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New York residency is especially important to Mr. Kennedy because his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, lists California as her home. Mr. Kennedy, 70, an environmental lawyer, spends most of his time at a home in Los Angeles that he shares with his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines. “New York has been his residence continuously since 1964, and Mr. Kennedy has deep ties to it,” Mr. Savino said in the statement. Mr. Kennedy revealed the bear-dumping in a video he posted on social media just before a critical New Yorker profile that included the same anecdote was published. After the bear story became public — resulting in a barrage of public criticism and mockery — Mr. Kennedy sought to fire back, placing a post on X.com on Tuesday, attacking the “mainstream media.”“The more you smear me,” Mr. Kennedy wrote, “the more I’ll keep speaking.”

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, —, Kennedy’s, William F, Savino, “, ”, Paul Rossi, Christina L, Lis Smith, Donald J, Biden, Trump, Kamala Harris, Nicole Shanahan, Cheryl Hines, ” Mr, Barbara Moss, Ms, Moss, David Michaelis, Nancy Steiner, Steiner, Michaelis, Moss’s, Bobby, Mr Organizations: Clear Choice, Democrat, Constitution, Democratic National Committee, Democratic Party, Democratic, Trump, Mr, New, New York Post, Westchester, Yorker Locations: York, Albany, N.Y, New York, Manhattan, U.S, Michigan, North Carolina, Hawaii , New Jersey, North Carolina . New York, California, Los Angeles, Katonah, New York City, Westchester County, “, Central Park, X.com

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign was dealt a blow on Monday when a judge ruled that his petition to appear on New York’s ballot was invalid, saying Mr. Kennedy had used a “sham” address to maintain his New York residency. The ruling, if it stands, would keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot in a state where he lived for much of his adult life and could endanger his efforts to be placed on the ballot in dozens of other states. His lawyer, William F. Savino, said in an email that Mr. Kennedy had “always planned to appeal any adverse ruling.” Later Monday, the campaign said it would file a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. “The 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution governs the residency of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, not state law,” said the campaign’s senior counsel, Paul Rossi. “If state court judges are going to ignore the Constitution, the federal courts must step in to protect voters’ rights.”

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, —, Kennedy’s, William F, Savino, “, ”, Paul Rossi Organizations: Clear Choice, Democrat, Constitution Locations: York, Albany, N.Y, New York, Manhattan, U.S

☆ Secret Bundlers, Sham Donations: Adams Is Faulted in Campaign Audit
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Bianca Pallaro | Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Three years ago, as Eric Adams was running for mayor of New York City, his campaign was raking in donations from a broad range of mysterious sources. There was the $201,330 delivered by unidentified intermediaries through 57 clusters of donations, some from people working at institutions with ties to Turkey. Their contributions are being scrutinized in a federal investigation focused in part on potentially unlawful foreign money flowing into campaign coffers. Then there was a set of unknown bundlers who gathered donations tied to Lian Wu Shao, whose family oversees the New World Mall in downtown Flushing, Queens. agents also searched two Bronx homes owned by a top Adams administration official, Winnie Greco, who helped organize fund-raisers at the mall for Mr. Adams.

Persons: Eric Adams, bundlers, Lian Wu Shao, Adams, Winnie Greco Locations: New York City, Turkey, Flushing , Queens, Queens

☆ Fake Signatures and ‘Good-Faith Letters’ Fuel a Lucrative Campaign Haul
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Jay Root | Bianca Pallaro | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When an unheralded candidate for the State Assembly submitted a six-figure request for matching funds under New York’s new public campaign finance system, it came with glaring red flags. Of nearly 300 contribution cards turned in by the candidate, Dao Yin, only nine had donors’ phone numbers or email addresses as required under the system’s guidelines. But in April, the board threw Mr. Yin a lifeline, allowing him to submit copies of “good-faith letters,” documenting his supposed attempt to obtain the missing information from the donors. The board soon sent him $162,800 in matching campaign funds, the eighth-highest amount awarded to a State Assembly candidate running this year. The board said no other state candidate has used the good-faith letters; neither Mr. Yin nor regulators provided any evidence that he had sent them to any of the donors in question.

