Mayor Bill de Blasio has responded to President-elect Trump’s tweet on Sunday, that alleged he would have also won the popular vote if not for the ‘millions of people who voted illegally’. De Blasio sent out his own tweet earlier this morning that condemned the claim as a lie. He went on to say that spreading this idea could lead to greater voter restrictions by Republicans, adding ‘We can’t let that happen’. This comes as part of the larger issue of possible voting fraud, which has Jill Stein leading a push for election recounts in three states. (New York Post)
JetBlue has launched its first regular flights to Havana in more than fifty years, shortly after the death of Cuban leader fidel castro on Friday. The JetBlue plane left JFK airport at 9:27 a.m., on the heels of an American Airlines (AAL) flight that landed in the Cuban capital at 8:25 a.m. Although Cuba is currently observing a nine-day mourning period, passengers on the JetBlue plane expressed their excitement to be part of the historic flight. Relations between the US and Cuba have been improving since a deal was made under President Obama in 2015. (NY Daily News)
An elderly woman was critically injured on Sunday night, after a large fire destroyed the fifth floor of an apartment building on Southern Blvd. in the Bronx. Approximately 138 firefighters were called to the scene to put out the blaze, which was described as ‘pouring through the roof and the side’. The injured woman, still unidentified, was taken to Lincoln Medical Center in critical condition, after suffering from smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is still unknown. (DNAinfo)
After causing drivers endless trouble, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (B.Q.E) is to be given repairs as part of a $1.7 billion rehabilitation plan. The 1.5mile stretch of road from Sands Street to Atlantic Avenue, which includes 21 concrete-and-steel bridges, will be the focus of the renovation. City transportation officials have stated that part of the highway will remain open throughout the process, which is expected to take five years. (New York Times)
It now costs $132,019 to house each inmate in New York City’s jails system, according to a report by Comptroller Scott Stringer. The report, released today shows that despite a decline in inmate population, the budget for the Department of Correction has increased by $150 million. These figures include the money being used for officers’ overtime, which has nearly doubled since 2014 and now costs taxpayers $275 million. Stringer described the system as ‘moving backwards.’ (New York Post)
