A Manhattan art gallery featuring an exhibit observing the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre has been struck by vandalism. Police released a video clip from a street security camera on Friday showing someone suspected of smearing white paint on the front window of the Black Wall Street Gallery earlier this week in SoHo. It was one of three acts of vandalism at the location in recent days that police were investigating as potential hate crimes. Gallery owner Ricco Wright told police he discovered white paint on the windows on Monday and Tuesday, the 100th anniversary of the massacre on May 31 and June 1, 1921.

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Maya Wiley’s bid to become the next mayor of New York City. The New York Democrat’s nod could give a boost to Wiley, a former lawyer for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has lagged behind Democratic frontrunners Eric Adams, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia. “We have an option of a candidate who can center people, racial justice, economic justice and climate justice,” Ocasio-Cortez said during her announcement in New York City. “[Wiley] didn’t just come up to run for mayor but has experience and has a lifetime of dedication to this.” Wiley herself is expected to get a $1 million boost from an outside PAC funded in part by George Soros.

A passenger ferry with about 100 people aboard ran aground in New York City and was taking on water Saturday, according to the Coast Guard. No injuries were reported. The ferry operated by Seastreak, which runs routes between New York and New Jersey, lost power and steering on the East River just after 4 p.m., drifted into Bushwick Inlet in Brooklyn and hit ground, Seastreak said in a statement. The Commodore vessel was traveling from Highlands, New Jersey, to East 35th Street in Manhattan. The Coast Guard and New York firefighters helped the Commodore crew get all 105 passengers to safety, Seastreak said. Rescue boats were brought in to help with the evacuation.

New York state health officials said Friday that mask-wearing will be optional in K-12 schools starting Monday, but the country’s largest school system, New York City, plans to keep its universal mask policy in place. New York will move forward with the plan unless the CDC provides data or science that “contradicts” that change before Monday, state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker wrote in a Friday letter to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Republicans had urged Cuomo to drop the mandate this week. The release of the letter on Friday afternoon caught school leaders and teachers unions by surprise.

Eight Democratic candidates running to be New York City’s next mayor sparred in a debate Wednesday night, each trying to position themselves as the person to lead the city forward with the primary election less than three weeks away. The televised debate was the second in the race to succeed term-limited Mayor Bill de Blasio, but the first time the candidates had been in the same room as opposed to virtual. It set up an at-times cacophonous event, with candidates frequently talking over each other, and criticizing each other’s stances. The candidates were aggressive with each other as they were asked about issues including how to deal with an increase in violent crime, policing, and the city’s recovery from the pandemic.

The highly-influential Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition (FJCC) has just thrown their support behind NYC Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams. The FJCC backing, is an extremely respected and coveted endorsement for Eric Adams. The FJCC represents more than 80 local Rabbonim and over 200 Shuls, dozens of Yeshiva heads, hundreds of local business owners and thousands of local residents. Earlier this week Adams received the endorsements of a thriving Staten Island Jewish group and the influential Sephardic Community Federation (SCF), which is based in Flatbush. Last week Adams was endorsed by the Crown Heights community and the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance endorsed Adams – all massive voting blocks. Further details on the FJCC endorsement to follow.

It seems that everyone was picking on innocent Heshy Tichler on Wednesday night. In just a matter of a few hours, Tischler got assaulted by two men who apparently had a “score to settle” with him, and was later kicked out of Maimonides Hospital – something that rarely happens. As YWN reported on Wednesday night, two men arrived in a car outside Tischler’s Boro Park home looking for him. Tischler immediately recognized the men from a previous altercation he had with them at a rally / demonstration that Tischler attended. One of them men punched Tischler in the head. Police tell YWN that they have good leads, and hope to make a swift arrest in the case. Tischler then made a video alleging that the men were from “a black lives matter”, and then added “Black Lives Matter, you want a war?

Heshy Tischler was reportedly assaulted by two “Middle-Eastern” men in Boro Park on Wednesday. Sources tell YWN that the two men arrived in a vehicle, and confronted Tischler outside his home on 47th Street near 17th Avenue – in the heart of Boro Park’s Orthodox Jewish Community. Words were exchanged, and one of them men punched Tischler twice in the face. He refused medical treatment. The NYPD is on the scene investigating. Our sources also confirm to us, that this was not some random attack. It seems that Tischler knew these two men from a previous rally / demonstration that he had attended. We are being told that Tischler exchanged words with these men at that rally, and immediately recognized them when they arrived at his home. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Police departments in New Jersey reached a deadline Tuesday for all officers on patrol to begin wearing body cameras, although many departments across the state still have not implemented the technology. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, alongside other state and local officials in Camden, said that 487 departments across New Jersey had applied for and been approved for about $58 million in grants to buy cameras. “We are witnessing a new chapter in policing in New Jersey with the reforms we are implementing in partnership with law enforcement and community leaders. And, with the body cameras we are funding, we will literally have an objective witness to how police carry out their duties,” Murphy said.

The man who randomly punched an Asian American woman in the face in NYC had been arrested 17 times in the past – 8 of them in the past year. Alexander Wright, 48, was charged with assault as a hate crime, misdemeanor assault and criminal possession of a controlled substance – a synthetic form of marijuana called K2 – in connection with the Monday evening attack, a New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said Tuesday. Speaking to Spectrum NY1 on Tuesday morning, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea mentioned a previous incident, in which a 65-year-old Asian woman was pushed down the stairs of a New York City subway station on Friday. “What’s the common denominator?” he asked during the interview.