The Thorn

Local News

The Census Bureau announced that New York will lose one congressional seat. The state fell 89 people short of the needed population count to keep all its current seats.
Boosted by an infusion of federal aid and a state budget that raised taxes on the wealthy, Mayor de Blasio proposed a $98.6 billion budget for fiscal year 2022, the largest in city history. The mayor’s Executive Budget will now be debated and amended by the City Council before it can be passed on July 1.
Mayor de Blasio’s proposed budget includes $377 million to make free preschool available for all 3-year-olds by 2023. It also includes half a billion dollars for testing and tutoring to help students catch up after a year of disruptions due to the pandemic.
Governor Cuomo’s effort to cover up nursing home deaths went on for longer than previously reported. Aides prevented the state’s health officials from releasing the death toll for at least five months.
New York State still does not have a spending plan to reach the emissions targets set two years ago in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Environmental activists are concerned that energy-intensive Bitcoin mining in New York State could undermine the State’s climate goals.
More than 1,000 NYU graduate students are striking for higher wages, better health care, and a reduced police presence on campus.

A woman who interned for Scott Stringer in 2001 accused the mayoral candidate of sexually harassing and abusing her while she worked for him. The Working Families Party and a slew of progressive politicians have since withdrawn their endorsements of Stringer.
Brittany Ramos DeBarros, who is running in the 11th Congressional District (Staten Island) to unseat Republican Congressmember Nicole Maliotakis, has raised a substantial sum of money and is receiving significant out of state support.
Gotham Gazette covered the primary in City Council District 35, which is framed as a two-way race between Michael Hollingsworth, a tenant organizer and DSA-endorsed candidate, and Crystal Hudson, a former Laurie Cumbo staffer.
Bradley Tusk, the founder of the lobbying firm that is managing Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign, also manages Tusk Ventures, a venture capital firm for tech startups, many with business and regulatory matters before the City.
While several candidates running for Manhattan DA claim they will shorten sentences, only two—civil rights attorney Tahanie Aboushi and public defender Eliza Orlins— told New York Focus they would never seek sentences longer than 20 years.
Andrew Yang received the endorsement of a coalition of Orthodox Jewish sects in Brooklyn. Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein and Council Member Kalman Yeger, who both represent predominantly Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, also endorsed Yang for mayor.