Here's how quickly a New Yorker can become homeless

Plus: Columbia to hold classes remotely after protests [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [Here's how quickly a New Yorker can come to the brink of homelessness]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☀️ Sunny, highs in the upper 50s. It's Monday in New York City, where Colette Baird, a 52-year-old Bronx resident, was recently told she had 90 days to vacate her apartment before the unit's new owner would force her out. Here's how Baird — a late-stage cancer patient who now lives off a fixed income after a career in government and health care — almost had to join [9,500 other New Yorkers aged 50 and older currently living in city shelters](. And here's what else is happening: - Columbia University said it will hold all classes remotely on Monday as [student protests over the Israel-Hamas war]( and reports of antisemitic incidents continue to roil the school's Morningside Heights campus. - Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York state lawmakers [finally approved]( a $237 billion budget on Saturday, about three weeks after it was first due. Included in the package: - [New penalties for drivers]( who obscure or cover their license plates to avoid paying tolls. - The [addition of 23 offenses]( to the state's existing list of what can be prosecuted as hate crimes. - In oral arguments before New York's highest court last week, attorneys for two Black men charged with robbery [argued that Queens prosecutors screened out prospective Black jurors]( based on racial bias. - New York Attorney General Letitia James has issued a consumer scam alert after [nearly nearly two dozen New Yorkers invested in a fraudulent real estate deal]( in the Dominican Republic. - A new apartment complex is going up in Greenpoint atop pollution from an old plastics factory after developers and state environmental regulators [abandoned plans to fully remove the contaminated soil underground](. - NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell's review after [Columbia asked the police to forcibly remove pro-Palestinian protesters]( last Thursday: "The students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner." - The federal justice department is threatening to sue the NYPD if it doesn't [stop police officers from illegally parking on the sidewalk](. - State lawmakers [voted not to renew the MTA's pilot program]( that offered one free bus route in each borough. - As part of an effort to [reduce the amount of plastic New York sends to landfills]( a new bill in Albany would ban the sale of individually wrapped slices of cheese. - Pickleball will now be [a permanent summertime fixture]( at Central Park's Wollman Rink. - A full moon hits tomorrow, which means it's time for the grunions to have [late-night sex on the beach](. - Zoomers think "Sex and the City's" Tweety bird tattoo guy [has the rizz](. - [One time]( for the people who name paints. - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. [“I was a working woman and to have this happen is just really devastating. Now I know what it feels like to be facing homelessness, to be homeless.”]( - Colette Baird, a 52-year-old cancer patient and Bronx Resident, on [HER SCRAMBLE TO FIND A NEW APARTMENT]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [60 hours of chess in Times Square may have set a record, but is already a win]( During his 60-hour marathon chess session, Tunde Onakoya raised nearly $96,000 for a nonprofit to purchase chess sets and supplies. [Randy Mastro fought for Giuliani, Big Oil and Chris Christie. Can he become NYC’s top lawyer?]( As Mayor Eric Adams weighs Mastro to be the city’s corporation counsel, the former Giuliani deputy is already at the center of another political drama: He’ll need to undergo a rare confirmation process with the City Council. [We Rely On Your Support]( [1,200 new recruits to join NYPD as Mayor Adams announces more funding]( The surge in recruitment comes as the Adams administration plans to increase the total number of uniformed NYPD officers to 35,000 in the coming years. [MTA struggled to answer questions about congestion pricing tolls 5 years in the making]( After hearing from numerous confused New Yorkers, Gothamist expected transit officials to easily answer a few questions about whether certain areas within the congestion zone south of 60th Street would be tolled. What followed was one of the more bizarre exchanges we've had with the MTA. [Instagram]( [Instagram]( [Facebook]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Twitter]( [New York Public Radio] [WNYC]( | [WQXR]( | [NJPR]( | [GOTHAMIST]( [WNYC STUDIOS]( | [THE GREENE SPACE]( Copyright © New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. 160 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013 [TERMS OF USE]( You can update your [PREFERENCES]( or [UNSUBSCRIBE]( from this list.