April 13, 2020 By Allie Griffin Nearly 2,000 Queens residents have died from the novel coronavirus, according to new data. The borough continues to be the hardest hit by the deadly virus — 1,994 residents have died and 32,749 residents have contracted the disease, as of 5 p.m. yesterday. Queens has more deaths and more… Read more »
April 13, 2020 By Michael Dorgan The New York Department of Labor has upgraded its online and call center technology systems that will increase the agency’s capacity to process unemployment benefit applications. The new system, dubbed “Tech Surge,” was rolled out Friday — in partnership with Google Cloud, Deloitte, and Verizon — and will help… Read more »
April 11, 2020 By Michael Dorgan Governor Andrew Cuomo has warned New Yorkers to stay the course and to remain cautious as efforts to flatten the spread of COVID-19 appear to be paying off. The number of hospitalizations and intubations – those who are connected to ventilators – continues to drop, the governor said at… Read more »
April 11, 2020 By Michael Dorgan All public schools will remain closed for the remainder of the current academic school year and will reopen again in September, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this morning. The mayor said it was the right decision to keep them closed since it would help stop the spread of COVID-19… Read more »
April 10, 2020 By Christian Murray Council Member Costa Constantinides posted on twitter last night that his wife—-who has a number of pre-existing conditions– is seriously ill with coronavirus. Constantinides, a private person who typically doesn’t use social media to discuss his family, posted that his wife Lori has been in hospital with COVID-19 since… Read more »
April 10, 2020 By Michael Dorgan Police have released footage of a man wanted for punching an MTA employee in the face and chasing him with a golf club inside Queens Plaza subway station Tuesday. On April 7, at around 2:03 p.m. the suspect approached an on-duty MTA worker in the mezzanine area of the… Read more »
April 9, 2020 By Michael Dorgan Many people who file for unemployment are unable to complete the process online–and are required to call in to verify information pertaining to their claim. State Sen. Mike Gianaris launched a petition today urging the Department of Labor to scrap that requirement. Many people who are mandated to call… Read more »
April 9, 2020 Staff Report Council Member Costa Constantinides penned a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo last month calling for him to suspend the requirement that couples seeking a marriage license must go to the clerk’s office in person. Constantinides said that the in-person requirement has stopped couples from being able to marry since the… Read more »
April 9, 2020 By Allie Griffin More than 4,000 New York City residents have died of the novel coronavirus and nearly a third of the deaths have been Queens residents, according to city data released this morning. In total, 4,426 New Yorkers have been killed by the virus in the Big Apple — 1,377 of… Read more »
April 9, 2020 By Christian Murray Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney will be introducing legislation to provide student loan relief for frontline health care workers. Maloney’s bill—dubbed the Student Debt Forgiveness for Frontline Health Care Workers Act—would relieve doctors, nurses and other healthcare professions of their graduate student loan debt if they are providing care for COVID-19… Read more »