign finance fraud related charges. He is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later today. Just as Kathy Hochul pivots into campaign mode the timing is bad.
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Bringing in the big guns: Steve Banks joins Legal Aid Society as co-counsel to defend NYC’s right to shelter v.
@NYCMayor
effort to loosen the rules amid asylum seeker influx. Banks spent decades battling NYC on behalf of homeless clients For me - a blast from the past.
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One question now: Will Governor Hochul and/or
@NYCMayor
get involved or help broker a deal? When we first reported earlier in Dec. that nurses were voting in favor of strikes at their respective hospitals -
@GovKathyHochul
office told me they were "monitoring the situation."
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A day after Mayor named his wife Chirlane McCray to co-chair a Covid task force on racial equity, a Cityhall spokeswoman tells us “The entity itself does not have decision making power.”
@ReynosoBrooklyn
says it’s “cronyism & nepotism” as he and McCray both explore a Bklyn BP run.
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Like sardines on the A Train. Bernie Sanders and Mayor de Blasio ride downtown to commuter shouts of “lock up Trump!”
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5 days after we reached out to NYC officials with Qs on migrant babies going hungry in shelters, and 4 days after our story aired, I asked
@NYCMayor
- what is his plan? He said his team “hasn’t heard those reports.” We pushed for a better answer:
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Sen. Rand Paul argued today that closing schools is worse for kids than Covid-19, and that the # of children dying is “not gonna be zero, but approaches zero,” Dr. Fauci shut him down: “We better be very careful as it comes to children.” Now children are sick in Paul’s homestate:
I really wonder if we would know about any of this if not for
@MelissaRusso4NY
’s reporting.
Child illness related to COVID now confirmed in Kentucky —>
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She's no longer raising money for
@NYCMayor
but we just confirmed Brianna Suggs recently hired her own lawyer. Until now, the Adams campaign said Suggs would be represented by the same legal team as the Mayor & the campaign. Suggs' new atty = Rebecca Ricigliano @ Crowell&Moring
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Zero line to vote here at MSG. People are in and out in 5 minutes. Easy breezy.
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Confirmed: Mount Sinai hospital confirms it is closing down its field hospital in Central Park run by the group Samaritan’s purse beginning on May 4. According to a source, Samaritan’s purse, will not be relocating to another local hospital despite some recent rumors.
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Federal immigration officials in Texas are putting migrants on buses to NYC with papers directing them to arbitrary addresses where services are not available. Hundreds have shown up only to be turned away or redirected. Some ended up lost on the streets.
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Reporters (including me) backing away from our front row seats at this press conference as Curtis Sliwa shouts from the podium with no mask. We know he often rides the subway without a mask too.
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Mayor Adams says in a crisis there are “two types of New Yorkers.” Those who play ‘gotcha’ and those who help. He’s clearly unhappy that we reported that the system was strained by the migrant influx Monday night to the point where 60 men didn’t receive beds in a timely fashion.
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After today’s redistricting ruling
@CarolynBMaloney
tells me she would most definitely consider running again, depending on whether the new district lines were favorable to her.
"If they draw a district I could win in, of course I'd run,” she said.
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Please,
@NYGovCuomo
can you update us on the number of children in New York State with multisystem inflammatory syndrome and where are the cases?
@melissadderosa
@Dani_Lever
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So apparently Gov Cuomo says he’ll debate Cynthia Nixon on August 29th on CBS2. Why debate in the dog days before Labor Day when ppl are checked out? Also: Why do the terms of this debate have both candidates seated? Is this to appease Cuomo who has a history of seated debates?
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Gov Cuomo, true to form, puts out the advisory for his 11:30 briefing in Watertown NY at 935 am, with just under two hours notice. It takes THREE hours for the Albany presscorps to drive to Watertown. This is not a new thing and not an accident. No set up for remote questions.
A federal judge orders Cuomo to have sign language interpreter at his daily briefings. Maybe we can also get him to increase accessibility by taking Qs from reporters via phone, as
@NYCMayor
does, & giving ample notice so that reporters can make it to his briefings.
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BREAKING: The NYC Department of investigation has initiated an investigation into allegations by fmr Deputy Commissioner Julia Savel who was fired after claims her boss tried to hide legal violations in homeless shelter. Mayor Adams denies the allegations.
The Mayor’s office put out a new storyline Thurs - a full day after our story ran. They now say Cmsr Jenkins notified the Deputy Mayor that families slept in the intake office immediately on July 18 (A detail that was not included anywhere in their lengthy prior statements)
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Top
@FDNY
chiefs told the FBI last April they faced a pressure campaign to rubber stamp new Turkish consulate bldg despite safety concerns, accdg to attorney for one chief.
