Dana Kaplan Is Mamdani’s New ‘Rikers Czar.’ Can She Close the Infamous Complex? Dana Kaplan will be the mayor’s point person on opening new jails to replace crumbling facilities on Rikers Island, sources told THE CITY.

New: Dana Kaplan, one of the architects and boosters of the close Rikers plan, has been named as the newly created Rikers czar. www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/22/m...

What an image from @fractenberg.bsky.social of Council member Chi Ossé being taken to a local hospital after his arrest in Brooklyn this morning. Ossé was protesting the eviction of a constituent who is a victim of alleged deed theft. More details here: www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/22/b...

The last steel beam going up outside the new borough based jail in downtown Brooklyn. The facility is expected to cost $3 billion and completed in 2029.

🧵Missed diagnoses, delayed treatment and poor medical care are driving record deaths in ICE custody.

@kolyncheang.bsky.social and I spent months investigating the deaths of ICE detainees across the US. Over and over again, we found lapses in treatment that proved fatal.

I'm the third place cholent king of West Orange!

The expert on this topic is @keribla.bsky.social

Surgeon Who Removed Wrong Organ From Patient Is Charged in His Death

“Dr. Shaknovsky tried to persuade his colleagues in the operating room that the liver he removed from Mr. Bryan was his spleen.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/u...

Albany Lawmakers Take Up Sweeping Pension Reforms. A Big Winner? Themselves. More than half of all state workers stand to benefit from rolling back the controversial cost-cutting measures enacted in 2012. That includes more than a third of current state legislators.

A major push to roll back NY’s Tier 6 pension cuts could cost $1.5B a year and boost benefits for dozens of the very lawmakers negotiating the deal — @clauirizarry.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/15/t...

A Fraction of Rikers Detainees Vote. NYC Wants to Make it Easier. Lawmakers say absentee voting is failing in city jails.

New York City lawmakers are pushing to overhaul how people jailed on Rikers Island cast their votes after just 335 of roughly 6,000 eligible detainees cast absentee ballots in the last general election.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/14/i...

“I wouldn’t rule out that Hamas targeted civilians, but I wouldn’t confirm it either,” Khalil said. “That’s my position on this.”

Delayed Bellevue Jail Unit to Open as Rikers Med Facility is Shut City plans to close aging jail hospital as long-delayed $241 million replacement launches.

After years of delays and cost overruns, NYC is finally opening part of a $241M medical unit at Bellevue for seriously ill Rikers detainees — and plans to close the historic North Infirmary Command, the hospital facility built in 1932.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/04/06/r...

Say hello to my little friend! Sixteen pound brisket. I cooked it at 170 for three weeks 😂 Happy Passover to all who celebrate!

More Than 40k 311 Calls From Rikers Go Into a Black Hole Every Year Detainees and families dial 311 to report freezing cells, hallucinations and denied medical care. Many complaints are routed as "customer comments" and vanish without action.

More than 40,000 calls a year about conditions on Rikers Island are routed into a system where many never get tracked or resolved. Our latest: how 311 complaints, from freezing cells to denied medical care, can vanish as “customer comments.”
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/31/r...

A Gale Brewer Imposter Scammed NYC’s Pension Fund Out of $32,980 An online portal allowed grifters to reroute checks and pocket nearly $300,000 in illegal loans, including one from the Manhattan Council member's pension fund.

“It was shocking,” Brewer told THE CITY. “If they hadn’t noticed it, I would never have known, because I never use that account. I’ve never touched it, and I’ve had it since the 1970s or 80s. All of a sudden, there’s a large loan. I couldn’t believe it.”
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/30/g...

The Air Canada Crash: Before and After the Frantic Call to ‘Stop, Stop, Stop’

58 reporters tagged at the bottom of this story.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/n...

Inbox: John Price, 49, passed away in custody of the city’s Department of Correction. He’s the second detainee death this year so far. A federal judge overseeing the department has given a new remediation manager up to seven years to turn things around — and until May for his initial plan.

