Tag: new york

Governor Hochul signs novel law that limits cryptomining, for now

New York is taking a first-in-the-nation step to tap the brakes on the spread of cryptocurrency mining, under legislation that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Tuesday.

The measure comes amid growing scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry following this month’s collapse of the FTX exchange. But New York’s measure, which passed the state Legislature in June, is specifically concerned with the environmental aspects of crypto.

“I will ensure that New York continues to be the center of financial innovation, while also taking important steps to prioritize the protection of our environment,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a message explaining her approval.

The new law sets a two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for energy-intensive “proof-of-work” cryptocurrency mining — a term for the computational process that records and secures transactions in bitcoin and similar forms of digital money. Proof-of-work is the blockchain-based algorithm used by bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies.

The law also requires the Department of Environmental Conservation to asses how cryptomining affects the state’s ability to meet its climate goals.

Environmentalists said New York was undermining those goals by letting cryptomining operations run their own natural gas-burning power plants.

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The ‘Nazi’ Who Threatened Attacks on NYC Synagogues is Actually Jewish

The “Nazi” who was recently arrested and charged with plotting attacks on New York City synagogues is actually Jewish, and his lawyers claim he’s the descendant of holocaust survivors.

22-year-old Jewish man Matthew Mahrer, of Manhattan, is facing a charge of criminal possession of a weapon, alongside an alleged accomplice, 21-year-old Christopher Brown, of Aquebogue, NY. Brown faces additional charges of making a terroristic threat and aggravated harassment. It’s unclear if Mahrer will be charged with more crimes related to the “Nazi” attack investigation.

According to a statement from law enforcement, the two men were arrested by the Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) at Penn Station, before they were “turned over to the NYPD and FBI.”

Police say they seized “a large hunting knife, an illegal Glock 17 firearm and 30-round magazine, and several other items,” including a Nazi armband.

According to CNN, which has painted the situation as being indicative of a massive Nazi militancy of angry Americans fixated on hurting Jewish people, community organizers and Democrat politicians responded swiftly to the arrests, making public statements to “denounce antisemitism.”

“The message is clear,” says New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Anti-semitism has no home in New York City.”

“If you come here to perpetrate acts of hateful violence, you will be stopped by the finest police force in the world. Thank you to the NYPD for their quick work in bringing these bigots to justice,” Adams went on.

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White Sign-Language Interpreter Sues Broadway’s ‘The Lion King,’ Claims he Was Fired Because of His Race

A white sign-language interpreter is suing Theatre Development Fund for discrimination, alleging that the Broadway show fired him because of his skin color. 

Theatre Development Fund (TDF) — a nonprofit that assists Broadway shows with sign-language interpreters — asked Keith Wann, 53, and at least one other interpreter to step aside in favor of a black replacement for an April production of “The Lion King.” According to the New York Post, the organization decided it was “no longer appropriate to have white interpreters represent Black actors in Broadway shows.”

On Tuesday, Wann filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the organization and its programming director, Lisa Carling.

According to the lawsuit, Carling asked Wann and another non-black sign-language interpreter to “back out” of the show — which celebrates its 25th anniversary on Sunday — so they could be replaced by black sign-language experts.

“To me, just seeing that discrimination, it doesn’t matter if I’m white or black,” Wann told the New York Post. “This is blatant and I would just hope that other people who have also experienced this would step forward.”

Wann is a veteran sign-language interpreter who has been involved in Broadway productions for over a decade. In March, he was asked to work on one of Broadway’s most-acclaimed and longest-running shows.

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New York cannabis farms have nowhere to sell a combined 300,000 pounds of weed, valued at $750 million, as delays continue for dispensaries in the state

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana are currently sitting idly on New York cannabis farms without a single legal recreational dispensary in the state open and ready to sell the product.

An estimated 300,000 pounds of weed are becoming a growing concern for farmers who planted the crop in spring 2021 in hopes of cashing in on the drug’s legalization in New York state. The lot is valued at about $750 million based on the average wholesale value of $2,500 per pound, according to Bloomberg.

Today, the legal recreational cannabis market is stalled as applicants for the first 150 individual retail licenses and 25 nonprofit licenses are still waiting to hear back from the Office of Cannabis Management, per Bloomberg.

Although players in the industry are waiting for the green light from the state, Melany Dobson — CEO of New York-based Hudson Cannabis — told Bloomberg it’s not the only thing holding her and others back.

“It’s an unclear path to market,” Dobson said. “We’ve been told again and again that dispensaries will open before the end of the year. I’ve acted as though that’s our single source of proof, so we’re prepared for that.”

The clock is ticking for the freshly harvested pounds of pot as farmers work to extend its shelf life in preparation for the still-to-come legal dispensaries.

“Old cannabis starts to have a brownish glow,” Dobson said. 

She continued: “We’re trying to retain as much quality as possible. And rushing it into the finished product bags is not the way to do that.”

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Cities Are Teaching Drug Users How to Shoot Up Properly

As drug users grapple with an increasingly toxic drug supply, some are receiving training on how to shoot up properly and achieve the high they’re seeking.  

“What we learned really quickly when we started working with people who use drugs is that everything they learn about drug use generally comes from their peers, the Internet, TV, movies, and it’s all wrong,” said Kailin See, senior director of OnPoint NYC, which runs New York’s safe injection sites, also known as drug consumption sites. 

“You can’t go to your medical doctor and say, ‘I’m really trying to achieve X, Y, and Z physical feeling or X, Y, and Z emotional feeling through my drug use’.” 

While people generally think of drug consumption sites as places that people go to use drugs and have their overdoses reversed if needed, these facilities often offer a range of services, including checking drugs for contaminants, wound care, and injection tutorials. 

