The city has announced that it is opening a homeless shelter in Long Island City that will be designated for women. With a rising number of single adult women entering the shelter system, the Verve Hotel in Dutch Kills will be opening its doors to 200 homeless women this Friday. As one of several hotels converted into homeless shelters in the area, it will offer services including mental health treatment and money management. Some have voiced concern over the shelter’s close proximity to Growing Up Green Charter School; however, city officials have said that the shelter will have 24-hour security on all six floors, along with three security guards at the front entrance and an X-ray scanner. (DNAinfo)
With a national title, the Harvard debate team fell short against a team of New York inmates. Two years ago, a group of inmates at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility—a maximum-security prison—teamed up to create a debate team, gaining enough confidence to invite the Ivy League team for a friendly competition. The inmates came out of the debate victorious, arguing several issues; one particular challenge for the team was arguing in favor of public schools that turn away students whose parents entered the U.S. illegally. The team is slowly building their reputation, with debate victories against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as well as the University of Vermont. (New York Post)
Students and parents gathered in the city today to rally in support of a charter school expansion in New York City. Participants in the Education Inequality Rally believe that failing public schools should be shut down and replaced by charter schools, arguing charter schools to be more beneficial for children. Protesters will march across the Brooklyn Bridge and rally in front of City Hall, as they have done in the past. “They provide an educational opportunity for all these children that would not be provided otherwise,” said Tyrone Smith, a charter school parent. (NY1)
Urban Outfitters is the latest retailer to respond to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s inquiry into stores that require workers to report to shifts on short notice. The store will now end on-call scheduling at all stores in New York. In April, the Attorney General’s office wrote a letter to 13 major retailers, denouncing the stores’ on-call customs and questioning potential violations of New York’s requirement to pay staff on an hourly basis. Mr. Schneiderman previously sought out New York employers who cheated or underpaid low-wage workers. (ABC News)
