50-A Repealed + Myrie Pushes to Outlaw Geofence Warrants

Local News:

• After weeks of protests against police brutality, Gov. Cuomo signed a package of police reform bills including one outlawing police chokeholds (which have been against NYPD regulations since 1993) and another to repeal “50-a”, the section of New York law that kept police disciplinary records from the public.
• The Intercept and the New Yorker spoke to progressives in State and City politics who are voicing their anger at Mayor De Blasio’s handling of the police throughout his tenure.
• Hundreds of Mayor De Blasio’s current and former staffers protested his continued defense of the NYPD and his poor record on issues of racial justice.
• The Civilian Complaint Review Board, which has not conducted in-person interviews with police officers since March, wants to resume such interviews this month via Webex, but the police unions are refusing to cooperate.
• Amid calls to “defund the police” and cut the NYPD budget by $1 billion, some politicians and union officials aim to accomplish this by shifting administrative work from police officers to civilians.
• During the protests, the NYPD told officers not to appear in court for over a week, delaying pretrial hearings for an unknown number of people sitting in crowded jails.
• Ithaca passed a resolution allowing the Mayor to cancel rent for tenants during the pandemic.
• An essential worker was incarcerated for a week after being caught in a mass arrest of protesters in the Bronx.
• The system for selective admissions in New York City high schools has fallen apart due to coronavirus, and many school activists hope to use this as an opportunity to reimagine a system that has resulted in one of the most segregated school systems in the country.

Elections: 

• New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) is using the protests against police brutality to push for a State law outlawing “geofence warrants,” which allows the police to get location data for large groups of people.
• Gotham Gazette covered the race between incumbent Aravella Simotas and DSA-endorsee Zohran Mamdani in the 36th Assembly District (Astoria).
• The Nation interviewed Phara Souffrant Forrest. The Forge interviewed Souffrant Forrest and her campaign manager, Tascha Van Auken. 
• The New York Times released its endorsements in New York congressional and State legislature elections, including Jamaal Bowman against Eliot Engel.
• In the wake of negative press for his campaign and progressives coalescing around his opponent Jamaal Bowman, incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx) is getting support from two different dark money groups, which have combined to spend over $250,000 on the race. Voters have reported receiving texts referring to “communists trying to take over the Democratic party.” The Engel campaign denies being behind the texts.
• The Board of Elections has received over ten times as many absentee ballot requests as it did in the 2016 primary, and is struggling to keep up with requests.
• Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou is facing opposition from some establishment Democrats in her reelection bid against a well-funded challenger.
• Kings County Politics explains how to vote for presidential delegates in the New York primary.
• Early voting has begun at a limited number of locations across the City, and will continue until primary day on June 23. To look up where your early voting site is, click here.