Immigration

NYC Mayoral Candidates Slam Non-Citizen Voting Idea

Hunter Walker | May 9, 2013, 5:21PM

The exterior of New York's City Hall.

Many of the candidates vying for New York City mayor told TPM on Thursday that they oppose a measure being considered by the city council that would allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.

The potential law would allow those who are "lawfully present in the United States" and have lived in the five boroughs for "six months or longer" to vote in local elections.

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Immigration

NYC Considering Allowing Non-Citizens To Vote

Hunter Walker | May 9, 2013, 7:32AM

A worker checks a voting machine in Manhattan on Election Day last November.

New York City could soon become the first major city in the country to give non-citizens the right to vote. The proposal, which would allow certain non-citizens to vote in local elections, appears to have a veto-proof majority in the New York City Council -- enough to overcome opposition by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As hearings on the proposal get underway Thursday, supporters are optimistic it will become law by the end of the year and believe it will have an impact beyond the five boroughs.

"It's going to be huge and just imagine the implications that are involved here," Councilman Daniel Dromm, one of the co-sponsors of the legislation along with Councilwoman Gale Brewer, told TPM Wednesday.

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North Korea

Spies And Soju: North Korea's Man In Manhattan

Hunter Walker | April 15, 2013, 6:00AM

Updated With Original Documents: April 15, 2013, 11:58 AM

Tensions between the United States and the North Korean regime have been approaching dangerous new heights of late, but Kim Jong Un's government still has a small, official presence in America. In addition to North Korea's Mission to the United Nations, the country has one registered agent in the United States, a businessman who lives in Upper Manhattan who has made casino and liquor deals with Pyongyang and was once convicted of lying to FBI agents in a mysterious case that involved spies and officials on both sides of the Korean Peninsula.

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Anthony Weiner

Is This Anthony Weiner's Last Shot?

Hunter Walker | April 10, 2013, 10:35AM

On Wednesday morning former Rep. Anthony Weiner barged into the New York City mayoral election with a lengthy profile in the New York Times Magazine in which he expressed his interest in possibly entering the crowded race and, for the first time, addressed the racy Twitter picture scandal that led him to resign from the House in 2011.

Before he left office, the Queens Democrat was widely expected to be the frontrunner in this year's mayor's race and he amassed a nearly $5 million war chest for the campaign. He's certainly got name recognition and financial muscle, but after his fall from grace, does Weiner have a chance?

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Al Sharpton

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly Makes His Case For 'Stop And Frisk' To The Black Community

Hunter Walker | April 3, 2013, 1:35PM

This morning, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly gave a speech at a gun violence panel during the annual convention of the National Action Network, the civil rights organization founded and led by one of the more prominent opponents of the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policy, Rev. Al Sharpton. Critics have likened the stop and frisk tactic to racial profiling because the vast majority of people stopped and searched by the police are African American and Latino, but in his remarks at the NAN convention, Kelly argued it actually helps address inequality in the black community.

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New York City

NYC Councilman Charged In Corruption Case Believes He Will Be 'Vindicated'

Hunter Walker | April 2, 2013, 10:35PM

Councilman Dan Halloran

Update: April 3, 2013, 3:05 PM

New York City Councilman Dan Halloran responded late this evening after being arrested this morning along with five other local officials and charged with playing a role in what U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara described as "an unappetizing smorgasboard of graft and greed." Halloran's response came in the form of a defiant note posted on his Facebook page that referred to him in the third person.

"The councilman denies the allegations and looks forward to clearing his name. When the full story comes out he is confident that he will be vindicated," the note said.

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