New York City’s policing of subway fare beaters is drawing scrutiny from the state’s attorney general for possible racial bias. Letitia James announced Monday that her office is investigating the New York Police Department’s fare-enforcement practices after the department released new data showing black and Hispanic people account for the vast majority of its fare-related summonses and arrests. James’ office sent a letter to the police commissioner Monday seeking additional data, such as the number of officers assigned to each subway station each day — figures she said could shed light on whether officers are targeting communities of color.

In light of the recent rise in hate crimes against Jews in the Tri-State area, a high-level security meeting took place in Connecticut. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, who has a close relationship with the Waterbury Jewish community, met with the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbonim, and community Askonim from Waterbury regarding safety and security for the Waterbury Jewish community. The Governor made it clear that he would not tolerate any hate against Jews in the State, and that extra security and additional measures have already been taken to ensure the safety of the Jewish communities around the state. The Waterbury Jewish Community has more than 300 families living in it.

Thanks to Williamsburg Shomrim volunteers, four suspects were taken into custody for stealing a truck. It happened just after 1:00PM at Classon Avenue and Park Avenue, in the heart of WIlliamsburg’s Jewish community. The Shomrim volunteers witnessed the 4 suspects steal a truck from in front of a truck mechanic. They immediately called the NYPD as they followed the truck from a safe distance. The four men were taken into custody by the NYPD after a short foot pursuit at Willoughby Avenue and Classon Avenue.

Federal authorities, including the head of the local FBI, gave stunning new details Monday about the hate-filled shooting in Jersey City last month that left three people at a kosher market and a police officer at a nearby cemetery dead. Authorities said the alleged domestic terrorists in the case, David Anderson and Francine Graham, had a bomb in their van powerful enough to kill or injure people five football fields away, according to NBC4. It was already known that investigators found a bomb in the couple’s van, but the new information sheds light on just how serious of a threat the device posed to the public. Authorities also said they could have made a second bomb with the amount of materials they had in the van.

After the brutal murders in a kosher grocery store in Jersey City; the horrific Hanukkah attacks in a Rabbi’s home in Monsey; several mass shootings in the nation’s schools; and on the heels of mass shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway synagogues, Assemblymembers Daniel Rosenthal (D- Kew Gardens Hills) and Stacey Pheffer Amato (D- Far Rockaway) have called upon the New York State Legislature to substantially increase security funding for nonpublic schools in the New York State budget. Historically, the New York State Legislature allocated $15 million annually for the Nonpublic School Safety Equipment (NPSE) Grant. This translates into approximately $37 per child. In response to recent events, New Jersey increased its allocation to $150 per child for security, doubling its previous rate.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced new funding to harden security infrastructure and further protect communities in and around the community of Monsey, where a man attacked a home full of Jewish worshipers on the seventh night of Hanukkah on Dec. 28, 2019. The Governor is directing $340,000 for the village of New Square to install license plate reader technology, which was used to catch the Monsey attacker, as well as other security cameras. The Governor is directing up to $340,000 to the Town of Ramapo to install the same technology on roads in and around Monsey. The expanded New York State Hate Crimes Task Force, which the Governor announced during his 2020 State of the State address, will evaluate requests from other municipalities for license plate readers.

A water main break flooded streets on Manhattan’s Upper West Side near Lincoln Center and hampered subway service during the Monday morning rush hour. The Fire Department of New York responded to the flooding around 5 a.m. near Broadway and West 62nd Street. The water spread for blocks and was several inches deep in places. “It’s crazy, you need a boat or something to get through. I didn’t end wear boots today and now we got all this,” commuter Michael Romero, 27, of the Bronx told the New York Post. Abigail Marie, 33, of Manhattan, said city workers and firefighters responded quickly after the streets started “flooding a lot and from all directions.” “You have to be careful, there’s big puddles around and they’re deeper than they seem,” she told the Post.

There has been another anti-semitic attack in NYC. This one was in Queens. It happened at 176th Street near 76 Avenue, in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens, when swastikas were found inside a car on Monday morning. The NYPD 107 Precinct says they are investigating the incident. Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal told YWN “With the dramatic rise in antisemitism in New York State, the Queens Jewish community has been extremely concerned; this morning our fears were realized. The targeted attacks on Jews is escalating at an alarming rate and has reared its ugly head in our own backyard overnight.

On the Bronx streets where New York City’s new police commissioner started as a patrolman in the crime-ravaged early 1990s, gunfire and burned-out buildings were everywhere. Sometimes the police radio would crackle with a different kind of call, not for a shooting or stabbing but for a sick child, a locked apartment door or a marriage on the rocks. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, why do they call the police for this? It’s not an emergency,’” Commissioner Dermot Shea told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “And, you know, you kind of get a little wiser over time.

New York’s health care industry is waiting with some trepidation to see how Gov. Andrew Cuomo intends to plug an over $8 billion hole in the state’s Medicaid program. The Democrat is expected to release his annual budget proposal in the next two weeks, and the stickiest issue he has to address will be how to curtail spending on the program, which last year soared over its budget. New York’s Medicaid program is the nation’s largest, serving over 6 million people or about one in three New Yorkers. Cuomo first went after rising costs in 2011. Reforms to the program helped stem spending from 2011 to 2015, according to the Citizens Budget Commission.