Author: MAK Gojar

“Redirecting our public funds to a public bank would enable the city to divest from banks that harm New Yorkers, and invest in tenant-owned housing, community land trusts, worker cooperative small businesses, and green energy projects—leveraging our tax dollars to strengthen communities rather than prey on them.” Doug Turetsky Advocates with the New Economy Project at a press conference in 2023 calling for the creation of a public bank. CityViews are readers’ opinions, not those of City Limits. Add your voice today! Tenant harassment is so pervasive in New York City that practically every New Yorker has a story to…

City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon. Adi Talwar Homes on 111th Avenue near 167th Street in Queens. Welcome to City Limits’ NYC Housing Calendar, a weekly feature where we round up the latest housing and land use-related events and hearings, as well as upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon. Know of an event we should include in next week’s calendar? Email us. Upcoming Housing and Land Use-Related Events: Monday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m.: The City Planning Commission will hold a review session…

New York lawmakers may give Gov. Kathy Hochul more time to schedule special elections, a move backed by the House Democratic leader that could keep a key seat vacant for months. ​New York lawmakers may give Gov. Kathy Hochul more time to schedule special elections, a move backed by the House Democratic leader that could keep a key seat vacant for months.    When Albany Democrats began discussing a rewrite of New York’s special election law in recent days, seemingly out of the blue, they framed it publicly as a matter of good governance. But behind the scenes, their motivation was…

President Trump could soon sign an executive order directing the secretary of education to dismantle the federal Department of Education, sources told ABC News.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Samoa’s top health official on Monday denounced as “a complete lie” remarks that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made during his bid to become U.S. health secretary, rejecting his claim that some who died in the country’s 2019 measles epidemic didn’t have the disease. “We don’t know what was killing them,” Kennedy said during tense U.S. Senate hearings last week on whether he should oversee the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, suggesting that the cause of the 83 deaths — mostly of children under age 5 — was unclear. “It’s a total fabrication,” Samoa Director-General…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada as America’s two largest trading partners took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking. The pauses provide a cool-down period after a tumultuous few days that put North America on the cusp of a trade war that could have crushed economic growth, caused prices to soar and ended two of the United States’ most critical partnerships. “Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted…

LOS ANGELES — The Pacific Coast Highway reopened Monday, nearly a month after it was closed when flames from the deadly Palisades Fire ripped through hillside Los Angeles neighborhoods, destroying properties all the way down to the beach. Traffic along the scenic shoreline route began moving again at 8 a.m. with just one lane in each direction and limited speed from Santa Monica northwest to the Ventura County line. “Essential traffic only is strongly encouraged,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement. Cleanup and utility repairs continue, and Horvath warned that “this will not be the same…

NEW YORK — A federal judge presiding over the heated public feud between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over whether sexual harassment occurred during the making of “It Ends With Us” warned lawyers Monday to obey court rules about public statements meant to ensure a fair trial. Judge Lewis J. Liman suggested he could make the March 9, 2026, trial happen sooner if lawyers were unable to stop making fiery public comments that could contaminate a potential jury pool. Neither actor attended the Manhattan federal court hearing where lawyers again repeated their claims that their adversaries weren’t playing fair.…

SANTORINI, Greece — Authorities deployed emergency rescue crews to Greece’s volcanic island of Santorini on Monday as hundreds of people scrambled to leave after a spike in seismic activity raised concerns about a potentially powerful earthquake. Schools on four islands were also to shutter through Friday. Precautions were also ordered on several nearby Aegean Sea islands — all popular summer vacation destinations — after more than 200 undersea earthquakes were recorded in the area over the past three days. “We have a very intense geological phenomenon to handle,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said from Brussels, where he was attending a…

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball fired umpire Pat Hoberg on Monday for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to baseball’s investigation. MLB opened the investigation last February when it was brought to its attention by the sportsbook, and Hoberg did not umpire last season. While MLB said the investigation did not uncover evidence Hoberg personally bet on baseball or manipulated games, senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill recommended May 24 that Hoberg be fired. Commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday he upheld Hill’s…

TORONTO — The leader of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said Monday he will pause all retaliatory measures against the United States after news broke that the threat of tariffs has been put on hold for a month. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said earlier Monday that he was ripping up a contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Canada. Ford had also said he was also banning the sale of American booze and blocking American companies from provincial contracts. “We have some good news today. We have temporarily averted tariffs that would…