Persons: Dao Yin, Yin’s, Yin Organizations: State Assembly, New, Campaign Finance Board, The New York Times, Assembly

☆ A Candidate Got $162,000 in Public Money. His Secret: Fake Donors.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Jay Root | Bianca Pallaro | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A taxi driver, Ahmad Zadran, was listed as a $40 donor to the candidate, Dao Yin. Mr. Zadran’s brother was shown as giving $25; his son, Raheem Zadran, was listed as giving $50. Under New York State’s new generous system for publicly financing political campaigns, Mr. Yin claimed the Zadrans’ modest donations as eligible for $1,380 in matching funds. Yet in interviews, the Zadrans said they had not given money to Mr. Yin, nor had they even heard of him. “This is crazy,” Raheem Zadran, 27, said.

Persons: Ahmad Zadran, Dao Yin, Zadran’s, Raheem Zadran, Yin, ” Raheem Zadran, “, ” Organizations: Assembly, York Locations: Flushing , Queens

☆ Kennedy’s Campaign Is Accused of Lying About His New York Residency
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Jay Root | Rebecca Davis O Brien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A group aligned with President Biden is challenging Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s New York ballot petition, saying his campaign lied about his New York residency. The group, Clear Choice, says he long ago moved to the West Coast and has virtually no connection to the address listed on his petitions — an address of a longtime friend, where Mr. Kennedy’s independent presidential campaign acknowledges he has never actually lived. The complaint, filed with the state Board of Elections on Thursday afternoon, is one of more than a dozen filed with New York’s board of elections, some of which object to his campaign’s signature-gathering efforts. The group provided a time-stamped copy of the complaint to The New York Times. A Board of Elections spokeswoman, Kathleen McGrath, said a determination of residency would be “outside the ministerial scope” of the board’s review of petitions.

Persons: Biden, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kathleen McGrath Organizations: New, New York Times Locations: York, New York, West

☆ Critics Fault ‘Aggressive’ N.Y.P.D. Response to Pro-Palestinian Rally
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Chelsia Rose Marcius | Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Violent confrontations at a pro-Palestinian rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday reflected what some local officials and protest organizers called an unexpectedly aggressive Police Department response, with officers flooding the neighborhood and using force against protesters. At the rally, which drew hundreds of demonstrators, at least two officers wearing the white shirts of commanders were filmed punching three protesters who were prone in the middle of a crosswalk. One officer had pinned a man to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the ribs, a 50-second video clip shows. Another officer punched the left side of a man’s face as he held his head to the asphalt. The police arrested around 40 people who were “unlawfully blocking roadways,” Kaz Daughtry, the department’s deputy commissioner of operations, said on social media on Sunday.

Persons: ” Kaz Daughtry, Mr, Daughtry, “, ” Organizations: Department, The Police Department Locations: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

☆ Does a Smash Hit Like ‘Lion King’ Deserve a $3 Million Tax Break?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jay Root | Michael Paulson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

There is no greater success story on Broadway than “The Lion King.” It is reliably among the top-grossing stage shows in New York, where it has brought in nearly $2 billion over its 26-year run; its global total is five times that amount. The musical’s producer is the theatrical division of the Walt Disney Company, an entertainment industry behemoth that earned $89 billion in revenue during its last fiscal year. And yet, the show was one of roughly four dozen productions that have received millions of dollars in assistance from New York State under a program designed to help a pandemic-hobbled theater industry in New York City. Over the three years since the program was established, New York State has bestowed over $100 million on commercial Broadway productions.

Organizations: Walt Disney Company, New York, New York State Locations: New York, New, New York State, New York City

☆ Inside a High-Stakes Fight to Limit Social Media’s Hold on Children
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Jay Root | Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When New York’s governor and attorney general joined forces to pass a law trying to restrict social media companies’ ability to use algorithms to shape content for children, they expected Big Tech to put up a battle. That fight has certainly arrived, but with far more opponents than anticipated. A broad range of online service providers, including Google, TikTok and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has spent over $700,000 on lobbyists to press legislators and state officials, according to recent state disclosures. The spending represents aggregate amounts that includes other items on the lobbyists’ agendas, and the disclosures do not state whether the companies are for or against the legislation. But interviews and public statements show that most are opposing the bill — and a related bill connected to child data privacy — or raising concerns about the measures going too far, with some saying it could have unintended consequences on e-commerce sites or digital news publishers.

