Nicole Rosenthal

Patch • 24th November 2023

4 Dead, Including Teen, Elderly Woman In NYC Thanksgiving Violence: PD

NEW YORK, NY - At least four people were killed on Thanksgiving Day in New York City, including a 17-year-old boy stabbed in Manhattan and a 69-year-old woman found shot outside her Brooklyn home.

The first killing was reported about 1:50 a.m. Thursday, when a 17-year-old and 19-year-old were found with stab wounds to the torso at 96 Lafayette St., the address of a “Viking-themed” lounge offering ax-throwing sessions, police said. It was not immediately clear if axes from the bar were involved

Patch • 24th November 2023

34 Arrested, Issued Summonses After Disrupting NYC Thanksgiving Parade

The protest erupted at Sixth Avenue and West 45th Street about 10 a.m. after several people jumped the barricades, police said. Four people were arrested; another 30 individuals were issued court summonses for trespassing. Those arrested include a 34-year-old man from Washington D.C., a 29-year-old Long Island woman, a 26-year-old Manhattan woman and a 32-year-old Staten Island man, police said.

Some protesters glued themselves to the parade route, prompting parade participants to go around the

Patch • 22nd November 2023

Attempted NYPD Cop Killer Mistakenly Released From Prison Found: Feds

NEW YORK, NY - A man convicted of shooting at two NYPD officers in Queens over a decade ago was nabbed by U.S. Marshals after he was mistakenly released from prison last week, federal authorities said.

Antonio Olmeda, 65, who was sentenced in 2015 to more than 12 years in prison in connection with a 2011 Queens shooting at a pair of on-duty officers, was “released in error” from a low-security federal prison in Connecticut last Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive

Patch • 22nd November 2023

Gunman Nabbed, Hospitalized In Queens Co-op Shooting: NYPD

The shooting began as a landlord-tenant dispute at at 31-31 54th St. in Woodside, police said. The dispute escalated when the gun-wielding tenant shot the building's 48-year-old super in the stomach on the fourth floor of the building about 10:57 a.m., police said. Medics rushed the building's super to Elmhurst Hospital where the super was listed in stable condition.


The gunman later fired shots outside a sixth floor window, but it's unclear if the shots were aimed at police responding to th

Patch • 20th November 2023

20% Cut To NYC Migrant Spending Needed To Avoid ‘Serious Fiscal Harm'

In the memo, first shared by The New York Times’ Dana Rubenstein via X, New York City’s Budget Director Jacques Jiha demanded a 20% cut to FY2024 and FY2025 asylum-seeker expenses aimed at reducing per-diem costs and the length of shelter stays in order to keep the city's already-strapped budget afloat. The budget slashing will be led by the Office of Asylum Seeker Operations and the Office of Management and Budget, per the memo. The spending cut comes as the city attempts to keep the FY2024 and

Patch • 17th November 2023

Taxi Driver, 82, Punched Unconscious By Fare Dodger: NYPD

CHINATOWN, NY - A man who attacked an 82-year-old taxi cab driver after refusing to pay a fare for a yellow cab in Chinatown is being sought by authorities.

The cab driver confronted the passenger who stiffed him about 1:05 a.m. outside 40 Canal St. near a strip of buzzy bars and restaurants, police said. The cheapskate punched the driver during the dispute, knocking him unconscious, police said. The assailant kicked the driver's unconscious body before leaving in another yellow cab northbound

Patch • 16th November 2023

Trump Gag Order Lifted — For Now — In NY Fraud Trial: AP

The gag order, which was called "unconstitutional" by Trump's attorneys in an appeal, prohibited the former president from complaining about the judge’s law clerk. It was imposed Oct. 3 by Judge Arthur Engoron. Engoron later fined Trump $15,000 total for violations and expanded it to his lawyers after they questioned the clerk’s prominent role in the trial, according to the AP.

Judge David Friedman of the state’s intermediate appeals court suspended the gag order Thursday, allowing Trump to ope

Patch • 15th November 2023

40+ Columbia Student Orgs Join Israel ‘Apartheid Divest’ Coalition

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY - Over 40 student organizations at Columbia University from the Black Student Organization to Student Worker Solidarity to the Columbia National Lawyers Guild have joined a reinvigorated coalition aimed at urging Columbia to divest all economic and academic stakes in Israel, according to an op-ed signed by the student groups Tuesday.

