Elected officials are working with the city Human Resources Administration and HeartShare, a nonprofit, to aid residents in need of help with their heating bills.

“My office is working with nonprofit HeartShare and NYC HRA to offer assistance to eligible residents who need help to pay their home heating bills and prevent utility shut-offs under the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP),” state Sen. Leroy Comrie said (D-St. Albans) via email. “A person may qualify if they are elderly, disabled or receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Temporary Assistance Benefits or Supplemental Security Income; and can provide valid Social Security numbers for each member of their household.” Read more

Attorney General Tish James announced on Nov. 23 that she is leading a tri-state coalition in calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tighten controls on air pollution from heavy-duty trucks because of nitrogen oxide emissions.

When NOx combines in the atmosphere with other volatile organic compounds in the presence of heat and sunlight, smog is formed, according to EPA data from James’ office. As climate change leads to warmer temperatures, smog formation will worsen and disproportionately affect the health of the most vulnerable, children, the elderly and those with cardiovascular disease and respiratory illnesses like asthma and Covid-19, she said. Read more

City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi was direct on Monday when asked about the possibility of Covid-19’s Omicron variant showing up in the city.

“[W]e believe it will be a matter of days before Omicron is detected in the United States, and very likely in New York City as well,” he said at a press conference. Read more

When a constituent called state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) about discarded drug paraphernalia littering a road near her home, he decided to check it out for himself.

“I went down to a street off of Cross Bay Boulevard in Ozone Park and I saw these canisters,” he said. Read more

Constituents have been expecting it for a while, but Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau, Suffolk, Queens) officially announced his candidacy for governor Nov. 29.

“Everything I have done in my career has prepared me for this particular job at this particular time,” he said in his campaign video. Read more

Since all school staff have been required to get vaccinated, the amount of in-school Covid-19 testing has all but ceased for building personnel, according to city data.

On Tuesday, only 26 teachers were tested citywide, compared to 6,661 students. Read more

Michael Henry, a commercial litigation attorney from Astoria, is running for the state Attorney General’s Office.

Henry, a Republican candidate, is campaigning to tackle crime, corruption and the coronavirus crisis. Read more

Bishop Robert Brennan on Tuesday was installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn at a Mass at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States of America, officiated the Installation Mass. Brennan, who led the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, since 2019, was named by Pope Francis to succeed Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio back in September. Read more

Two days after the 2021 general election, Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) pointed out that communities heavily populated by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders voted in favor of Republican candidates.

“Our party better start giving more of a s**t about #aapi voters and communities. No other community turned out at a faster pace than AAPIs in 2020,” Meng wrote in a Nov. 4 tweet. Read more

Queens parents are divided in yet another policy debate that comes after 11th-hour announcements from Mayor de Blasio.

Almost a year ago, officials announced that they would end all “geographic screens” or priorities that give preference to students who live within a district or borough. Read more

The West Pond Loop at Jamaica Bay is reopened to the public, boasting nine acres of restored habitat and 200,000 new native plants.

The trail was closed so the West Pond Living Shoreline Restoration Project could be completed and a ceremony on Friday marked the reopening. Read more

Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) has allocated over $400,000 for fiscal year 2022 toward preventing illegal dumping and cleaning up hotspots where garbage piles up.

The overflow of refuse, including household trash, has led to residential areas being plagued with rubbish, according to Miller. Read more

President Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better package passed the House of Representatives on Nov. 19, and if it manages to secure enough votes in the Senate the Empire State could secure hundreds of billions in childhood education and climate programs and up to $70,000 in relief on state and local taxes.

The breakdown for some of Biden’s initiatives includes $400 billion for children and families, $555 billion for climate and a lift in the SALT deductions cap from $10,000 to $80,000. Read more

The Coalition for Affordable Hospitals, a group of labor unions that have banded together to denounce the exorbitant costs of medical services, released an updated report from the Community Service Society of New York on Nov. 16, calling out nonprofit hospitals that secured liens against patients’ homes from March to November 2020 for unpaid medical bills.

Elisabeth Benjamin and Amanda Dunker of the Community Service Society, a nonprofit advocacy group that uses research to fight poverty, wrote the report, “Discharged into Debt: A Pandemic Update.” Read more