New York Attorney General Letitia James proposed sweeping changes Wednesday to boost oversight of the New York City Police Department, including forming an independent commission that would approve the department’s budget and have the final say on officer discipline. “The police should not police themselves — period,” James, a Democrat, told reporters. “It’s really important that we think of major reforms and not tinkering around the edges.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked James to investigate whether NYPD officers used excessive force to quell unrest and enforce a citywide curfew in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death led to weeks of demonstrations in the city that became violent at times and prompted widespread allegations of police misconduct.

Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., told Fox News Wednesday that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “has to be removed” from office, claiming that the city “won’t survive him staying in for the remainder of this term.” “Mayor Dinkins left and you had Rudy Giuliani come in [in 1994]. There was a focus on quality of life. [Rudy] saw the crime rates go down, the economy flourishing, the potential being reached,” Zeldin said. “Here we are again, fast-forward through what has really been a terrible few weeks and months with the city going in the wrong direction. “It’s at a crossroads.” “This is a tale of two cities,” Zeldin added.

Dear YWN. Two manila envelopes arrive in the mail yesterday unexpectedly, so I opened them up – and to my surprise and bewilderment, they were REPORT CARDS! Yes, You read correctly. REPORT CARDS. Perhaps the wonderful readership of YWN can explain to me and the rest of the outraged parents what was the point of sending reports cards to “grade” the students who were all in quarantine? What exactly did they base these grades on? Who do these Mosdos Hatorah consult with? No one apparently. I have dug around and learned that many schools were in touch with leading Gedolim along with professionals and were advised NOT to issue report cards based on the student’s performance during COVID-19.

Starting July 10, malls in New York’s Phase IV reopening regions will be able to open, provided they take special air filtration precautions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. Malls will be required to upgrade their HVAC systems with filtration that meets a certain minimum standard, the governor said. They will also be required to increase outdoor air flowing into the facilities, reduce air circulation and regularly check and replace filters. Cuomo had been under pressure to reopen malls after neighboring states moved ahead days or weeks ago to reopen indoor shopping. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday that New York City school students will likely be in classrooms only a few days a week—at most—this fall, with the rest of their learning taking place remotely. De Blasio said there will be “blended learning” for the city’s 1.1 million students when schools return in September. “Blended learning simply means at some points in the week you’re learning in person, in the classroom, at other points in the week you’re learning remotely,” de Blasio said. The mayor said students would be learning five days a week but that it would be a mix of in-person and remote learning, with most students in school only two or three days each week. “This blended model, this kind of split schedule model, is what we can do under current conditions,” de Blasio said.

A motorist who panicked after his SUV was surrounded by a protest Tuesday night in Times Square was released by police with no charges filed. The front of the protest group, mainly bicyclists, surrounded his Dodge Durango westbound on 42nd Street at Sixth Avenue at around 9:10 p.m. The bicyclists were attempting to hold traffic for the protests when the driver appears to have panicked and tried to drive away from the crowd. A bicycle was thrown under his vehicle as he drove away, blowing his tires, and protesters banged on his windows. No one was injured. One of the protesters was taken to the hospital for a panic attack. After driving away from the crowd, the protesters pursued the vehicles two blocks to Broadway, where police took the driver to the local police precinct.

A building partially collapsed on Wednesday morning onto a busy Manhattan sidewalk, and miraculously only one person suffered minor injuries. FDNY and NYPD were on the scene at 203 East 38th Street near 3rd Avenue, and had the area cordoned off. The FDNY says the building is a five story vacant parking garage. Debris was scattered all over the sidewalk, with at least cars crushed from the falling bricks. NYC Department of Buildings and Con Edison are enroute. Video below submitted to YWN by eyewitness: (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A man whose takedown by police last month led to an officer being charged for using what officials said was an illegal chokehold has himself been taken into custody in connection with an attempted robbery and slashing, the New York Police Department said Tuesday. Ricky Bellevue, 35, and another man approached two other men and made anti-gay statements around noon on Tuesday in the Bronx, police said. According to police, Bellevue showed a box cutter and attempted to take one of the men’s bags, slashing him in the face and hands in the ensuing struggle before being taken into custody by police. The NYPD said charges including robbery as a hate crime and assault were pending.

An off-duty police officer is accused of shooting and killing his neighbor in Orange County, New York. It happened during an argument Monday night near their homes on Main Street in Cornwall. Local police and state troopers were at the scene all day Tuesday. The alleged shooter is an off-duty Ramapo town police officer, Detective Rob Fitzgerald of the Town of Ramapo police in Rockland County. Fitzgerald reportedly shot and killed his neighbor, 40-year-old Erick Gilmore, after some kind of encounter Monday night. The case will be presented to a grand jury, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, that grand jury is not meeting currently. They are hoping to resume in the next two weeks, but there is reportedly a backlog of hundreds of cases.

New York City plans to expand broadband access for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday. De Blasio said $87 million of the $157 million project will come from the NYPD’s capital budget in what he called the “spirit of redistribution.” “That digital divide is very, very intense – 1.5 million New Yorkers lack home broadband access. So this is something we have to go at head-on,” he said. “It’s another tale of two cities, it has been for a long time and it’s all, bluntly, about the profit.” The mayor’s task force on racial inclusion and equity put forth the plan. (Source: WCBSTV)