And injecting drugs properly has only become more important as overdoses reach record highs and drugs like tranq, a combination of fentanyl and the animal sedative xylazine that’s been linked to skin ulcers and amputations, continue to spread across the U.S. Knowing what to do can also help empower younger drug users, women and queer people, who might find themselves particularly vulnerable in certain situations. 

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New York bans most civilians from wearing bulletproof vests

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has banned most state residents from buying bulletproof vests for civilian use with very few exceptions.

The law, which went into effect on July 6, banned all state residents “not engaged or employed in an eligible profession” from purchasing, owning, selling, exchanging, giving away or personally disposing of body armor.

The “eligible professions” initially only included police officers, peace officers and people currently serving in the United States Armed Forces or in the New York State Army or Air National Guard.

The law was pushed through the New York State Legislature following the mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo in May that killed 10 people. When the law was initially passed, it only banned “bullet-resistant soft body armor,” which could have potentially served as a loophole for civilians who wanted to buy bulletproof vests made with steel, ceramic or polyethylene plates.

Notably, this loophole does not cover the steel-plated vest the Buffalo gunman wore during the shooting, which was strong enough to stop a bullet fired from the firearm of one of the grocery store’s security guards.

Democratic State Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson, the lead sponsor of the bill, admitted that they did not know the difference between the different kinds of body armor when they were writing the bill.

“I think the important thing was that we took important steps that lessened the possibility that criminals will be using bulletproof vests in commission of crimes,” he claimed, adding that he is willing to rework the legislation to cover body armor using steel, ceramic or polyethylene plates.

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Gov. Hochul’s SUVs are cloaked from traffic cameras

Gov. Kathy Hochul might not be camera shy on the campaign trail, but her state trooper-driven vehicles travel incognito when it comes to being photographed for speeding and running red lights.

Both Hochul and Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado – Democrats pushing campaign platforms aimed at curbing car use — are chauffeured around New York city and state in SUVs equipped with license plates that can’t be flagged by traffic cameras, The Post has learned.

Unlike Mayor Eric Adams’ NYPD security detail and other city officials whose vehicles aren’t cloaked from the camera program’s scrutiny, state-owned vehicles used by State Police’s protective services unit to transport Hochul, her Democratic running mate and their staff come back as “NO-HIT” on the Department of Motor Vehicles database.

A State Police spokesman confirmed the plate numbers are designed to remain anonymous “as a security measure,” adding such protocol has been in place roughly 50 years.

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As crime surges, Eric Adams tells New Yorkers subway safety is up to them

As NYC subway crime is up 41 percent this year, Mayor Eric Adams told his citizens on Friday that the solution to warding off violent criminals is to stop looking at phones and stop listening to music as New Yorkers make their daily rides.

Eric Adams was speaking on Good Day New York and anchor Bianca Peters said, “I rode the subway yesterday, and it’s the same thing. I haven’t put my AirPods in for over a year because I feel like I need to be very much aware.” Adams replied, “Well first, I think that you were right about, you know, not having your iPods in – not focusing on the phone, and I say yes to that. I do the same, and we put out a video and information telling people about being aware of what’s around them and what’s taking place. I encourage New Yorkers to do that.” 

The Blue Lives Matter Twitter account responded and wrote, “Under-pressure NYC mayor Eric Adams tells residents to put their phones away, carry pepper spray, tasers and stop using Apple Airpods – suggesting unaware subway riders may be the REASON for rising violent crime.” 

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New York wants to ban the sharing of violent crime videos online

Leaders in the state of New York are calling for the criminalization of sharing videos of violent crime.

While the proposals are seemingly ignorant of the First Amendment, and were spurred by a mass shooting, they also could be used to stop people from sharing videos of crimes that take place in the city.

Overall indexed crime in New York City increased in July 2022 by 30.5% compared with July 2021 and, after a recent uptick in crime in New York over the last two years, social media users are sharing videos of violent crime to draw attention to a reversing trend.

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NY mom arrested after she lets her 10-yr-old get a tattoo, but puberty blockers and breast removal is A-OK?

Does your young child want to take life-altering hormones? No problem. Would the kid like to remove her breasts or his testicles? New York state has got you covered. But God forbid you let your 10-year-old get a tattoo. That will get your kids snatched by Child Protective Services (CPS) and you’ll end up in handcuffs.

That’s the lesson learned by Crystal Thomas, 33, who was arrested for endangering the welfare of a child after she allowed her son to get a tattoo from an amateur artist in the motel room in which she and her two children were staying, the Daily Mail reports.

Following her arrest, Thomas was released on an appearance ticket, but it is unclear if her children have been returned to her.

The tattoo, which Lloyd Police Chief James Janso told the Daily Mail measures “around six to eight inches in length,” was “not a professional job.”

Thomas’s son discovered that the man in the neighboring room of the Highland Motel, located near Poughkeepsie, was doing tattoos and he wanted one.

Mom allegedly gave him permission, and he came back with his name emblazoned in block letters on his inner forearm.

Police were called by the school resource officer after the young boy went to the school nurse to get Vaseline to apply over the fresh ink.

According to Janso, the nature of the mother’s relationship with the tattoo artist is unknown, and the man has since left the motel, which caters to guests who are only interested in “transient stays.”

Lloyd Police Department investigators are currently following up on leads in an attempt to hunt the artist down.

Now, it is unlikely that many would support Thomas’s decision to let her kid get tattooed for life by a guy in the room next door, but the astounding hypocrisy of actions against her in a state that prides itself on offering the so-called “gender-affirming care” of minors has not been missed by users on Twitter.

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