Tag: New York

Liberal Students, Academics Seek to Revoke Conservatives’ Honorary Degrees

Star News Staff

Multiple universities across the country have rescinded honorary degrees, which are given to recognize the achievements of individuals who were not students at the university, from prominent members of the Trump administration.

Last month, Syracuse University put wheels in motion to rescind an honorary degree from former New York City mayor and lawyer to former President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Business Insider reported. The university has not revoked an honorary degree in its 152-year history.

Giuliani argued that there was widespread election fraud during the 2020 election. He faced a criminal probe in Georgia regarding the presidential election results and appeared before a grand jury in August.

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Commentary: Republicans Can Thank the Federal Government’s Bungled 2020 Census for Their Razor-Thin House Majority

Admin

Republicans will soon take control of the House of Representatives, but with a margin so narrow it may prove difficult to achieve their legislative and oversight objectives. That margin might have been larger, were it not for egregious errors made by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census.

Come January, House membership will consist of 213 Democrats and 222 Republicans. A party must hold 218 of those seats to control the House. Thus, Republicans will have only a four-seat majority. That extremely narrow majority means that GOP leadership can lose any vote on any issue if only four Republicans defect and the Democrats stay united in opposition.

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Commentary: New York and California in a Race to Hit Rock Bottom

Virginia Star Staff

Throughout much of the 20th century, America’s status as an economic superpower and the world’s standard-bearer for freedom and opportunity was due in no small measure to the successes of New York and California. Today, those states have become symbols of America’s decline, as the consequences of their incompetent, partisan leadership are now undeniable. Nowhere is this clearer than how these two formerly great states have addressed immigration.

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Google Agrees to Nearly $400 Million Settlement with 40 States over Location-Tracking Probe

Just the News

Google agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states after an investigation found that the tech giant participated in questionable location-tracking practices, state attorneys general announced Monday.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called it a “historic win for consumers.”

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NYC to Spend More than Half a Billion Dollars Supporting Illegal Migrants

Admin

New York City is expected to spend nearly $600 million to support illegal migrants over the course of one year, according to a report released Sunday by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO).

The city is expected to spend close to $580 million on shelter accommodations, public school, health care, legal assistance and other forms of aid, according to the IBO report. Approximately 23,000 illegal migrants have arrived in the Big Apple since April.

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‘This Is a Disgrace’: Experts, GOP Reps Call On the Biden Admin to Shut Down a Secret Chinese Police Station in NYC

Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. government must immediately investigate and shutter the recently discovered overseas Chinese government police station in New York City for potential violation of U.S. laws, several experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In 2022, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established secret police stations in over 100 cities around the world to conduct intimidation and harassment operations against overseas Chinese, human rights organization Safeguard Defenders revealed in a September report. While other countries have announced probes into the alleged police stations, the location within American Changle Association — a Chinatown community organization in New York City — continues to operate outside legal boundaries and should be shut down, experts told the DCNF.

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Poll: Republican Lee Zeldin Gains Lead In New York Governor’s Race

Virginia Star Staff

Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York, who is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul, has taken the lead in the race for the first time, per a new poll.

Zeldin currently has the support of 48.4% of respondents, compared to Hochul’s 47.6%, a lead of 0.8 points, according to the poll by The Trafalgar Group released Monday. Per RealClearPolitics, this is the first major poll that has shown a lead for Zeldin, a Long Islander representing New York’s 1st Congressional District.

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Massive Crowd Gathers for Zeldin Rally with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Virginia Star Staff

by Madeleine Hubbard   Rep. Lee Zeldin, New York’s Republican nominee for governor, said thousands of people attended his Long Island, New York, rally with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. With both men facing gubernatorial elections next week, some observers online noted that the giant turnout for the rally Saturday evening with DeSantis may foreshadow…

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Commentary: As Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Stumps for Republicans, Many Ask If She Has Coattails

Virginia Star Staff

On polls taken up to Oct. 17, Arizona Republican nominee for Governor Kari Lake was leading her opponent Katie Hobbs by 3 and 4 points respectively in Daily Wire/Trafalgar and Data for Progress polls. And then she got the endorsement of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, fresh off leaving the Democratic Party, on Oct. 18 in a Twitter post.