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is rapidly consolidating control over large swaths of the federal government with President Donald Trump ’s blessing, sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and dismantling a leading source of humanitarian assistance. The speed and scope of his work has been nothing short of stunning. In a little more than two weeks since Trump took office, the world’s richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of cutting spending and pushing out employees. None of this is happening with congressional approval, inviting a constitutional clash over the limits…

LONDON — It was quite the journey for such tiny froglets: traveling thousands of miles from the forests of southern Chile to London, carried and brooded inside their fathers’ vocal sacs for safety. London Zoo said Monday that 33 endangered Darwin’s frogs, named after scientist Charles Darwin who discovered the species, were born in their new home as part of a rescue mission to save the species from extinction. Known populations of Darwin’s frogs have suffered a 90% decline within a year since a deadly disease known as chytrid fungus arrived in 2023 in their habitat, the Parque Tantauco forests…

A federal jury found that Onofre Salas-Lozano attacked his subordinate during 2021 night shift, then lied to investigators.    PALO ALTO — A former janitorial supervisor has been convicted of sexually assaulting a subordinate employee during a night shift at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital nearly four years ago, according to court records and federal authorities. A federal jury found Onofre Salas-Lozano, 42, guilty of aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse by fear, and lying to a federal agent following a three-week trial that ended Friday. Salas-Lozano was indicted in April 2023 in connection with the July 2, 2021 encounter at…

The homicide was the city’s first in 2025. Police investigated 14 last year.    HAYWARD — A 68-year-old man purported to be a landlord died after being shot Sunday, and investigators arrested another man on suspicion of first-degree murder, authorities said. Authorities did not identify the dead man immediately, pending the notification of relatives and the status of the investigation. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | ICE agents make appearance in Concord Crime and Public Safety | Person found dead in aftermath of two-alarm blaze at Oakland warehouse Crime and Public Safety | Man shot dead in East Oakland on…

The family pet also perished in the blaze, officials said.    BERKELEY — A fire at a house early Monday killed one person and hospitalized three others, authorities said. Related Articles Crashes and Disasters | Person found dead in aftermath of two-alarm blaze at Oakland warehouse Crashes and Disasters | Martinez Refinery fire contained, investigations ongoing Crashes and Disasters | Explosion causes massive fire at troubled Martinez refinery Crashes and Disasters | Bay Area underground punk venue’s legacy lives on Crashes and Disasters | East Bay veterans unhappy with county over downtown fire station plan A family pet also perished in…

The terms of his sentencing state he can’t contact kids “unless with a responsible adult who knows that you are a registered sex offender.”    DUBLIN — A Hayward man has been sentenced to a year of house arrest, a probation term, and must register as a sex offender for 10 years after pleading no contest to attempting to meet a minor for lewd purposes, court records show. Ralphjoab Lucasia, 32, was sentenced as part of a plea agreement with Alameda County prosecutors. He was arrested last year following a Dublin police sting operation where an undercover cop posed as a…

In the rolling hills of Kentucky where most of the world’s bourbon supply is crafted, the prospect of a new trade war feels like an aching hangover that won’t go away. Kentucky bourbon producers again found themselves in the crosshairs as a target for retaliation after President Donald Trump ordered new tariffs on U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico. On Monday, Trump and the leaders of Canada and Mexico put their planned tariffs on hold for at least a month to allow further negotiations. But the lack of a final resolution still has some elected leaders and industry officials concerned about…

The association representing thousands of FBI agents urged congressional leaders Monday to protect the jobs of employees at risk of punishment or possibly termination over their participation in investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The letter from the FBI Agents Association, which represents the interests of more than 14,000 current and retired agents, follows the revelation that thousands of employees were asked over the weekend to complete a detailed questionnaire about their involvement in Jan. 6 investigations. Separately Monday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Trump’s picks to run the FBI and Justice…

Immigration advocacy groups on Monday sued the Trump administration over its ban on asylum access at the southern border, saying the sweeping restrictions illegally put people who are fleeing war and persecution in harm’s way. The decision outlined in one of President Donald Trump’s immigration-related executive orders is “as unlawful as it is unprecedented,” the groups — led by the American Civil Liberties Union — said in the complaint, filed in a Washington federal court. “The government is doing just what Congress by statute decreed that the United States must not do. It is returning asylum seekers — not just…