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CityAndStateNY.com
September 20, 2021
exemptions, notably for religious purposes. In New York City, a state Supreme Court judge put a halt to a requirement for all city Department of Education employees to get the shot, which similarly did not include exemptions. Both rulings are preliminary, and both state and city officials are confident that the vaccine mandates will ultimately stay in place.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, before watching a spectacle of illegal dirt bikes being destroyed, via Twitter
After lawmakers visited Rikers Island and decried the conditions there, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Less is More Act into law.
SOME VACCINE MANDATES PAUSED Some workers facing vaccine mandates to keep their jobs got some relief
from judges, who issued temporary restraining orders for the enforcement of two separate mandates. At the state level, a federal
judge in Utica blocked the implementation of the mandate for health care workers, which explicitly did not include any
DON’T MESS WITH DELIVERY WORKERS Approximately 65,000 delivery workers bring food all over New York City. They are mostly immigrants, and they have few official protections, as New York magazine and The Verge reported. Workers look out for and support each other, even as they are taken advantage of by the apps, robbed and not tipped after riding 30 blocks to deliver a single ice cream.
“We all had a conversation about Taxing the Rich in front of the very people who lobby against it.” – Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez, after wearing a white dress emblazoned with “Tax the Rich” to the Met Gala, via ABC News
LESS IS MORE SIGNED INTO LAW As the situation at Rikers Island continues to deteriorate, Gov. Kathy Hochul heeded the call of lawmakers and others to sign the Less is More Act, which will reform the parole system so that fewer people return to jail for technical parole violations. Many people who populate Rikers and other jails are in for parole violations, so the law is expected to decrease the number of people reincarcerated for technical issues. The law won’t go into effect until next year, so Hochul also announced that she would direct the Board of Parole to release nearly 200 people immediately who would be eligible for release under Less is More.
POLLS LOOK GOOD FOR HOCHUL
Hochul seems to be off to a pretty good start to her time as governor, if poll numbers are to be believed. About 42% of New York voters view her favorability,
LEV RADIN/SHUTTERSTOCK; FRANMARIE METZLER/U.S. HOUSE OFFICE OF PHOTOGRAPHY; GAGE SKIDMORE; ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE; THE STATE INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSION
“Let’s. Crush. Some. Dirt bikes!!!!”
