Dear New Yorkers,
When the family of a former Rikers Island detainee agreed to settle its lawsuit against the city for $2.1 million last March, they planned to use some of that money for a family reunion and memorial service to honor their beloved brother.
Nearly a year later, relatives of Joseph Foster – who died due to botched medical care while in custody – haven’t gotten a penny from the settlement.
The money is frozen in the city’s backlogged Surrogate Court system, where all estates without a will are sent before they are distributed to surviving family members.
“It’s like a second slap in the face,” Foster’s older brother, Wendell Pittman, told THE CITY.
The legal logjam is just one example of a backlog of Surrogate Court cases stuck for months and, in some cases, years.
Read more here.
Some other items of note: - Yesterday we told you about millions of COVID-response items auctioned off for pennies on the dollar. Now, THE CITY has learned that the city agency responsible for those items has also put $99 million more worth of pandemic purchases on a list to be destroyed.
- City Hall is being asked to take the wheel on funding Access-A-Ride. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed state budget calls for the city to fully cover the MTA’s paratransit costs — while Mayor Eric Adams says that would be an unsustainable burden. Meanwhile, advocates for New Yorkers with disabilities worry if the funding shift would worsen service.
- See how New York City is doing with our newsroom’s economic recovery tracker.
- For the latest local numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations, testing rates and more, check our coronavirus tracker.
- We’re trying out something new. This week, we’re shouting out the daily newsletter of our friends over at Mother Jones in exchange for them doing the same for The Scoop. Their free newsletter is designed to help you cut through the noise and discover underreported stories at the national level about politics, democracy, and social justice. Learn about their 47-year nonprofit history, and join the millions who read Mother Jones here.
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