Persons: Big Organizations: New, Big Tech, Google, Meta, Facebook, Companies, eBay, New York Times

☆ How Long Does New York Take to Fix a Staircase? 10 Years and Counting.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Ten years ago, the agency overseeing the upkeep of the majestic New York State Capitol reported that the granite staircase leading to the main entrance was warped and bulging so badly that part of it might collapse at any moment. Inspectors discovered leaning balustrades, rusted steel supports, cracked and displaced granite, failed drainage systems and load-bearing brick walls so weakened by time and neglect that individual bricks could be removed by hand. A thorough repair, estimated at $17 million, was recommended. Instead, only a handful of urgent fixes were made. The entrance, known as the Eastern Approach, has been closed to this day, with access-blocking barricades now a familiar part of the downtown landscape.

Organizations: New York State Capitol

☆ National Guardsmen Accused of Abusing Migrants They Were Sent to Protect
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After two asylum seekers were arrested last summer and accused of sexual assault at Buffalo-area motels, Gov. Kathy Hochul sent in the National Guard to provide a “stabilizing presence” there and at a handful of other motels being used as shelters. But now the Guard is investigating whether some of its members engaged in sexual misconduct with migrants in western New York, amid a new lawsuit accusing Guard members and private supervisors of various abuses. The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, describes a culture of coercion, fear and retribution at the Quality Inn motel near the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, one of the many low-budget lodgings where recent migrants have been relocated to relieve pressure on New York City’s beleaguered shelter system. One guardsman was accused of sexual assault for coercing a Venezuelan woman to trade sexual favors in exchange for food and housing, and another of groping the woman’s 10-year-old daughter.

Persons: Kathy Hochul Organizations: National Guard, Guard, Court, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, coercing Locations: Buffalo, New York, Manhattan, Venezuelan

☆ N.Y. Reconsiders Capitol Artworks That Offend Native Americans
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Jay Root | Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At an informal gathering last summer at the Executive Mansion in Albany, N.Y., Gov. Kathy Hochul shared an anecdote about making an unpleasant discovery there, not long after taking residence: a painting depicting the marriage of Pocahontas. The governor thought Pocahontas looked young and frightened, and had the painting removed. In its place went what she considered to be a more tasteful portrayal of Native people in Niagara Falls. Ms. Fine said the matter would be looked into.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Pocahontas, Samuel Champlain, Champlain, Hochul, Liz Fine, Fine Organizations: Capitol Locations: Albany, N.Y, Niagara Falls

☆ Montauketts’ Bid for N.Y. State Recognition Is Vetoed for the 5th Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years, a Native American tribe from the picturesque East End of Long Island has fought bitterly for formal state recognition, a designation that was stripped away more than a century ago by court decisions that are now widely considered racist. The New York State Legislature passed a bill four times in a decade to recognize the tribe, the Montaukett Indian Nation, but the legislation was vetoed each time — the first three occasions by Andrew M. Cuomo, and the last by Gov. The bill was written differently, and there were signs that Ms. Hochul might be receptive: She recently named an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, Elizabeth Rule, as the state’s deputy secretary for First Nations. But on Friday, the Montauketts learned that their battle must continue. Ms. Hochul vetoed the legislation, saying that she did not see sufficient evidence to overturn the century-old ruling that the tribe “no longer functioned as a governmental unit” in New York.

Persons: Andrew M, Cuomo, Kathy Hochul, Hochul, Elizabeth Rule Organizations: New, Gov, Chickasaw, First Nations Locations: New York

☆ From Smugglers and TikTok, Migrants Get a Message: Go to New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

1 choice of where they wanted to go was New York City,” he said. New York, home to the nation’s largest number of immigrants, has long attracted migrants who come here with connections to jobs, relatives or friends — avoiding the city’s shelter intake centers and public scrutiny. That is especially true in New York, which has recently drawn thousands of migrants with no connection to the city. Immigrant experts — as well as many migrants interviewed by The New York Times — said that an underlying reason is the city’s obligation to provide shelter to anyone who needs it. “Imagine if you have no connection to family, someone telling you, you can stay without cost to you in Manhattan, in the middle of the city,” Mr. Chishti said.

Persons: ”, Mayor Adams —, Muzaffar Chishti, The New York Times —, Mr, Chishti Organizations: Migration Policy Institute, The New York Times Locations: New York City, New York, Manhattan

☆ Mayor Adams’s Ability to Freely Spend Money on Migrants May Be Curtailed
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“If we were to revoke the blanket prior approval — yes, then each of those agencies would just need to approach us for approval of any individual contract,” he said. DocGo officials did not respond on Sunday to a request for comment. The company’s contract with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which has not been made public, calls for DocGo to provide some of its subcontracted services with no markup. For example, laundry and food service are “billed at actual cost,” with laundry charges capped at $270,000 a month, and three meals costing no more than $33 per person each day, the contract says. But DocGo is allowed to turn a tidy profit from its largest single monthly expense: the hotel rooms housing the migrants.

