O’Donnell to Host Town Hall on Criminal Justice Reform
Tonight, Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell (D-Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights) will be hosting a virtual town hall on criminal justice reform, and the subject’s relevance to the LGBTQ community.
The town hall will cover a range of subjects, including the repealing of 50-A and the “Gay & Trans Panic” defense for murder. Joining O’Donnell will be Reem Ramadan of the Anti-Violence Project, Ahmed Mohamed of the NEW Pride Agenda, and Stanley Martin of the Center for Community Alternatives.
The event will take place tonight at 7 p.m. over Zoom. To register, click here.
Rivera, Epstein, Kavanagh to Sponsor Food Giveaway
Councilmember Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park), Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-Lower East Side, East Village) and State Senator Brian Kavanagh (D-Lower East Side) will be co-sponsoring Vision Urbana’s meal and pantry item giveaway today.
Founded in 1993, Vision Urbana is an LES-based nonprofit whose purpose is to provide assistance to low-income and economically distressed New Yorkers. Today’s even will have them dole out free container meals and pantry items – courtesy of DanielNYC and CityMeals, respectively.
The event will take place today from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at 100 Pitt St.
Cuomo Announces $15.1 Million in Funding to Support Emergency Preparedness and Response
Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that $15.1 million in federal funding has been made available to New York to support planning and readiness for disasters.
The $15.1 million the state received this year is a slight uptick from the $15.03 million they received in FY2019. 51 percent of the funding will go towards measures to support the state’s overall readiness; the remaining 49 percent will be distributed to individual counties based on population.
“Whether its fighting against an invisible enemy like COVID-19, or helping communities withstand the dangers of extreme weather, local governments play a critical role in emergency management and we need to make every effort to support our local partners and help ensure they have the resources they need to keep New Yorkers safe,” Cuomo said. “With this funding in hand, our local partners will now be better positioned to protect the communities they serve no matter what this new reality throws at us.”
Schumer, Gillibrand Call on Con Ed For Answers Regarding Power Outages
Yesterday, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D) wrote a letter to Con Edison CEO John McAvoy, expressing concern over the recent string of power outages after Tropical Storm Isaias.
It has been more than a week since Isaias tore through the Tri-State Area; despite this, nearly 600 Con Ed customers still lack power. According to a report Con Ed released last Tuesday, a total of 257,000 customers lost power during the storm.
“We are writing to express our deep concern over the prolonged power outages for hundreds of thousands of New York households following Tropical Storm Isaias,” they wrote. “While the impact from the storm resulted in substantial and widespread property damage, dangerous road conditions and closures, downed trees, and power outages across the Northeast, it is unacceptable that thousands of New Yorkers are still without electricity one week after the weather event, and will potentially remain without power for even longer.”
Read the full letter here.
