Experts discuss housing discrimination, I-81 project in forum
Elizabeth Billman | Senior Staff Photographer
The I-81 viaduct is a deteriorating section of the highway that New York state plans to remove and replace with a “community grid” of surface level streets.
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Experts and activists discussed the history of housing discrimination and its effects within the city of Syracuse on Thursday in a public forum about the Interstate 81 removal project.
The forum, called Charting Renewal, was hosted by City Scripts, an organization that operates through Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the School of Architecture. City Scripts holds discussions and provides research on the intersection of architectural design and public policy in the U.S.
New York Will End Long-Term Solitary Confinement in Prisons and Jails
Isolation for more than 15 consecutive days will be barred in prisons and jails starting next March after years of efforts to restrict the practice.
All prisons and jails in New York will be prohibited from keeping minors and pregnant prisoners in solitary confinement.Credit.Seth Wenig/Associated Press
April 1, 2021
In a far-reaching move that will fundamentally change life behind bars in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will end the use of long-term solitary confinement in prisons and jails.
The new law is set to restrict prisons and jails from holding people in solitary confinement nearly all-day isolation for more than 15 consecutive days. It also bars the practice entirely for several groups, including minors and people with certain disabilities.
Cuomo signs N.Y. pot bill, with sales due as soon as 2022 Thursday, 01 April 2021
New York is set to become the nation’s second-largest legal marijuana market after Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday signed legislation allowing the licensing of dispensaries.
Cannabis storefronts will be allowed to open as soon as next year under the measure (S.854A/A.1248A), which the Legislature cleared on Tuesday.
New York is the 16th state to decide to let adults use cannabis, though marijuana stores probably won’t open in New Jersey until next year, and South Dakota’s law is under appeal. New Mexico’s legislature is on track to pass its bill this week. Under New York’s law adults age 21 and older would be allowed to purchase and consume cannabis.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation Wednesday that will end prolonged solitary confinement in state correctional facilities.
The HALT Solitary Confinement Act will limit the use of segregated confinement for incarcerated people to 15 consecutive days, according to the legislation. It will take effect in one year.
Segregated confinement for more than 15 days is considered torture, according to the Nelson Mandela Rules that were adopted by the United Nations. Generations of incarcerated men and women have been subjected to inhumane punishment in segregated confinement with little to no human interaction for extended periods of time and many experience emotional and physical trauma that can last for years, Cuomo said in a statement.
Times Square in New York City | The Christian Post/Leonardo Blair
New York is facing a lawsuit filed by people who identify as nonbinary and argue that they face discrimination because the state requires them to indicate that they are either male or female to receive public welfare benefits.
The fact that the Empire State does not provide an “X” gender option is discriminatory based on gender identity, the claimants argued in the complaint filed Monday against state and local agencies that run public assistance programs.
In 2019, New York began allowing the “X” gender option on birth certificates, and the same has been promised for driver’s licenses. But the plaintiffs assert that the state computer system used by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance is “outdated” because it compels people who say their gender is nonbinary to lie when applying for certain services such as food stamps, Medicaid and other forms of public assistance.