“For too long, establishment leaders from both parties have sought to enrich themselves, play games, and build up their power while ignoring and even enabling the suffering of millions of hard-working Americans,” Gabbard said in a press release, adding, “Kari Lake is a leader who puts people first, fighting for border security, energy independence, public safety, and other policies that actually make life better and more affordable for the American people.”

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Commentary: Yet Again, New York Is Sticking It to Religious Schools

RealClearWire

New York education bureaucrats are rapidly and gleefully ditching standards for what children in public schools should learn. Why then are they increasing their imposition on private yeshivas?  

The State Board of Regents has finalized new regulatory oversight of yeshivas, and the standards by which these and other private schools can demonstrate that their education is “substantially equivalent” to what is offered in government-run schools.

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NYC Abandons De Blasio-Era Admissions Policies as Families Flee Public Schools

Admin

New York City is changing its admission policies implemented by former Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, now basing admissions to selective high schools and middle schools on test scores amidst the city’s enrollment drop, according to a press release by New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks.

In an effort to admit “top-performing applicants,” the top 15% of students with a grade point average (GPA) of 90 or above, will be vetted first for the selective schools, according to a press release by Banks. The previous admissions policy was a random lottery that allowed underperforming students to receive admission to the screened schools, introduced during the pandemic.

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New York Will Ban Gas Car Sales by 2035, Copying California

Virginia Star Staff

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said Thursday that it will follow California’s lead by banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars and light trucks by 2035.

All passenger cars, pickup trucks and SUVs sold in the state will have to be classified as “zero-emissions vehicles” by no later than 2035, according to a press release. Hochul directed the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to begin implementing the new rules that will also require 35% of state vehicle sales to consist of electric cars by 2026, rising to 68% by 2030.

“With sustained state and federal investments, our actions are incentivizing New Yorkers, local governments, and businesses to make the transition to electric vehicles,” Hochul said.

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Project Veritas Exposes New York City Middle School Teacher Encouraging Children to ‘Throw Bricks’ at People Who Oppose Her Political Agenda

Susan Berry, PhD

A New York City middle school English teacher told a Project Veritas (PV) undercover journalist she encourages her students to engage in political violence by teaching them “to throw bricks,” not to “black and brown communities,” but at “the people that are actually doing the things that [need to] change.”

In the fourth video of its education series titled “The Secret Curriculum,” New York City Department of Education middle school teacher Ariane Franco is heard telling the PV journalist she teaches her students “there’s strategic ways” to engage in violent protests against the people who oppose her political agenda.

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Merchant Banking Organization: Gun, Ammunition Purchases by Credit Card Will be Coded

The Center Square
An unloaded handgun sitting on the center console of a vehicle with the magazine clip next to it

The international organization responsible for creating merchant category codes for credit card purchases has given its approval to establish one for transactions made at gun stores.

The International Organization for Standardization’s Registration and Maintenance Management Group met on Wednesday to discuss a request made by Amalgamated Bank to set up such a code.

An ISO spokesperson told The Center Square that RMMG members could not decide whether to approve the application. That elevated the discussion to the ISO leadership that oversees standards for retail financial services.

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Bannon Surrenders to New York Authorities on Fraud, Money Laundering Charges Related to Wall Fundraising

Just the News

Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon surrendered Thursday to New York authorities, on fraud and money laundering charges in connection to fundraising efforts to complete the southern U.S. border wall.

Bannon and unnamed others in the fundraising effort in New York and elsewhere from about Feb. 4, 2019, to roughly Oct. 10 of that year “knowing that the property involved in one and more financial transactions, to wit, money donated to WeBuildTheWall, Inc. through a crowdfunding website, represented the proceeds of a Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, conducted one and more such financial transactions,” according the an eight-page indictment obtained by CNN. 