Emails show Laura Kavanagh & Melanie Larocca also helped expedite the approval.
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It took both City & State Health Depts many days to get up to speed w/ what pediatricians on frontlines were seeing. My initial sources were alarmed & frustrated that there was no urgency or focus from govt, no alerts for pediatricians & too much nervousness re alarming parents
what's alarming to me is that the city's health dept didn't seem to have this on its radar until
@MelissaRusso4NY
brought it up at a press conference. Melissa is a very talented and diligent reporter but there aren't enough Melissas to do what I thought would be the city's job.
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NYC is about to send EMTs out with social workers (instead of police) on 911 calls for mental health crises. Watch our exclusive first look at the program along with disturbing video that shows why some want to remove the NYPD from the equation.
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Tragically, it was the woman’s 15 year old son who found her in the room. Neighbors say she had sent her kids out to play. Several sources briefed on the case say her husband had tried repeatedly to make it into the US to reunite with them but was “repeatedly sent back.”
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“I would support impeachment if a Democrat did this.”
@AOC
says after the release of the House Intelligence report. “It is our sworn duty to protect the constitution each and every time.”
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Exclusive:
@AOC
@RitchieTorres
&
@RepEspaillat
are demanding answers from the Dept of Homeland Security after we found migrants sent to NY on a wild goose chase w/ wrong addresses on official forms. Many ended up lost & missing mail from Immigration Court.
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This story is very special to me: I’ve always wondered about Valery, the charming, adorable 4-yr-old mystery girl abandoned barefoot at 1am in Queens 14 yrs ago. I was the reporter tapped by the City to interview her on TV & help ID her. Here she is now.
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NYC will double the milk supply at shelters after our report on hungry migrant babies. Adams admin says it’s “committed to investigating” any food shortages but won’t answer specific Qs on formula supply & shelter budgets.
@NYCCouncil
plans a hearing.
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BREAKING: 4,000 Nurses at Columbia Presbyterian reached a tentative deal w/ management last night after sending a 10-day strike notice. Their union -
@NYNurses
- urges nurses there to ratify the deal. But the 7 other hospital contracts are still unresolved/facing strike threat.
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This 9-yr-old watched his friends vomit when they arrived at day camp at the Jackie Robinson NYCHA Center. “The smell makes me feel bad. I don’t want my camp to stink.” The ceiling was filled with decomposing rats, and oozing maggots
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Thx to WNBC for supporting awardwinning work. Chris & I grateful 4 Emmys in societal concerns/politics categories
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My 8-year-old this morning: “Mama take a picture and do a story!”
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This is Barbie. She’s been
@Bideawee
for months waiting for someone to give her a chance. Barbie loves cats and tends to be more comfortable with women. She doesn’t warm up to everyone but when she does, she forms a deep bond.
#ClearTheShelters
@NBCNewYork
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Nicole Malliotakis asks voters: Do you want to keep opening the papers to find pay-to-play stories about your Mayor?
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Other residents in the Queens shelter say they were told by security not to speak to News 4 about the situation but some -requesting anonymity- told us the woman was quiet and withdrawn. Her children had bonded with other migrant families in shelter but were unhappy in NYC.
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SCOOP: 49 out of 149 NYCHA community centers do not have working air conditioning as heatwave moves in. 16 need repairs & 33 centers are still waiting for system conversion from heat to AC in mid-July
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Shoving me and swatting at my microphone. Mayor Dinkins was appalled. He stopped the press conference and delivered a lecture about how such behavior would not be tolerated at his news conferences. He made sure I had the chance to ask my questions.
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After Mayor Dinkins left office, he missed some of the ceremonial trappings of the job. He used to bemoan the fact that former judges could officiate at weddings but former mayors could not.
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Unsolicited advice from straphangers on the A train. “The democrats, man - you too soft!” Followed by “when they go low... YOU go LOW!”
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de Blas challenger
@NMalliotakis
at Campaign Finance Board HQs calling on CFB to freeze his matching $ bc of new info on straw donations
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EXCLUSIVE: Pediatricians warn: “Covid doesn’t spare any age group & can lead to very serious illness,even in kids.” More hospitals tell NBCNewYork it’s rare, but they’re seeing critically ill, previously healthy kids w/ possible Covid-19 consequences.
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BREAKING:In anticipation of a possible nurses strike Monday,we are reporting that
@MountSinaiNYC
is transferring NICU babies out of their hospitals to ensure they get proper care. They’re canceling all but emergency surgeries and requesting most ambulances be diverted elsewhere.
