Reuven Blau

When Prison Body Scanners Mistake Tampons and Piercings for Contraband

All scans can be difficult to read, and even trained professionals in hospitals, which use similar scanning technology, often ask for second opinions, said James Donnelly, a former radiologist who has reviewed body scans for a local law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/n...

Most Cops Get Crisis Intervention Training. Some Calls Still End in Tragedy. Eight times since 2019, NYPD officers shot or tased someone while responding to a 911 mental health call — despite completing the department's crisis intervention program, a review by THE CITY found.

"In eight incidents since 2019 where cops wound up either shooting or tasing the subject of a 911 mental health call, the officers involved were trained in crisis intervention, a review of NYPD records found. That included six encounters where the subject was killed."
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/09/c...

Councilmember Vickie Paladino Sues City Council To Block Upcoming Ethics Hearing Earlier this month the council’s rules and ethics committee voted to charge Paladino with disorderly conduct for a series of anti-Muslim tweets.

In a now deleted tweet last, Paladino called for the “expulsion of Muslims from western nations” calling on the Trump administration to come up with a “legal framework for the denaturalization process and get it over with before we end up with another 9/11 or worse.”
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/09/v...

There Were 14,000 Murders In The United States Last Year +/- a few hundred.

How many murders were there last year? 14,000 down from about 17,575 in 2024, according to @jeffasher.bsky.social, a nationally-recognized crime analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics. I'm obsessed with his crime analysis Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/jasher/p...

A ‘Parkie’ Photographer Looks Back on 50 Years Malcolm “Cinema” Pinckney, who started working for the Parks Department in the 1970s, will retire next month after a career shooting everyone from Nelson Mandela to George Clinton.

“Once I came down here and I saw the setup, I said, ‘This is the place I gotta be, I have to get down here some kind of way,’’ he said. “It took about 10 years before I actually ran it down here.” — @katiehonan.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/06/p...

Eight times since 2019, NYPD officers shot or tased someone while responding to a 911 mental health call — despite completing the department’s crisis intervention program, a review by @gregbsmithnyc.bsky.social found.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/09/c...

Judge Voids Mass Layoffs at Voice of America

“The law, the Vacancies Act, requires that an acting head must be the second senior officer of an agency, be appointed by the president with the Senate’s consent or be a senior officer who had been at the agency before a vacancy arose.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/u...

N.Y.P.D. Sergeant Charged With Doorman’s Death in Drunk-Driving Crash

Breakfast was their favorite time. Boitel, who cleans hotel rooms, needed to leave for work by 8. Mr. Boitel left around noon if he was working a late shift. But every morning, he got up at 6 so they could spend two hours together, watching the news or just talking.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/n...

Council Fails Adams on Bus and Bike Lanes as Mamdani Streets Boss Promises More “A 50% is a big, fat F,” one councilmember said after the city repeatedly fell short of mandates.

"Flynn inherited a backlog from the previous administration on bus lane projects, w/the city completing just 20.8 miles toward its 30-mile goal for 2025 — which was an actual improvement from the 13.5 miles built the previous year." — via @jmartineznyc.bsky.social
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/03/b...

Hundreds of Squatters Took Over Vacant NYCHA Apartments, City Watchdog Finds NYCHA didn't check to see if apartments were actually empty, allowing unauthorized tenants to move into more than 600 of them, reports the Department of Investigation.

NYCHA realized a vacant apartment had been occupied in the Castle Hill Houses in the Bronx when the NYPD discovered the body of a man fatally shot inside the apartment — an alleged member of the Sex Money Murder gang w/ 28 prior arrests for robberies and burglaries.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/03/s...

NYPD Still Illegally Stopping New Yorkers 12 Years After Court Ruling, Monitor Finds Illegal stops, missing paperwork and weak discipline remain widespread despite federal oversight.

“The report is the latest to document the NYPD’s lack of compliance with court-ordered reforms stemming from the landmark 2013 Floyd v. City of New York ruling, which found the department’s practices violated the constitutional rights of Black and Latino residents.”

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/n...

NYPD Still Illegally Stopping New Yorkers 12 Years After Court Ruling, Monitor Finds Illegal stops, missing paperwork and weak discipline remain widespread despite federal oversight.

“Supervisors routinely approve stops, frisks, and searches as lawful even when they are not. The NYPD must build a system where supervisors correct officers who are conducting illegal stops, frisks, and searches and address officers who repeatedly violate the law.”
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/n...

Feds Lied Their Way Into Dorm to Arrest Student, Says Columbia President The agents entered the campus at around 6:30 this morning, just before a neuroscience researched posted that “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.“

The agents entered the campus at around 6:30 this morning, just before a neuroscience researcher posted that “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.“
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/e...

City Looks to Expand Supportive Housing for New Yorkers Coming Out of Jail - City Limits The city plans to open 190 new affordable units, paired with support services, for people who cycle between jail and homeless shelters.

“Nearly 30% of our patients report being homeless prior to entering jail or likely to be unhoused on release,” said Dr. Patsy Yang, senior vice president for Health and Hospitals' Correctional Health Services, which provides health care in city jails. citylimits.org/nyc-looks-to...

Property Taxes in NYC are a Mess. Here’s Why Even Renters Should Care. They’re the engine of the city’s budget, but unequal and outdated. Here’s your guide on how property taxes work — and how they affect everyone, not just owners.

Everyone in NYC is talking about property taxes!

