Rikers Island locked up some detainees for 23 hours a day

Plus: The home-for-the-holidays sublet boom [View this email in a browser.]( Our Gift to You! Get this T-shirt when you [donate & help fund]( our non-profit newsroom. [Donate Now]( [New Yorkers accused of failing to pay child support were locked up at Rikers for 23 hours a day]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☀️ Sunny, with highs in the mid 40s. It's Wednesday in New York City, where about 10 men held at Rikers Island on civil charges — such as failing to pay child support — were [locked in isolated cells for 23 hours a day for nearly a month]( according to lawyers and documents obtained by Gothamist. Advocates say the isolated units amount to solitary confinement — a practice that city officials maintain they have not used in several years, and that the City Council is [set to outlaw]( as early as today. Here's what else is happening: - New York will consider issuing reparations, including direct payments, for [descendants of enslaved African people]( living in the state. - A Queens man active in Democratic and South Asian circles was [indicted yesterday]( for allegedly casting 20 absentee ballots belonging to other voters. - With just a couple weeks until the start of 2024’s legislative session, New York lawmakers have [announced a package of bills]( expanding on recent measures that made it easier for sexual assault survivors to seek justice. - This year's Central Park Christmas bird count included [many species whose ranges have moved northward]( by as much as 200 miles due to climate change, according to scientists. - How many weapons are being recovered at New York City schools, and at which ones? Discrepancies between NYPD and state Department of Education records highlight the fact that [there's no clear data on school safety](. - Police said [no criminality is suspected]( in the deaths of two 5-year-old twins in the Bronx on Monday. - The East Midtown Greenway [has reopened](. - About 400,000 school children still go on field trips to the American Museum of Natural History each year. Some of them [also go to wastewater treatment plants](. - A Philadelphia news helicopter [crashed in New Jersey last night]( killing the pilot and photographer on board. - NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn [failed to meet the nurse-to-patient ratio]( required under a union contract on 47 occasions in a four-month stretch last year, according to an independent arbitrator. - NYC Tourism + Conventions, a city-funded entity, racked up a $6,000 tab at Zero Bond during Mayor Adams' [failed attempt to get the 2024 Democratic National Convention to come to Madison Square Garden](. - It's high season for [yuppies trying to sublet their apartments for five days]( while they go home for Christmas. - It's also [high season]( for shrimp trees. - 2023 was a big year for [sleeping with tape over your mouth](. - Join us in The Greene Space Thursday for WNYC's Recipe Swap, an evening of storytelling, education and food celebrating the city's diverse cultural heritage. The Queens Memory project will be on hand to scan your materials for possible inclusion in a WNYC community cookbook. [Reserve a spot here](. - Have some time for a game? [Play]( our mini local news crossword. - Sign up for reminders when we publish new games [here](. “[If I was a parent with school-age kids in New York City, I would demand to know what’s going on]( - Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237 — the union that represents school safety agents — on the [LACK OF CLARITY ABOUT WEAPONS IN SCHOOLS]( More from Gothamist [second image]( [The Tenement Museum has an exhibit of a Black family for the first time]( The 35-year-old Lower East Side museum, which has so far held to recreating the on-site apartments at 97 and 103 Orchard St., will feature an exhibit based on a Black family's apartment at a tenement across town. [Bronx artist Manny Vega on his new show: 'I’m not chasing an art scene']( Vega, whose murals and mosaics decorate East Harlem storefronts and the 110th Street subway station, is the first-ever artist-in-residence at the Museum of the City of New York. [We Rely On Your Support]( [Women authored most-borrowed books from NYC libraries in 2023]( "I’m Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy was the Brooklyn Public Library’s top checkout, while "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros was the favorite of Queens Public Library patrons and "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus was the most popular book at the New York Public Library. [He was discovered as a break dancer in Mumbai. Now he’s trying to make it in NYC ballet.]( "I came all the way here to pursue dance," said Manish Chauhan. "Otherwise, I would have stayed in India and done some acting or Bollywood films." 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