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@ReuvenBlau
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Senior Reporter @TheCityNY. Co-author of "Rikers: An Oral History" Denver native.
Brooklyn, NY
Joined July 2011
Super excited to announce the preorder sale page for "Rikers: An Oral History." @graham_rayman and I have spent the past two plus years interviewing everyone from COs to commissioners to mental health clinicians. They've shared some harrowing stories. https://t.co/nF7HAmGYrZ
penguinrandomhouse.com
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A shocking, groundbreaking oral history of the infamous Rikers jail complex and an unflinching portrait of injustice and resilience told by the people...
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Adams Boosts Budget, Leaving a $4.7 Billion Hole for Mamdani:
thecity.nyc
Looming budget deficits, no provisions for federal aid cuts and new commitments mark the departing mayor’s last word on the city’s financial plan.
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New: Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is backing a bid to re-sentence a prominent counselor in the Hasidic Jewish community who was originally sentenced to 103 years in prison for repeatedly abusing an adolescent girl. https://t.co/HEnw7IDDV7
thecity.nyc
The office of Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez argues the original 103-year sentence for Nechemya Weberman was excessive. His victim objects.
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A new proposal would require judges who hand down sentences or make detention decisions to conduct meaningful prison visits annually. The proposed change would be the first of its kind in the nation and mandate in-depth judicial visits to state prisons. https://t.co/RRJqGmD8OP
thecity.nyc
For decades, many New York judges skipped required visits. A new rule would change that.
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New: While a 29-year-old detainee with severe mental illness was on the brink of death in his Rikers Island cell last month, a medical staffer stood outside his cell door spraying air freshener, according to a Board of Correction report https://t.co/NJ6uEJ99PM via @THECITYNY
thecity.nyc
A Board of Correction review into the death of 29-year-old Ardit Billa reveals lapses by correction officers, falsified log entries and missed safety checks — failures that advocates say are routine...
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Coney Island casino would be great for the area says former elected official who is being paid by the casino w/o disclosing that in this DN editorial.
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“Deaths in NYPD custody have surged to levels not seen in at least a decade, with 40 people dying in 2023 and 2024 combined — roughly double the toll of any two-year period since at least 2016.”
thecity.nyc
Forty people died while in police custody in 2023 and 2024 — the highest two-year toll in nearly a decade. With at least nine more deaths this year, though a downward trend, advocates are calling for...
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As a federal judge contemplates who to assign to take over managing Rikers Island, Carlos Cruz, 43, has become the 12th person to die in a city jail this year — as he waited more than two months to be transferred upstate. https://t.co/P4OJkGTHo7
thecity.nyc
Carlos Cruz, 43, sentenced to five years for arson, died while waiting more than two months to be transferred to state prison amid a mounting crisis inside city jails.
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Inbox: The city Correction Department just announced another death on Rikers Island, the 12 this year and third over the past week. The judge overseeing the department is currently looking over candidates for a “remediation manager” role. She’s taken the entire summer.
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Inbox: Rikers Island detainee Jimmy Avila, 34, died at 4:29 p.m. He’s the 11th death on Rikers this year. Last weekend, Ardit Billa, 29, was found dead inside his cell covered in feces. He was housed in a specialized unit for detainees w/serious mental health conditions.
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A top NYPD official in charge of transportation is under investigation for an alleged hit and run of a parked car — and then trying to cover it up. “He’s in a lot of trouble,” a senior NYPD source said. “It’s a serious case.”
thecity.nyc
Franklin Sepulveda is accused of sideswiping a car then telling a subordinate to lie — and the case is now under Internal Affairs review.
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The PACE unit on Rikers Island is supposed to provide the highest care w/nurses and psychiatrists. On Saturday, Ardit Billa, 29, was found dead inside his PACE cell covered in feces. He hadn't left his cell in days. My latest —> https://t.co/qLk1KUBRu4
thecity.nyc
Investigators are examining whether mandatory 30-minute checks were missed or if signs of medical distress went unnoticed in the death of 29-year-old Ardit Billa.
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.@nycmayor has been denied matching funds again, as @ZohranKMamdani gets more than $1.6M, @CurtisSliwa gets more than $1.9M, and @JimWalden_esq gets more than $237K No money for @andrewcuomo either
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A vote on a massive makeover of industrial Brooklyn coastline for the fifth time this year, multiple sources told THE CITY — once again leaving the future of a $3.5 billion port redevelopment plan up in the air.
thecity.nyc
Amid persistent local pushback in Red Hook, the city’s Economic Development Agency says it will continue to press for local support for a project to build thousands of apartments and revive a port on...
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The clerks at the store where I get my lunch said a man came in last week and asked them where the public entrance to 26 Federal Plaza was. He locked his bike outside, and it’s been there since.
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A 104-bed facility for seriously ill detainees is mostly finished but unopened — three years late and nearly double its original cost — because the Department of Correction says it lacks enough officers to secure it. https://t.co/QLGzijaGpL
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Read this story from @ReuvenBlau. I defy you to walk away from it without sputtering and shaking with frustration. This is something that government has to be able to get done.
thecity.nyc
A 104-bed facility for seriously ill detainees is mostly finished but unopened — three years late and nearly double its original cost — because the Department of Correction says it lacks enough...
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Truly horrifying footage. It took medical ten minutes to arrive while a CO stood and watched Nieves essentially bleed to death from a cut to his neck.
New🚨: Rikers Island guards stood by as Michael Nieves bled out onto the floor after cutting his throat with a razor. Their inaction, a medical examiner said, contributed to his death. We obtained video of what went wrong, making it public for the 1st time
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Inbox: the eighth death in city Department of Correction custody. Christian Collado, 51, was “receiving palliative care” before he passed away early this morning. He’s the 41st death in DOC custody since Eric Adams became mayor in January 2022.
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Dr. Robert Cohen, a watchdog on NYC’s jail oversight board, is resigning after 16 years. He didn't hold back: “Rikers Island is a hellhole.” “40 deaths in the Adams administration is 40 deaths too many.” “The city and state should release prisoners.” https://t.co/yoDLLZs8jY
thecity.nyc
Despite a growing number of detainees, the city’s jail oversight board rejected a request to expand dorm capacity — leaving officials scrambling for alternatives.
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