Persons: ”, shouldn’t, DocGo Organizations: city’s Department of Housing Preservation, DocGo, Ramada Plaza Locations: Albany, DocGo, New York City

☆ DocGo Used Unregistered Guards at Migrant Hotels, N.Y. Officials Charge
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 50 security guards hired to protect asylum seekers bused upstate from New York City by a troubled migrant contractor are working without proper authorization, a New York Department of State investigation found. The department on Friday notified the two security companies that hired the guards — Trace Assets Protection Service L.L.C. and Wawanda Investigations and Security Company L.L.C. In some cases, it was not even clear if the guards were employees of the two security firms. “Please take notice that the continued employment of the above individuals, unless properly registered with the Department, is a continued and willful violation of law,” Ms. Clark wrote.

Persons: Whitney A, Clark, ” Ms Organizations: New York Department of State, Wawanda Investigations, Security Company, The New York Times, State, Business Development, Department Locations: New York City, New York, Erie County, Albany County

☆ New York Attorney General Will Investigate Troubled Migrant Contractor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The office of the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, has begun an investigation of the medical services provider DocGo for possible violations of state or federal laws over the treatment of migrants in its care, according to correspondence obtained by The New York Times. State investigators are looking into allegations that the company gave inaccurate information to them about employment opportunities, made “explicit or implicit threats,” and took “other actions that may jeopardize migrants’ ability to obtain asylum.”They are also looking into reports that DocGo “enrolled migrants in a healthcare plan for which they are not eligible,” the correspondence states. “We write to raise serious concerns with these reported practices, which may violate various state laws and other federal laws prohibiting discrimination and retaliation for engaging in protected activity,” the correspondence says.

Persons: Letitia James, DocGo “ Organizations: New York, DocGo, The New York Times Locations: New York State

☆ A New York City Migrant Contractor Faces Scrutiny in Sexual Assault Cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

New York City has put DocGo in charge of key tasks, including helping to manage its main intake center at a Manhattan hotel. The police in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga, where some migrants relocated from New York City are staying, say they are investigating the interactions DocGo had with the victims and suspects in two alleged sexual assaults before the police arrived. In one instance, a migrant was accused of assaulting another migrant staying at one of the hotel shelters DocGo operates, and in another instance a migrant was accused of assaulting a DocGo subcontractor. DocGo’s chief executive, Anthony Capone, said the company was “devastated by what happened” and was fully cooperating with law enforcement. After the assault allegations, New York City temporarily halted migrant relocations to Buffalo, and Ms. Hochul has sent National Guard troops to the hotels where they are staying.

Persons: DocGo, Brian Gould, “ We’re, ”, Anthony Capone, Hochul, Brad Lander Organizations: New York City, National Guard Locations: York City, Manhattan, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, New York City, DocGo, Albany, New York, Rockland County

Mr. Adams said that he wanted to “localize this madness” so that people sleeping outdoors were contained to certain parts of the city, without identifying the potential locations or making it clear if people would be sleeping on sidewalks or in tents. “Our next phase of the strategy now that we have run out of room, we have to figure out how we’re going to localize the inevitable that there’s no more room indoors,” he said at an unrelated news conference on public safety. The firm, DocGo, has bused hundreds of asylum seekers upstate to cities including Albany, but many of the migrants there said that they felt misled and abandoned, and that local security guards hired by DocGo had repeatedly threatened them. DocGo, which provided Covid testing and vaccination services during the pandemic, is also involved in running the city’s “arrival center” for migrants at the Roosevelt Hotel. Over the weekend, people were seen sleeping outside the hotel with blankets, and vans were provided so that people could cool off on a hot summer day.