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New York Gov. Hochul Calls Remote Learning During Pandemic ‘A Mistake’

The Center Square

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday called it “a mistake” the state switched to remote learning in schools at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago.

Hochul, a Democrat running to serve a full term in November, made her remarks during a wide-ranging speech at the University of Albany commemorating Women’s Equality Day. That included her calling on the Department of Labor to study the impact the coronavirus had on women in the workforce.

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30 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic, at Least a Dozen States Are Under ‘Emergency’ Orders

Admin

In October 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court stripped Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of the unilateral powers she was using when she declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer had been using a 1945 law – which was prompted by a three-day race riot in Detroit three years earlier – that had no sunset provision in it and didn’t require approval by the state legislature.

In May 2021, Whitmer told a news agency that if she still had that 1945 state-of-emergency law, she would use those powers, but not for anything related to a pandemic.

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‘Misled the Public:’ Oversight Launches Investigation into Nursing Home COVID Deaths

The Center Square

Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and the House Oversight Committee have joined forces in an investigation over the thousands of nursing home deaths in New York state during COVID, saying New York Democrats ignored previous inquiries.

The controversy began in 2020 when thousands of New York nursing home residents died during the pandemic, drawing extra scrutiny to then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s policy of sending elderly patients recovering from COVID-19 into nursing homes.

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Lee Zeldin Attacker Re-Arrested on Federal Assault Charge

Admin

The man who was released without bail after allegedly attacking New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin was re-arrested on a federal assault charge on Saturday, authorities stated.

David Jakubonis, 43, is accused of storming the stage of Zeldin’s campaign event Thursday evening during a campaign speech about bail reform in Perinton, N.Y.

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Dem Governor Urges Biden to Use Military Bases for Abortions

Admin

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday urged the Biden administration to consider opening up military bases for abortions to women living in states that heavily restrict the procedure, ABC News reported.

Since military bases are considered federal lands, Hochul argued in a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden that federal law would allow them to override state bans, according to ABC. Her suggestion heeds widespread outcries from  Democratic politicians about loss of women’s rights following the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 overturning Roe V. Wade.

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Cornell University Removes Lincoln Bust and Gettysburg Address from Display After Student Complaint

Admin

Cornell University recently admitted to removing both a bust of President Abraham Lincoln and a plaque of the Gettysburg Address from its library after a student anonymously complained about the display, presumably due to so-called “racism.”

Fox News reports that biology professor Randy Wayne gave a very brief statement on the matter, simply saying “someone complained, and it was gone.” Wayne said that he first noticed the missing display several weeks earlier and asked the librarians what had happened, to which he was told that the school had received some kind of complaint; the librarians refused to provide any specific details on the nature of the complaint.

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Another Pro-Life Facility Is Firebombed; Pro-Abortion Terrorist Group Jane’s Revenge Takes Credit

Admin

A pro-life medical office and pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York, was heavily damaged in a terroristic firebombing early Tuesday morning in the latest attack on pro-lifers. There have been dozens of reports of left-wing violence and vandalism targeting churches and pro-life facilities since news broke of a leaked draft ruling indicating that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.

Windows in the CompassCare reception room and nurses’ office were reportedly broken and fires lit. Jane’s Revenge, the same militant pro-abortion group that firebombed a pro-life office in Wisconsin last month, reportedly took credit for the attack, leaving graffiti reading “Jane Was Here” on the building.

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Dem-Appointed New York Judge Unravels Liberal Plot to Racialize School Admissions

Admin

A New York judge tossed out a lawsuit Wednesday that alleged New York City schools’ Gifted and Talented programs created a racial caste system.

Integrate NYC along with 13 high school students brought the lawsuit against New York City in March 2021, seeking to eliminate the city’s Gifted and Talented programs as well as current middle high school admission screens, according to court documents. The lawsuit argued that the city’s Gifted and Talented programs were ” discriminatory gatekeeping mechanisms” and contributed to an “educational caste system.”