"When Yanfeng Ge, Chaofeng’s brother who is also in the U.S., calls home these days, their mother asks him to come back to China with his brother’s ashes."

Inbox: Barry Cozart, 39, died on Rikers at 11:31 today. He’s the first death behind bars this year, w/15 last year. Judge Swain has given the remediation manager until the end of May to submit his reform plan — and up to seven years (or sooner) to turn things around.

Who can afford to get ahead in America? The rich are getting richer, while others can't keep up. Here's why the top 1% is doing so well and why many Americans are struggling financially.

"The average monthly electricity bill in the U.S. rose 7% in the 13 months since Trump took office, nearly twice the 4% it rose in the 13 months before. Since 2022, the unemployment rate has risen for most age groups."
www.nbcnews.com/specials/una...

Immigration detention on track for deadliest fiscal year since 2004 Twenty-three people have died since October in ICE custody, as advocates warn about overcrowding and health care access.

Average immigration detention deaths per month from FY 2010 to FY 2024:

0.69

Average immigration detention deaths per month in FY 2025:

1.75

Average immigration detention deaths per month so far in FY 2026:

4.6

www.npr.org/2026/03/10/g...

Trump Administration to Pay $1 Billion to Energy Giant to Cancel Wind Farms

The Trump administration will pay the French energy giant TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to abandon its plans to build wind farms off the East Coast, the Interior Department said on Monday at an energy conference in Houston.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/c...

Judge Orders Rikers Manager to Fix Jail Woes in 7 Years or Less A federal judge has given new overseer Nicholas Deml sweeping powers to reform the jail system, but critics question how long basic rights can wait.

How long is it going to take to fix Rikers? Seven years or less, according to the federal judge who is overseeing the reforms. How did she come to that number? She didn't say. The remediation manager must submit his initial action plan by late May.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/24/r...

He Spent Five Years in Solitary. He Came Out a Jailhouse Lawyer.

“I know some of them are looking at me like, ‘Who the hell is this guy to ask me anything?” he said. “But I do it respectfully. We have these rights, and I’m exercising them.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/n...

A Harlem man died Sunday waiting to be arraigned on a low-level charge for allegedly stealing incense from CVS. Vincent Thoms “spent his final moments languishing in a jail cell,” Legal Aid said in a statement calling on city leaders to meaningfully address in-custody NYPD deaths.

Heh, for years I've been using this idea as an example of how to make local news more relevant to a larger group of people. How do property taxes affect renters, not just homeowners?

Opinion | Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about Iran

Maybe it’s not a war at all. Maybe it’s an “excursion that will keep us out of a war” or an incursion or maybe it’s only a “little excursion.” In President Trump’s America, there may be only two genders, but our military adventures can identify however they please.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/o...

Calvin Tomkins, who narrated the rise of contemporary art, dies at 100 During a six-decade career at the New Yorker, Mr. Tomkins profiled scores of artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Georgia O’Keeffe.

Called a “portraitist” by New Yorker editor David Remnick, Mr. Tomkins eschewed criticism altogether and instead spent months watching artists work and probing their personalities in lively prose characteristic of the magazine’s other reporters.
www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Trump Friend Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child

A Trump ally. A custody battle. A call to ICE.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/u...

Jessica Tisch, a real estate scion who’s had various positions around City Hall, will take over the role from current Commissioner Edward Grayson, who is retiring. Jessica Tisch, a real estate scion who’s had various positions around City Hall, will take over the role from current Commissioner Edward Grayson, who is retiring.

Katie has been ahead on sanitation leadership: In April 2020, she previously reported that Jessica Tisch would become commissioner under Adams.
www.thecity.nyc/2022/04/07/t...

Mamdani’s Sanitation Pick Is a Kathryn Garcia Protége The mayor is expected to officially announce his choice for commissioner later this week.

New from @katiehonan.bsky.social: Mamdani’s pick to run sanitation is Gregory Anderson, a veteran insider who worked under Kathryn Garcia and helped shape key reforms like composting and containerization.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/03/18/g...