The op-ed, published in the Columbia Spectator, announced the groups have joined Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student-led coalit

Patch • 15th November 2023

Crime Down, 311 Drug Calls Up Near NYC Safe Injection Sites: Study

The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open and co-authored by ex-NYPD precinct commander Brandon del Pozo, found the immediate areas near the two sites (at 104-106 East 126th St. in East Harlem and 500 West 180th St. in Washington Heights) have seen drugs and weapons possession arrests decrease by 82.7% and by 56.5% respectively since 2021, compared with over a dozen pre-existing needle exchange sites in New York City that don’t offer on-site overdose prevention services. In the broader ne

Patch • 13th November 2023

Columbia Student Sues ‘Doxxing Truck’ Group Toting Mobile Billboards

Attorneys for Columbia University undergraduate senior Yusuf Hafez, 21, filed a lawsuit Monday in New York Supreme Court accusing the conservative nonprofit behind the truck, Accuracy in Media, Inc., of violating New York Civil Rights Law, specifically a section barring corporations from using someone’s picture in advertising without written consent. “This conduct, authorized by AIM’s president Defendant [Adam] Guillette, has been engaged in intentionally with the goal of profiting AIM and its p

Patch • 13th November 2023

CU Suspends Jewish, Palestinian Groups After Multiple ‘Violated’ Rules

The violations apparently culminated in an unauthorized event Thursday, which was held “despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation,” the school said in an online announcement. At least one protest in solidarity with the student groups is planned for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Sundial on the university's Morningside Heights campus.

This is the peaceful art installion that led to the suspension of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine.


I participated in a similar g

Patch • 10th November 2023

NYC Museum's Palestinian Art Nix Under Fire From Anti-Censorship Group

In a Nov. 2 letter to the directors of El Museo del Barrio, National Coalition Against Censorship arts and culture advocacy program director Elizabeth Larison said the organization is “alarmed” by the museum’s decision to display artwork — commissioned by artists Odalys Burgoa and Roy Baizan — for the “sole reason that the work includes a scarf with the Palestinian flag on it.” “Upon the completion of the work—which also commemorates international advocates for the poor, for the indigenous, and

Patch • 8th November 2023

New Harlem H&M Location Opens This Month

The new site at 100 West 125th St. near Malcolm X Boulevard is set to open Nov. 16 at noon, a company spokesperson told Patch. The 7,000-square-foot site will offer menswear, womenswear and kids’ apparel, plus mobile checkout and click and collect stations.

The first 100 customers who line up at H&M Harlem 125th Street on opening day will receive a free H&M tote bag and gift card with a chance to win up to $100, the spokesperson said. Bespoke hoodies and tote bags created in partnership with Ha

Patch • 6th November 2023

NYPD Cop Spews Anti-Gay Slur Over Loudspeaker: VIDEO

Per the video, posted to Instagram Thursday by user @skymilezz, the officer can be heard saying “suck my d---, f-----” through the vehicle’s speaker while stopped at a red light in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood. The video has amassed nearly 100,000 likes as of Monday afternoon. While it's not clear when the video was captured, it appears to have been taken on East 106th Street near Lexington Avenue across the street from Dunrite Glass & Windows, Inc.

The Gay Officers Action League (GOAL)

Patch • 27th October 2023

‘Career Con Artist’ Duped UWS Landlords For Rent-Free Loft: Lawsuit

West 60th Street Associates, which manages a residential townhouse at 245 West 71st St., alleges chef and entrepreneur Sarid Drory and his son, nephew and nephew’s live-in girlfriend defrauded the company by stiffing the landlords $100,000 in rent and hiding the money owed in shell accounts while they traveled on luxurious Mediterranean vacations, according to a complaint filed in New York County Supreme Court Tuesday. When not gallivanting on vacation, the family were horrible tenants who had l

Patch • 25th October 2023

Second Ave Subway Extension Poised To Get $3.4B Grant From Feds

HARLEM, NY - $3.4 billion in federal dollars from the Biden administration are poised to be funneled to the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway Extension project, which would expand the Q train line from 96th to 125th streets, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Adriano Espaillat announced Tuesday.