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Democrats’ Dreams Turn to Dust as Adjudicated Redistricting Maps Set the Stage for Large Republican Gains in 2022

Virginia Star Staff

The Democratic Party’s hopes of gaining seats from redistricting have been crushed as court decisions and an increasingly aggressive GOP produced more Republican-friendly maps.

Democrats were initially optimistic that they could mitigate projected midterm losses in the House when it appeared they were poised to score wins in the redistricting process. However, the party’s hopes have been dashed after key losses in major states erased their redistricting advantage.

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New Study Shows Red States Handled COVID-19 Better Than Blue States

Virginia Star Staff

A new study by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity found that states led by Republicans did a better job than Democrat-led states at managing the coronavirus and keeping their states from slumping into an economic and social recession.

As reported by The Daily Caller, the three states that ranked the worst in mortality, economy, and schooling during the COVID pandemic were New Jersey, New York, and California, all of which had implemented some of the strictest lockdown measures in the nation. By contrast, the states that ranked the highest were Utah, Vermont, and Nebraska.

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Amazon Prepares to Go on the Offensive Against Newly Unionized Employees

Virginia Star Staff

Amazon plans to go on the offensive against the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) following its successful bid to unionize Amazon workers on April 1 in New York City, according to legal documents filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Amazon intends to appeal the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in a 55% majority vote at a Staten Island, New York City warehouse to unionize the facility’s workers. The company argues that labor groups influenced the outcome of the vote.

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Judge Throws Out New York Dems’ Dream Redistricting Map

Virginia Star Staff

A judge in upstate New York has rejected the state’s new congressional map for not being “bipartisan,” ordering the Democratic-controlled legislature to redraw them.

“Part of the problem is these maps were void …for failure to follow the constitutional process of having bipartisan maps presented by the [independent redistricting commission],” Steuben County Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister said in his decision released Thursday, according to the New York Post. “The second problem was the congressional map that was presented was determined to be gerrymandered.”

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New York City Population Dwindled by More Than 300,000 Last Year

The Center Square

New York City saw a population decline of more than 300,000 people over a 12-month span ending July 1, 2021, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The city’s population fell by 305,665 people or 3.5 percent. As The Empire Center noted, the metropolis accounted for almost all of the state’s one-year record decline.

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Over 120,000 Students and Families Have Left NYC Public Schools in Last Five Years

Admin

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) is bracing for a potential massive loss in its budget after over 120,000 students and families have left the city’s public school system over the last five years.

The New York Post reports that the city’s Chancellor of Schools David Banks addressed the matter before the City Council’s Education Committee on Monday, warning that the decline in enrollment could negatively impact the system’s budget plans for the coming years.

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Commentary: What Happens in New York Doesn’t Stay in New York

Virginia Star Staff

It seems like every day America is becoming more anti-American than the day before. The Biden administration just keeps shooting for the “how can we out-do ourselves in pushing our Marxist policies” prize, and blue states are in lockstep. The American people keep getting whacked day in and day out, and the media is complicit. No one is safe these days in Biden’s America.

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New York City Fires over 1,400 Workers Who Failed to Meet Deadline for COVID-19 Vaccine

Virginia Star Staff

New York City recently fired nearly 1,500 municipal workers who failed to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, officials said Monday.

City officials said 1,430 workers were fired Friday and that the number represents less than 1% of the city’s 370,000-person workforce. The number was also far smaller than what they had predicted.

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Pro-Pedophilia Professor Relieved of On-Campus Duties, Being Kept Away from Students, Reports Say

Virginia Star Staff

State University of New York at Fredonia Professor Stephen Kershnar has been relieved of his on-campus duties and “will not have contact with students” pending an investigation by the school, according to the popular Twitter page LibsofTikTok.

On Feb. 1, LibsofTikTok posted video footage of the Kershnar claiming that there is a moral justification for having sex with children as young as one-year-old, comparing it to “willing” participation in kickball.

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New Manhattan District Attorney, Backed by Soros, Seeks to Reduce Criminal Sentences

Virginia Star Staff

The controversial new District Attorney for Manhattan, New York City has ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking harsh sentences against murderers and terrorists, including life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D-N.Y.) issued a memo on January 3rd prohibiting his staff from pursuing sentences such as life in prison, and even went so far as to suggest that they never pursue sentences any harsher than 20 years behind bars.

