The smell of burnt and unburnt marijuana alone is no longer cause for New York Police Department officers to search vehicles, according a new NYPD memorandum. The memo laying out changes in police procedure comes after the New York legalized recreational marijuana for adults on Wednesday. Under the new policy, officers can only search vehicles if a driver appears to be under the influence of marijuana and there is probable cause to believe that they have been smoking it, or if the driver is seen smoking or vaping marijuana while operating or inside a vehicle. “However, the trunk may not be searched unless the officer develops separate probable cause to believe the trunk contains evidence of a crime,” reads the memo. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation to end long-term solitary confinement in state prisons and jails, he announced Thursday. Under the new law, prisons and jails will not be allowed to hold inmates in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days. Solitary confinement will be banned entirely for several categories of prisoners including minors, people over 55, pregnant inmates and those with disabilities. “Generations of incarcerated men and women have been subjected to inhumane punishment in segregated confinement with little to no human interaction for extended periods of time and many experience emotional and physical trauma that can last for years,” Cuomo said in a news release Thursday after signing the bill late the day before.

Federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday they have offered a plea deal to two Brooklyn attorneys charged with firebombing an empty police vehicle last year amid demonstrations in New York City following the death of George Floyd. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan set a 90-day deadline for lawyers for Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman to accept the government’s offer or proceed to trial on charges, including arson conspiracy, that could land them in prison for nearly 50 years. The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn and defense attorneys for both lawyers declined to comment on the plea negotiations, which have been ongoing for several weeks.

Police are seeking the person who fired into a moving car on a Bronx expressway, killing the driver, authorities said Wednesday. Officers responding to a 911 call at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday found a Honda Accord stopped next to the median on the Bruckner Expressway, police said. The Honda’s driver had suffered gunshot wounds to his face and chest, police said. The victim, identified as Nelson Caban, 24, was pronounced dead at Jacobi Hospital. Investigators believe Caban was driving south on the expressway when a blue sedan pulled alongside his car and someone fired at him from inside the sedan. (AP)

New York adults over the age of 21 can now possess and use marijuana — even in public — under a legalization bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, though legal sales of recreational-use cannabis won’t start for an estimated 18 months until regulations are set. Passed after several years of stalled efforts, the measure makes New York the 16th state to legalize adult use of the drug, though South Dakota’s measure is in legal limbo. New York becomes the second-most populous state, after California, to legalize recreational marijuana. Legalization backers hope the Empire State will add momentum and set an example with its efforts to redress the inequities of a system that has locked up people of color for marijuana offenses at disproportionate rates.

A maniac who was released from jail on parole for attempted murder, randomly slashed a Hasidic couple and their baby in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday. It happened at around 5:50PM on State Street near Pearl Street, when the man simply walked over to them, displayed a knife, began screaming at them, and proceeded to slash the family. Three people were injured: a 22-year-old father was slashed in the head, a 23-year-old mother was slashed in the lip, and their 1-year-old son was slashed in the chin, police said. According to the NY Post, a 30-year-old parolee who had been released from jail last month, was taken into custody by the NYPD, and the knife used was located.

The FBI arrested two former city employees Tuesday accused of stealing bank cards from dead bodies taken to New York City’s mortuary and racking up thousands of dollars in charges. Former mortuary technicians Willie Garcon and Charles McFadgen were charged with access device fraud after using the cards for a long list of unauthorized purchases, prosecutors said. McFadgen’s attorney declined to comment. A message seeking comment was sent to Garcon’s attorney. Garcon, 50, of Brooklyn, worked as an autopsy technician and transported bodies to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner between May 2018 and July 2020. The FBI said he used credit and debit cards from four dead people to make nearly $6,500 in purchases, including a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Florida.

New York received a key approval Tuesday to move ahead on a long-delayed plan to charge motorists an additional toll to enter Manhattan’s core, a move aimed at reducing congestion and raising money for public transit systems. If the plan is implemented, New York would become the first U.S. city to use so-called congestion pricing – following in the footsteps of London, Singapore, Stockholm and other cities. New York would use the revenue, estimated at about $1 billion annually, to issue bonds to fund $15 billion in capital improvements over the next four years to refurbish an aging and underfunded subway and bus system whose revenues have plunged during the pandemic.

New York lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have yet to announce a deal on the state budget even as a deadline to pass a spending plan by Thursday looms. New York legislative leaders have given little insight about some of the biggest issues: including the fate of a proposal to raise taxes on millionaires. Cuomo has signaled openness to some sort of tax hike on the wealthy as New York tries to balance its budget. But he’s also expressed concern for weeks about driving out the state’s wealthiest as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. And Cuomo’s budget director Bob Mujica has said that the latest round of federal COVID-19 relief aid — which sends $12 billion to the state — may eliminate the need for Cuomo’s own proposed spending cuts without needing to raise taxes.

The Lakewood community was mourning the tragic Petira of Yaakov Ben-David Z”L, 20, who was Niftar in a tragic boating accident. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa, say that the Niftar along with another victim identified as Derek Nanni, 19, both died in a boating accident in Little Wall Lake. Three other victims were saved in the incident, which involved their boat capsizing. The cause of the incident was under investigation. The Niftar was flown to Lakewood on Tuesday, and his Levaya was held at 12:15AM, Wednesday morning, at the Lakewood Bais Hakvaros on Ramsey Avenue. Boruch Dayan HaEmmes… (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)