The grant, allocated from the Federal Transit Administration's Capital Investment Grants program, would be the largest grant in the history of the program, Schumer said, surpassing both the $6.8 billi

Patch • 23rd October 2023

NYPD Cop Who Slept With Witness Won't Be Fired, Commissioner Says

Police Officer Willie Thompson, assigned to the 30th precinct detective squad since 2021, reportedly engaged in a months-long sexual relationship with a witness in a May 23, 2021 incident in which he was the investigating officer, according to a trial decision released by the NYPD last month. Thompson was charged last year with having a sexual relationship with a witness, being a threat to a witness and making a false official statement, per NYPD records. He only pleaded guilty to the first char

Patch • 20th October 2023

Columbia Researchers To Strike Over Contract Dispute

Though the union and the university have engaged in more than 25 bargaining sessions since April for the contract that expired June 30, officials from The Union for Postdoctoral Researchers at Columbia University (CPW-UAW 4100) say no progress has been made in negotiations regarding wage increases, housing stipends and parental support. “The university’s failure to negotiate in good faith, remedy its labor law violations, and agree to a fair contract for postdoctoral workers is leading us to a s

Patch • 19th October 2023

Coffee And WHAT?! Behind New NYC Deli's NSFW Name

Hanging above the newly-opened deli next to the Capitol Diner is a sign proudly advertising “Coffee and F—in Bagels,” which is also the new convenience store’s namesake. While the store only opened at the former site of Castle Beauty & Accessories on Tuesday, the business has already gained the attention of plenty passersby.

“All customers say they came in because of the sign,” said store owner Khaled Benkirat, who lives next door and serves as the sole employee of the location. “Customers say

Patch • 18th October 2023

Alleged Espaillat Voter Suppression Probe Demanded By Uptown Pols

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - Nearly two dozen politicos representing Washington Heights signed a complaint to county democratic committee officials Tuesday calling for an investigation into alleged voter suppression from Rep. Adriano Espaillat and three other district leaders, according to a letter shared with Patch.

The petition addressed to the New York County Democratic Committee's Executive Committee — signed by 23 New York County Democratic Committee members from the 72nd Assembly District rep

Patch • 12th October 2023

2 Protests, One War: Israel-Hamas Conflict Reaches Columbia U [PHOTOS]

The “Call To Action For Palestine" on the South Field East, organized by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, condemned newly-inaugurated University President Minouche Shafik, urging her to end the campus' dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University and pull the plug on the Tel Aviv Global Center opening. Other demands include Columbia University verbally acknowledging Palestine "existence and humanity," according to the SJP Instagram page. "We demand liberation ... end the Zionist occup

Upper West Side, NY Patch • 4th October 2023

Mayor On Central Park Festival Mayhem: 'Parks Belong To The People'

In a letter to the mayor dated Monday, New York City council member Gale Brewer urged Adams to cancel the annual Global Citizen Festival at Central Park after this year's event in September wreaked havoc on most of the park's Great Lawn and destroyed a third of it. The destruction resulted in the immediate closure of the lawn until at least next April for re-seeding, Brewer said (the lawn is typically closed from November to April for maintenance). Brewer’s letter, initially shared by the West S

Harlem, NY Patch • 27th September 2023

NYC Target Store To Close, Company Says Retail Theft To Blame

The Target on East 117th St. near Pleasant Avenue will close on Oct. 21, the company said in a statement. "Theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests," Target said in a statement.

"We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all."

The East Harlem store, opened in 2010, is among about a dozen outposts in Manhattan and 96 in the New York City market

Chelsea, NY Patch • 27th September 2023

State Eyes Former Chelsea Prison For Affordable, Transitional Housing

In what serves as Hochul’s latest attempt at bolstering New York's housing growth, the governor’s office issued the request for proposals to transform the site of the 100,000-square-foot former Bayview Correctional Facility at 550 West 20th St. into a residential complex with “onsite community uses that will benefit area residents and reintegrate the structure into the surrounding neighborhood,” according to a statement from Hochul’s office. "By reimagining the Bayview facility as affordable hou