Hardly anyone understands the system, but there's widespread agreement the outcomes are inequitable.

We've got a guide to help you make sense of it all, and learn why you should care, even if you don't own property.

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/25/p...

Pets Are Expensive and Shelters Are Packed. Advocates Say Mamdani Should Help. A new proposal calls on the city to fund spay and neuter surgeries as well as low-cost veterinary clinics and pop-up pet food pantries to help keep animals with their families.

“Last year, ACC shelters took in more than 9,700 stray animals — dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs — and more than 6,530 were relinquished by owners. The city’s shelters frequently are at capacity.” — @katiehonan.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/25/a...

Bellevue Hospital a De Facto Homeless Shelter, as Winter Storms Test City Outreach Dozens of unhoused people have been staying in a warming center at the public hospital for weeks on end and haven’t had any contact with homeless services.

“Bellevue’s south lobby is one of the city’s official warming centers, a temporary place for anyone in need. But many people said they’d been living in the lobby for weeks, with no end in sight — and with no attempt by city homeless outreach workers to contact them.”
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/25/b...

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored

“A confidential report commissioned in 2022 by the Semiconductor Industry Association for its members, which include the largest U.S. chip companies, said cutting the supply of chips from Taiwan would lead to the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/t...

Blizzard Disrupts City’s Criminal Courts Already Seeing Long Delays The Legal Aid Society told a judge that police and Brooklyn prosecutors were holding people past the 24-hour legal limit — including someone arrested for double-parking.

NYC's criminal courts were already struggling with delays when the blizzard hit. Legal Aid says police held 127 people in Brooklyn over 24 hours — including someone arrested for double-parking. Now everyone's pointing fingers at each other. My latest —>
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/23/c...

Opinion | Ukraine Has Passed a Point of No Return

War poses impossible choices, Samoilenko said — “like, when you are fleeing the advancing Russian troops, whether to force your grandmother, who has dementia, to come with you. And then you have to live with that choice, whatever the decision that you made.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/o...

Under Mamdani, City to Probe Businesses Where Most Workers Take Zero Sick Days Employers will be subject to an investigation by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection if fewer than half their employees took zero paid time off in a given year.

“Employers will be subject to an investigation by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection if fewer than half their employees took zero paid time off in a given year.” — @clauirizarry.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/20/z...

Mamdani Calls for Free Express Buses. Some Riders Say They Want Better Service Instead. The mayor says his promise to make buses free would cover the faster, nicer and pricier rides, but not everyone who’s paying for them now is sold on that plan.

“The people who pay for the express bus, which is the majority of the riders as opposed to the local riders, they’re the ones that fund the MTA,” she said. “I can’t imagine that they’re going to stop payment on the express bus.” — via @katiehonan.bsky.social
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/20/e...

Mamdani Moves to End Rikers Emergency Orders, Implement Solitary Reforms The mayor's action plan tackles crisis measures dating to 2021, but some major changes require court sign-off.

Mamdani released a plan Thursday to end nearly five years of emergency orders that have suspended basic jail rules at Rikers Island. But some reforms — including limits on solitary confinement — won’t take effect for nearly a year, and others require court approval.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/19/m...

Mamdani Promised a New Era for Parks and Libraries. His First Budget Falls Short. The new mayor pledged to dedicate 1% of the city budget to parks and 0.5% to libraries. His preliminary spending plan delivers less.

NYC Parks: 0.57% of budget → projected to drop to 0.46% by 2030. NYC Libraries: 0.39% of expense budget vs 0.5% pledge.
Mayor Mamdani’s first budget leaves big gaps between campaign promises and spending reality. My latest —>
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/19/m...

Mamdani Promised a New Era for Parks and Libraries. His First Budget Falls Short. The new mayor pledged to dedicate 1% of the city budget to parks and 0.5% to libraries. His preliminary spending plan delivers less.

"Mayor Zohran Mamdani rode into office on a wave of progressive promises, including pledges to boost funding for parks and public libraries.

But his first major spending plan falls short on both fronts..."

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/19/m...

ICE Has Doubled Its Presence in Notorious Brooklyn Jail Rep. Dan Goldman learned of the expansion on Wednesday when he became the first lawmaker to visit the federal facility since it began detaining immigrants last June.

"A Colombian man with HIV, referred to in legal filings as O.F.B., went more than a week without access to his preventative HIV medication despite asking staff at the prison for them multiple times each day." — @gwynnefitz.bsky.social and @rosalindadams.bsky.social
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/18/i...

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Rikers? We Asked 4 Experts for Their Ideas As remediation manager Nicholas Deml and commissioner Stanley Richards take over, veterans of NYC's troubled jail system discuss the biggest challenges they face and ways to solve them.

Some of the ideas to improve Rikers: End the ‘abomination’ of long jail stays. Focus on the severely mentally ill. Improve training. Consistent discipline and staff rules for all the facilities. And highlight when officers save detainees. My latest —>
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/18/r...

The Mysterious Past and Murky Future of the Mansion on Ocean Avenue

"Facebook page with ideas for its restoration, and last year, its owner put it up for sale — at the improbable asking price of $2.6 million."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/r...

Rent Board Resignation Clears Path for Mamdani Rent Freeze Promise The new mayor is now able to appoint a majority to the Rent Guidelines Board, giving him the numbers for a signature campaign promise.

looks like Mamdani is gonna get his rent freeze this year after all. big news on the housing beat from @smaldo.bsky.social: