BP Adams To Honor Brooklyn Sheroes
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams will host his fifth annual Women’s History Month celebration today.
The event will honor women in various service capacities who are committed to public service and giving back to their communities.
Adams will speak to the importance of female empowerment and leadership in Brooklyn, a borough that is home to the most women-owned businesses in New York City, according to a 2016 study by Center for an Urban Future.
The event is slated or 7 p.m., today, march 29, at Brooklyn Borough Hall- Courtroom, at 209 Joralemon Street in Downtown Brooklyn.
Schumer Announces $60 Million In Funding Protecting Religious Institutions, Nonprofits
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-Brooklyn) alongside U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced yesterday $60 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
The Nonprofit Security Grant Program provides funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of a terrorist attack.
The grants help to protect synagogues, churches, mosques and community centers. According to Schumer’s office, in 2017, anti-semitic incidents increased by 57% over the previous year.
The investment for the program is part of the omnibus spending bill that passed last week and more than doubles the $25 million in federal funding provided to the program last year.
“With hate crimes on the rise, an increase in federal Nonprofit Security Grant funds will help make sure that high-risk organizations, like JCCs, Jewish schools and congregations of all kinds are kept safe and protected from potential racial and religious hate crimes and terror attacks. I stand united with every community across America targeted by hate — against fear, intolerance and intimidation,” said Schumer.
Bichotte Decries Census 2020 Citizenship Question
Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Ditmas Park, Flatbush) denounced the Trump Administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census yesterday.
Late Monday, the Commerce Department announced that the upcoming census will include a citizenship question for the first time since 1950. The census, which is intended to count the entire population, is crucial for determining how federal funds are distributed and congressional districts drawn.
Bichotte claims the census citizenship question will lead to undercounting and a loss of federal funding.
“The Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census will hurt communities – especially immigrant communities and communities of color – throughout New York State. It will undoubtedly reduce Census participation for fear that this information will be used to further the federal government’s anti-immigrant agenda,” said Bichotte.
“Immigration is a fundamental part of the American Dream and a testament to the promise our great nation holds. Hostility to immigrants is not welcome here, and I strongly urge the federal government to reverse its decision so our country can have a fair, accurate Census. Everyone should be counted,” added Bichotte.
Carroll Urges Ban On Fracking In Delaware River Basin
Assembly member Robert Carroll (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington) alongside State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and 37 other members of the Assembly, Senate and City Council urged a complete and permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin yesterday.
In a letter released on Wednesday to the commissioners of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the coalition of 40 elected officials demanded a permanent ban on natural gas development and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and all related activities within the Basin. The Delaware River Basin Commission is a federal-interstate agency formed in 1961 to manage the resources of the Delaware River watershed.
The Delaware River runs through four states – New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware – and provides drinking water for more than 15 million people, including New York City.
Since a moratorium was enacted in 2010, the DRBC has had a de facto prohibition in place on all natural gas extraction projects in the Basin, as well as associated activities including wastewater discharge and water withdrawals. However, new regulations recently proposed by the Commission would allow for some fracking wastewater treatment, storage, and disposal in the watershed, as well as withdrawal of water to be used for fracking operations elsewhere.
“The recently proposed regulations that would allow for the possibility of fracking operations to take place in the Delaware River basin would potentially jeopardize the quality of the drinking water for fifteen million people, including all of New York City,” said Carroll.
