Early Addition: Is COVID back?

Also, the Reclining Liberty's next move. [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.]( [Is COVID-19 on the rise in NYC again?]( It's Thursday in New York City, where [wastewater monitoring is showing early signs of a coronavirus rebound.]( More on what's going on around the city and around the internet: - Even if COVID is rebounding, many of the pandemic-era policy changes are still set to go away. This includes automatic renewals for Medicaid coverage, but [many New Yorkers don't know that they could soon lose the free health insurance program](. - Another pandemic effect: Birth rates have been on a downward spiral lately and straight up [flat lined last year]( with fewer babies born in 2022 than pre-pandemic. - Corrections Department officials said Rikers detainee Joshua Valles died of a heart attack, but an autopsy has [since shown he had a fractured skull](. - Also, THE CITY is reporting that when an incarcerated person dies, the Department of Corrections [will no longer notify the media](. "That was a practice, not a policy." - 40,000 transit workers will get a [10% raise over the next three years]( according to a tentative contract between the MTA and the Transit Worker Union Local 100. - Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers say they are nearing a deal for bill that would automatically seal criminal convictions, [but don't ask them what the sticking parts are](. - Also in Albany, the New York Post reports that tenant activists [threw paper planes]( at Assembly members from chamber's front balcony on Wednesday. - New York and New Jersey share custody of not one, but two iconic Statues of Liberty, one of which is spending its summer back in the city. The “Reclining Liberty” statue is [headed to Red Hook for viewing after a stint at Liberty State Park](. - Mary Trump and E. Jean Carroll are [teaming up to write a romance novel]( set to be released on Substack next year. (It's not about Donald, though.) - Hurricane season officially starts on Thursday. [Here's breakdown of what New Yorkers should know this year.]( “I’ve been very close to the pain. Now I want a seat at the table.” - Yusef Salaam, of the exonerated Central Park Five, [who is now running for City Council]( More from Gothamist [A son of Harlem is now an outsider looking in]( Yusef Salaam, of the exonerated Central Park Five, is duking it out against the political machine in his childhood home for the coveted Council seat representing the 9th District. [Mayor Adams pledges no cuts to NYC school budgets for now]( Funding could still be reduced later based on enrollment. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Man accused of gunning down NJ councilmember set to stay in Virginia cell next month]( Rashid Ali Bynum is accused of killing Sayreville Councilmember Eunice Dwumfour. His extradition hearing is set for June 29. [City Hall continues to stonewall on migrant counts as calls for transparency grow]( The city comptroller demanded that the mayor release more detailed data on migrants while a state lawmaker said he was recently prohibited from touring a migrant facility in his district. [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.