MEGAN ZEREZ, BYLINE: From Columbia Radio News in New York City, I’m Megan Zerez.
State lawmakers finalized a deal with Governor Cuomo to legalize the sale, production and consumption of recreational marijuana.
The proposed plan would generate an estimated $350 billion dollars in tax revenue. The bill gives most of the spending authority to the legislature -- not the governor. Until the law goes into effect next year, recreational smokers will still be prohibited from lighting up legally.
The NYPD says it will be deploying more plainclothes cops in response to last week’s shooting in Atlanta. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea says the goal is to combat anti-Asian violence.
Almost 1 in every 10 New Yorkers who died of COVID-19 last year was buried on Hart Island. The island has long served as the final resting place for some of the poorest New Yorkers. According to analysis released today by non-profit newsroom, The City, the potter’s field saw a spike of activity in 2020… surpassing records set during the AIDS crisis.
There’s three months left in the race for New York City mayor and half of New Yorkers still are undecided. The field of candidates narrowed a bit yesterday when Carlos Menchaca announced he’d be suspending his campaign. Menchaca would have been the city’s first openly gay Latino mayor.
Some might have woken up thinking their building had been swallowed by a cloud this morning . But the fog has lifted and it’s 65 degrees here in Manhattan with some patchy sunshine.
And some good news for the all struggling actors … Mayor Bill DeBlasio says New York City’s theater workers will get their own dedicated vaccination sites soon.
BILL DEBLASIO: The show must go on, and the show will go on on Broadway]
ZEREZ: Eligible Actors, stagehands and ticket takers will be able to get their shots at pop-up sites at some theaters next month. For Columbia Radio News, I’m Megan Zerez.