Persons: Adams, DocGo Organizations: New York Times Locations: Albany

☆ New York City Had a Migrant Crisis. It Hired a Covid Expert to Help.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-30 | by ( Jay Root | More About Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Lured by the promise of jobs, legal assistance and a more welcoming environment, hundreds of asylum seekers have boarded buses headed north to Albany, in search of a life better than they had found in New York City. But once they settled in the state capital, many said they realized they had been misled and all but abandoned. Instead of state identification cards, they were given dubious work eligibility and residency letters on what appeared to be a fake letterhead. At the bargain-rate motels where the migrants were relocated, many said they were treated like prisoners in halfway houses, living under written threats that they would be barred from seeking asylum if they were caught drinking or smoking. They complained that crucial mail about their asylum cases had been lost, and worried that they now faced an hourslong trip to the courts where those cases will be heard.

Locations: Albany, New York City

The abrupt maneuver caused a young woman to hit her face on a spike, leaving a gash on her forehead, Ms. Escobar recalled. She said several of the agents stood still for several minutes, until an officer wearing what looked like a soldier’s uniform offered help to the wounded woman. State officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident. “I was still in the river, about to jump over, when I saw what that agent did and was horrified,” she said of the officer in the cowboy hat. “What I am against is the use of tactics that hurt people.”The tactics by Texas appear to have intensified in the lead-up to the lifting in late May of Title 42, a public health policy imposed during the coronavirus pandemic that allowed federal agents to rapidly expel most arriving migrants.

Persons: “, Escobar, ”, Rolando Salinas Jr Locations: Mexico, Texas, Eagle

☆ The Secret Deal for a Tribal Casino and Why It Imploded
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months, talks over a new casino deal between New York State and the Seneca Nation of Indians have been at an impasse, with the two sides deadlocked over the size of the state’s cut of hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling revenue, and what the tribe would get in return. With a few precious hours left before state lawmakers were set to break for the year, that suddenly seemed set to change: Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has faced questions over her husband’s ties to commercial gambling interests, tried to fast-track a bill that would have given her administration blanket authority to negotiate a new compact with the Native American nation — and cut out the scrutiny that accompanied the old one. But now the effort, marked as it was by secrecy and a lack of consultation with virtually anyone besides tribal leaders, has backfired spectacularly. It has alienated local officials and gambling and labor interests that are powerful forces in New York State politics and left the state and the Senecas no closer to a new casino compact.

Persons: Kathy Hochul Organizations: New York State Locations: Seneca Nation, American, New York State, Rochester

☆ Despite Hochul’s Pledge, Her Policies Have Helped Husband’s Firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At issue is a renewal of the Seneca Nation gaming compact, with billions of dollars at stake. The governor says she is recusing herself from the matter, as is her husband, whose $650,000 in compensation last year helped push the Hochuls’ combined income to just under $1 million. Mr. Hochul has signed his own recusal policy with Delaware North on matters concerning the company’s New York operations. Delaware North was founded more than a century ago in Buffalo, beginning as a peanut stand run by L.M. Jacobs and his brothers, and eventually expanding to stadiums and horse and dog tracks all over the country.

☆ Native Burial Sites Will Soon Be Protected Under Law for the First Time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Jay Root | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years, New York law permitted developers to built atop Native American burial sites without taking steps to preserve the ancient remains, making the state one of only four with no meaningful protection for graves on private lands. But that is set to change thanks to a provision included in the state budget deal Gov. The new law now heads to the governor, and she is expected to sign it this week. “This is a major victory for Native Americans across the state of New York,” said Assemblyman Fred Thiele, a Long Island Democrat and author of the bill. And when a grave protection bill finally passed last year with unanimous approval, Ms. Hochul vetoed it, saying it stripped landowners of their property rights.

In Missouri, Mr. Lester, who lived alone, told the police after the shooting that he fired his gun because he saw someone on his front step apparently trying to enter and was “scared to death” of being physically harmed. Zachary Thompson, the Clay County prosecutor, said that there was a “racial component” to the shooting but did not elaborate. Mr. Lester is white; Ralph, who was released from the hospital and is now recovering at home, is Black. In New York, a lawyer for Mr. Monahan, Kurt Mausert, disputed the authorities’ account of the shooting on Saturday night, saying that several vehicles were speeding up Mr. Monahan’s driveway, with engines revving and lights shining, which “certainly caused some level of alarm to an elderly gentleman who had an elderly wife.”As the two men made court appearances in Missouri and New York, basic outlines of their histories were emerging from neighbors and relatives. Neighbors said that Mr. Monahan, a self-employed builder and longtime resident whose home sits on about 40 mostly wooded acres, had a reputation as a sometimes surly character who loved dirt bikes and largely kept to himself.

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