The Briefly for July 30, 2018 – NY to Spectrum: Get Out, Pot Prosecutions in Brooklyn are Down 91%, Illegal Roosters, and More
Low-level marijuana prosecutions dropped by 91% in Brooklyn after a pilot program which stopped prosecution of personal possession.
New sirens could be coming to emergency vehicles in the city. The mayor's ordered study into reducing noise pollution caused by sirens should be announced in the fall.
NY to Spectrum: Get Out. New York state revoked the Charter/Spectrum-Time Warner Cable merger from 2016 due to a failure to live up to their promises. Charter could be forced to spin off Time Warner Cable in New York as a separate company.
One of the Tompkins Square Parks red-tailed hawks died due to secondary poisoning.
There is no dog thief in Central Park, despite last week's rumors.
Cynthia Nixon was endorsed by NYC's Democratic Socialists. Nixon and Lieutenant Governor candidate Jumaane Williams have endorsed each other, effectively becoming running mates. Governor Cuomo was endorsed by NARAL and the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund PAC.
The rising cost of cigarettes are also giving rise to "buttleggers," who purchase cigarettes in other states and sell them illegally in the city.
Of the 369 calls to 311 about illegal animals, 190 of them were rooster-related.
The FDNY’s $10 million minority recruitment drive failed to reach its goals. The NY Post cites a lack of people paying the $30 application fee, the percentages of minorities applying were below the goal of the program. Related, a lawsuit makes the claim that FDNY captain of Ladder 103 is East New York is racist.
This is why you don't scream "fire" in a crowded theater, or that someone has a gun at the Bedford stop on the L.
After a second guilty verdict of wire fraud, mail fraud, extortion, and illegal money transactions, Sheldon Silver is headed to jail for seven years.
Filming around town: The Blacklist w/James Spader is at 29th St and 36th Ave is Astoria, God Friended Me w/Brandon Micheal Hallis at 72nd and Broadway, The Last OG w/Tracy Morganis at Hicks St and Pierrepont St in Brooklyn, Marvel/Netflix's Jessica Jones is at 92nd and Park, The Deuce w/Maggie Gyllenhaal is at E 3rd St and Greenwood Ave in Brooklyn, and Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is at Cross Bay Blvd and E 8th Rd in Queens.
The (Manhattan centric) 13 best bars in the city with the most legit free food, according to Eater.
Brooklyn Borough Hall's subway station continues to fall apart, literally.
Everything you need to know about the new dockless bike share programs.
Are barns upstate the "new Williamsburg?"
Dov Bechhofer, the Bronx Montefiore white supremecist doctor, is sorry he was caught and claims his online postings that called for a white ethnostate and expulsion of people of color and Muslims "do not reflect how I was raised or how I actually treat others." Right.
Mos Def and Set Free Richardson are bringing a hip hop art gallery called The Compound to the South Bronx. The first exhibit will be the work of photographer Jonathan Mannion. Mannion's work was used on the cover of multiple Jay-Z, Eminem, Nas, OutKast, The Game, and more.