“My commitment to making incarceration a matter of last resort is immutable,” Bragg said in the memo. “In exceptionally serious cases such as homicides where lengthy periods of incarceration are justified, ADAs shall consider the use of restorative justice as a mitigating factor in determining the length of the sentence, only when victims or their loved ones consent.”

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Manhattan District Attorney: No Charges Against Cuomo in COVID Nursing Home Death Scandal

The Center Square

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo started 2022 much like he ended 2021, with an apparent legal victory.

A lawyer for the disgraced ex-leader of the state said Monday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office ended its investigation into the Cuomo administration’s nursing home policies during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis without pressing any charges.

“I was told that after a thorough investigation – as we have said all along – there was no evidence to suggest any laws were broken,” Elkan Abramowitz, former outside counsel for the executive chamber, said in a statement posted by Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi on Twitter.

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Analysis: The Top Governor’s Races to Watch This Year

Admin

Democrats four years ago rode a blue wave to governors’ mansions across the country, flipping Republican-held seats in the Midwest, Northeast and West alike.

Now, however, many of those governors face Republican challengers amid a political environment that looks potentially promising for the GOP, meaning that contentious races may lie ahead in some of the nation’s most pivotal battleground states. Republicans have already had two strong showings in states that lean Democratic, flipping the governor’s seat in Virginia and coming surprisingly close in New Jersey, a state that voted for President Joe Biden by 16 points in 2020.

Governors in less competitive states are also facing primary challengers from the left and right, making for multiple bitter, closely-followed primaries between candidates from different wings of the same party.

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Over Half of U.S. States Will Increase Their Minimum Wage in 2022

Admin

Over half of the states in the U.S. will institute a minimum wage increase in 2022, according to a report.

A total of 26 states will raise the minimum wage in 2022, with 22 of the states starting the pay hikes on Jan. 1, accordingto payroll experts at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

“These minimum wage increases indicate moves toward ensuring a living wage for people across the country,” Deirdre Kennedy, senior payroll analyst at Wolters Kluwer, said in the report. “In addition to previously approved incremental increases, the change in presidential administration earlier this year and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have also contributed to these changes.”

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Andrew Cuomo to Face No Charges After Sexual Harassment Investigation

Admin

Former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not face any charges over alleged inappropriate conduct investigated by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, according to an announcement Tuesday.

The decision came after a “thorough” investigation into allegations made by two women against Cuomo, according to the announcement. Both women accused the former governor of kissing them without their consent.

“Our investigation found credible evidence to conclude that the alleged conduct in both instances described above did occur,” the announcement said.

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Buzzfeed’s Holiday Party Becomes Super-Spreader Event Despite Company’s Vaccine Mandate

Admin

Buzzfeed’s holiday party appears to have become a super-spreader event, despite a company-wide vaccine mandate that required partygoers to present their vaccination cards in order to get into the event.

Three BuzzFeed staffers were reportedly infected with COVID-19 following the company’s Christmas party in Manhattan last week, and about six others are awaiting test results after becoming ill.

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Gun Manufacturers Sue New York over Law Allowing Gun Stores to Be Held Liable for Armed Crimes

Virginia Star Staff

On Thursday, a lawsuit was filed against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D-N.Y.) over the state’s “public nuisance law,” which allows private citizens to sue gun stores and gun manufacturers if their weapons are used in an unrelated crime, CNN reports.

The law, signed into law in July, is the first of its kind in the nation, making gun stores and manufacturers liable in any civil suits that may result from firearms being used to commit crimes, even if the distributors had no role in the crime itself. It was deliberately signed as an attempt to circumvent the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a federal law which specifically granted immunity to arms manufacturers and distributors in such cases.

