Voters at the poll-site (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

A sweeping voter protectionbill, theJohn R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York (NYVRA), moved

Scanners at work (photo: Evolv Technology)

New York City is currently running a pilot program at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx using an advanced weapon detection system created by Evolv Technology, a Massachusetts-based security technology firm, and Mayor Eric Adams has indicated that the technology could eventually be rolled out in schools across the city.

In the wake of several incidents of gun violence in the city this year, Mayor Adams has...

NYPD counterterrorism (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

The tragic impacts of the September 11 attacks stretch far beyond the nearly three thousand people who lost their lives that day 20 years ago. 

Over the last two decades, government forces have trampled on civil rights and liberties in the name of 9/11. Deeply entrenched aspects of our society like the ubiquitous surveillance state that follows us wherever we go, the military mission creep that’s infected our domestic law enforcement, and the unbridled police power that

Rudy Giuliani at City Hall (photo: Kristen Artz/mayor's office)

As Rudy Giuliani melts down – at times literally – in his desperate crusade to steal the election for his soundly defeated First Client, there has been much speculation about how “America’s Mayor” could have deteriorated into this spectacle. 

Whatever may be going on with Rudy Giuliani personally, let’s be clear: while, for one brief moment in his career he served as a cheerleader for a devastated city and a shocked nation, the rest of Rudy Giuliani’s mayoralty was driven by a hostility

(photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

October 7, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Ensuring Voting Access by Monitoring Poll Sites, with Perry Grossman of NYCLU

Perry Grossman of the NYCLU joined the show to discuss his organization's efforts to protect the right to vote.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMaxand @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the

An NYPD command center (photo: Edward Reed/Mayor's Office)

In the four months since the NYPD first published protocols limiting its use of facial recognition software, the coronavirus-caused state of emergency and recent civil unrest over police brutality made the considerable leeway in the policy all but total. Absent any formal legal framework at the city, state or federal level, the internal, non-binding departmental protocols are the only public policy governing New York's lawless frontier of biometric surveillance.

The police department has insisted it

(photo: Governor's Office)

Thousands of people are subjected to long-term solitary confinement in New York. The United Nations calls it torture. New York’s jails and prisons call it business as usual.

Our state’s laws permit 23-hour confinement for months and even years at a time in jails and prisons across the state. This despite the fact that long-term solitary confinement creates severe and irreparable mental and

(photo: @NYCLU)

The windshield of the NYPD car is shattered, with glass debris all over the ground. The inside of the patrol vehicle is full of greenery, indicating it’s been there a while. Still intact is the side door that reads “Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect.”

This is the centerpiece of the Museum of Broken Windows, a new pop-up exhibit on West 8th Street hosted by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and open for one week beginning

photos via The Governor's Office on Flickr

Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully advocated for the passage of a $15 minimum wage plan with the help of major labor unions and a nonprofit they created called The Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice. Teaming with 1199-SEIU, the health care workers union, and 32BJ-SEIU, the buildings workers union, Cuomo made campaign stops in an RV paid for by the nonprofit, which was funded largely by unions.

In a complicated confluence of relationships,

De Blasio, Bratton, O'Neill, & Gomez (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Office)

Bill Bratton, commissioner of the New York Police Department, announced his retirement from the NYPD on Tuesday, ushering in new leadership at the department he has shaped over the course of several decades. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Bratton will be replaced by Chief of Department James O’Neill, who has been a long-time member of the NYPD, rising through its ranks to now fill

photo via @NYPDNews

NOTE: this article was originally published June 7, but the hearing discussed was postponed to June 28; it has been edited to refllect the new date and other recent news

Following on the heels of passing the Criminal Justice Reform Act, which diverts the prosecution of a number of low-level nonviolent offenses to civil rather than criminal avenues, the City Council will hear a bill on Tuesday that also addresses criminal justice reform, but this time by targeting bad actors within

CM Ritchie Torres at a recent event (photo: William Alatriste)

At a joint hearing of the City Council's Committees on Public Safety and Education on Tuesday, council members will discuss and hear testimony on three bills addressing school safety.

One bill, sponsored by Council Member Ritchie Torres, would require the city Department of Education

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office via flickr)

Governor Andrew Cuomo's new 90-day email deletion policy for all state agencies is being met with widespread disapproval. Experts say it is terrible for transparency; the people who have to abide by the mandate say they don't feel qualified to implement it and that it isn't good for their productivity.

According to a number of state workers who spoke to Gotham Gazette on the condition of anonymity, regular work habits have been disrupted by the policy that sees emails