new york
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Legalize It, But Make It Equitable: Black Lawmakers in New York Fight for Economic Parity in Cannabis Bill
A push to legalize marijuana in New York may stall out this year, as black lawmakers demand the state do right by African American communities, who have been disproportionately impacted by draconian drug laws. While legalization could ensure black and Latinx people are no longer targeted for marijuana offenses, legalization should also provide a pathway…
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Prosecutors Around the Country Petition Governor Andrew Cuomo, State Lawmakers to End Cash Bail in New York
Earlier this week, 15 of the country’s most progressive prosecutors co-signed a letter urging New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to overhaul the state’s current detention policy by abolishing pretrial cash bail. The letter, sent to Albany on March 6, was signed by some of the country’s most prominent reform-minded prosecutors, including St. Louis County’s Wesley…
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New York State Department of Education to Investigate Alleged Strip-search of Four Black Middle School Girls
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked the State Department of Education to investigate the claims of four middle school black girls who claim they were strip-searched during school in Binghamton, New York. The school district has also announced its hiring of an independent firm to review the allegations. The four Eastern Middle School students,…
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New York Middle School Denies It Conducted Strip Search on Four 12-Year-Old Black Girls
A school board in upstate New York is denying allegations that four black middle schoolers were strip-searched last week in a school nurse’s office. The claims rippled through the Binghamton, N.Y., community, prompting hundreds of concerned residents to come out to a school board meeting this week to demand why no action had been taken…
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New York Teen Collapsed and Died During Basketball Practice and a Family Is Left With Questions
Sixteen-year-old Lenny Pierre was practicing with the John Bowne High School basketball team in Queens, N.Y., on Wednesday, when he began feeling lightheaded and collapsed. School staff called 911 and he was rushed to a local hospital. “I’m in shock. I was at work and got a call saying that he was lightheaded and he…
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Statue of Fredrick Douglass, Umar Johnson's 8th Cousin On His Father’s Side, Destroyed
Two grown-ass men decided that it would fun to steal a statue of Fredrick Douglass, who was reportedly minding his own business and just hanging out because that’s what statues do. Fortunately, the Rochester, N.Y., police weren’t fucking around and apprehended the men who were reportedly sitting at a bus stop with old Fredrick Douglass…
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TV Crew Filming Police Brutality Scene in Eric Garner’s Neighborhood Kicked Out by Angry Residents
Sometimes you have to admit when you’re wrong. For instance, I was always puzzled why people felt the need to defend monuments to the dead, such as Confederate monuments, as if history could be confined to a slab of stone or a sliver of real estate. Aside from the obvious racial implications, I thought those…
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Pregnant Airline Worker Who Asked to be Reassigned to Avoid Fumes Was Suspended Instead—and Ended Up Homeless
Pregnant mother Symone Ellis was only hoping to get away from the noxious fumes that come from airplanes at her job with Global Elite Group, an aviation security firm that staffs New York’s Kennedy Airport. Instead, Ellis, who is dealing with a high-risk pregnancy, told the New York Daily News her April request to be…