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Commentary: Escape to a Good State, but Don’t Ruin It

Virginia Star Staff

My elementary and high school teachers never did a good job of explaining American federalism. They left me and, I suspect, many of my fellow students confused. Perhaps they were a little confused themselves: If the federal government’s laws are supreme and can overrule state’s laws, why not just have all laws uniformly adopted at the federal level?

The federal government was not, of course, intended to be what it has become: the daily manager of every citizen’s life. The founders envisioned a federal government that remained in the background, available when it was necessary to get all the states fighting together to win a war, present to help explain a unified foreign policy, and above all to guarantee that goods and people could flow freely from one state to another with no impediment. (That last point is the reason for the interstate commerce clause.) Any national government more aggressive than that would never have been adopted by the liberty-minded states that had just won the Revolutionary War, and even that proved a hard sell: Two years and the addition of a Bill of Rights were required before a sufficient number of states were willing to ratify.

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Columbia Student Workers Strike for $140 Million in School Funds

Virginia Star Staff

Amid ongoing calls for increased student-employee compensation, student protests at Columbia University Wednesday resulted in “physical harassment against faculty” and staff, according to an email obtained by Campus Reform.

Provost Mary C. Boyce sent the following message Thursday: 

“Yesterday’s Morningside campus protest by the Student Workers of Columbia-UAW included instances of physical harassment against faculty, students, and staff. These individuals were attempting to go to work, pursue their studies, or enter or exit their dormitories, and several incurred injuries when they sought to enter campus. No matter our differences at the bargaining table, violence has no place in this process, and we denounce these actions in the strongest possible terms.”

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Andrew Cuomo Personally Made Changes to Report Downplaying COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

Virginia Star Staff
Andrew Cuomo

On Monday, an explosive report by the New York State Assembly revealed that former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) himself made direct edits to the initial report on how many senior citizens died of the Chinese coronavirus in New York nursing homes, as the Daily Caller reports.

The report from the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee is the culmination of an eight-month impeachment investigation against the disgraced former governor. The report says that Cuomo directed the New York Department of Health (DOH) to reduce the total number of fatalities by thousands so as to push back on criticism of Cuomo’s decision in March of 2020 to force COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, which infected and killed thousands of other senior citizens.

The original draft of the report prepared by DOH officials showed over 10,000 total nursing home deaths, but upon Cuomo’s insistence, it was reduced to about 6,500.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James Launches Bid for Governor

Virginia Star Staff

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday officially launched a bid for governor against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

James’ announcement comes just two months after the resignation of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo due to multiple claims of sexual harassment. As attorney general, James oversaw the five-month investigation into the claims, which the inquiry found to be credible.

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Commentary: Activating the ‘Secret Police’ to Aid School Boards

Virginia Star Staff

The FBI will investigate threats and intimidation against school board members, administrators, teachers, and staff, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Oct. 4. In so doing, Garland claimed federal jurisdiction over local law enforcement, in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.

This power grab by the AG supposedly came as a response to a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA), a leftist advocacy group with vast influence over the nation’s school boards. To gain some insight into how this ukase or edict is playing out, I attended a school board meeting in the charming village of Greenwich (“It’s Greeen-wich, not Gren-itch”) in northern New York state.

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New York City to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccine for Entire City Workforce

Virginia Star Staff

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that all New York City municipal workers would be required to have a COVID-19 vaccination.

All municipal employees, including police and firefighters, will have until Oct. 29 to receive their first shot or risk losing their jobs, according to de Blasio. City employees will receive an additional $500 in their paychecks after receiving their first dose.

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NYC’s Likely Next Mayor Says He’ll Expand Gifted Student Program, Not End It

Virginia Star Staff
Eric Adams of New York

Eric Adams, the likely next mayor of New York City, said Friday he would keep and expand the city’s gifted program which current Democratic Mayor Bill De Blasio planned to eliminate.

“[De Blasio] can’t get rid of it until next year. There’s nothing to put back in place,” Adams told a CNN host when asked if he would reinstate the city’s gifted program.

Adams said New York needs to expand accelerated learning by testing children throughout their educational experience. Under the current system, children are tested for the gifted program at four years old, before they have entered the school system.

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