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.
@NYCMayor
on new sex assault claim: “This never took place.” Our search finds a history of other lawsuits filed by a plaintiff w/ same name - and an online book advising how to win pro se cases in court. “Never give up. You just may win.”
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Coming up on News 4: 250 prisoners who were released early from Rikers bc of COVID-19 have been arrested 450 times since. We take a look at one who has been rearrested four times already. The NYPD is not happy. EXCLUSIVE video coming up now:
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If the problem with prosecuting Schneiderman was about statute of limitations why did it take six months - and until after Election Day - to figure that out? Governor Cuomo vowed there would be a vigorous prosecution.
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My 10-year-old explains: The SourPatchKids are social distancing at her
“Pop-Up COVID-testing gingerbread house.”
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A woman who knew the family tells us she is in disbelief that a mother would risk the lives of her family members to come here and then throw it away. She said the refugees are “fighters” but that the mom was struggling w/ being far from her husband and unable to make contact.
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In the first few minutes of the Mayor’s prepared remarks he has addressed BLM, blamed the courts for problems with violence in the city and talked about schools. NO reference to his police commanders who were attacked on the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday.
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Mayor Adams & his campaign have hired his former CityHall counsel
Brendan McGuire who left govt earlier this year & a second attorney Boyd Johnson. Both work at the firm Wilmer Hale. I’m told the firm will also rep Adams’ fundraiser Brianna Suggs bc she is a campaign employee.
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Governor Cuomo releases his long awaited clemency grants. He’s commuting the sentences of 2 prisoners. Also gave 9 pardons. For them it is a dream come true. Announced at 616 on a Fri night makes it feel more like a document dump than something for which Gov wants attention.
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BREAKING: There are at least 64 known cases of pediatric inflammatory syndrome in New York State, according to a survey of hospitals returned this morning to the NYS Health Dept, according to sources familiar with the results.
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Thousands chanting “Too old!” at today’s Bernie Sanders rally. They’re not talking about Bernie. These are Sanders fans talking about the electoral college, low minimum wages and discrimination against women.
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Firm pulls job offer from NYU law student who blamed Israel for the Hamas violence:
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When I interviewed
@MaxRose4NY
back in September, he flatly denied he was eyeing a run for Mayor, despite what my sources were telling me. He also said NYers won’t elect a short bald Jewish guy. Watch:
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I also interviewed families at multiple homeless hotels who described the same situation: No formula. No baby food. Not enough milk and almost no age-appropriate food for infants and toddlers who can’t eat the sandwiches and other food these hotels serve.
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Hard to believe but de Blasio admin managed to bungle yet another attempted reopening of the notorious rat and maggot infested daycamp in NYCHA. NYC said camp could move into the local public school today. Kids showed up. It didn’t work out. Again.
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BREAKING: Data published by NYC Department of Homeless Services specifically said that “zero” families stayed illegally overnight in a city intake office on July 17-18 - despite NYC officials’ admission they knew about the legal violations right away.
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This is interesting:
Ed Skyler floated for Mayor
by a former City Hall coworker. Some discussions have been underway in the business community about potential candidates.
We need someone like former Bloomberg Deputy Mayor
@edskyler
to run for NYC Mayor and restore this amazing city.
Need someone who knows how to actually administer a large organization, who has real business and govt experience and attacks problems head on.
Or else. 😱
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One month ago Nina Rothschild was left for dead in the Queens Plaza Station by an attacker with a hammer. She is the kind of native New Yorker who never feared the subway. She tells me her inspiring survival story:
Nina Rothschild was savagely beaten on her way home from work by a hammer-wielding attacker who left her for dead on the stairs of a Queens subway station
She told
@MelissaRusso4NY
that she remembers "basically the entire thing from start to finish"
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We are still awaiting an explanation from
@CBP
(US Customs and Border Protection) and
@WhiteHouse
@VP
as to why federal officials are sending asylum seekers to bad addresses in NYC, leaving some lost on the streets.
@DHSgov
See Thread:
Federal immigration officials in Texas are putting migrants on buses to NYC with papers directing them to arbitrary addresses where services are not available. Hundreds have shown up only to be turned away or redirected. Some ended up lost on the streets.
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And 2) Because in his opinion, too many journalists viewed the glass as half empty instead of half full. He hoped that he might encourage even one new reporter to split the difference. That interview helped me land my first reporting job at NY1.
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Al Franken says he's expert in rightwing megalomania: "I got my doctorate in megalomania studies @ Trump University"
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