Have you ever tried to fix something, and in the process ended up destroying it even more? I think the irritation we feel at that moment can be likened to…

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More than 300 British politicians have been trained in mindfulness in the last decade, new estimates have suggested, sparking fresh calls for a meditation room to be installed in parliament.

About 120 MPs, including Tracey Crouch, the Conservative former minister and Clive Lewis, of Labour, plus about 180 peers have joined courses in the secular practice, which is rooted in ancient Buddhist meditation techniques, a new report has found.

The new figures have shown that one in 10 MPs serving over the last decade have so far had meditation training delivered by the parliamentary authorities. The scale of its spread at Westminster emerged as the mindfulness all-party parliamentary group backed a report which calls for further resources “to support politicians with either beginning or maintaining their mindfulness practice, including consideration of a specific physical space for politicians to practise”.

A mindfulness room has been suggested as part of the multibillion pound overhaul of the parliamentary estate. Over the last decade politicians have practised meditation in committee rooms and standard meeting rooms in Portcullis House. The Australian parliament in Canberra has had a meditation space since it opened in 1988. About 800 members of staff at the Palace of Westminster have also taken part in mindfulness courses – equivalent to a quarter of the current workforce.

Several MPs have spoken out in favour of the impact of mindfulness on their working lives. In the report published on Wednesday and endorsed by the mindfulness all-party group, Scott Mann, the Conservative MP for North Cornwall, said he felt “more centred” and able to take on the concerns of constituents and local business owners. An unnamed MP said they were no longer “calling out” opponents “on a gratuitous basis”. Crouch said she takes her shoes off in the chamber before giving a speech to “mindfully feel the ground beneath her feet and help anchor herself to improve performance”.

The effectiveness of the practice remains contested. Mindfulness and meditation, including mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, is available on the NHS and is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for the treatment and management of depression in adults . But a study of school-based training showed it did not appear to improve the mental health of teenagers. Many pupils were bored by the course and so did not practise it at home. One of the study’s leaders, Prof Mark Williams, said “the idea of mindfulness doesn’t help – it’s the practice that matters”.

Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP, said that she was able to wrap up meetings faster as she was fully focused on them. Photograph: PjrNews/Alamy

A study of police officers found mindfulness training did not reduce sickness absence but did improve wellbeing, life satisfaction, resilience and performance.

Kay Andrews, the Labour peer and former chair of the Lords’ social care committee, who advocates mindfulness practice, said politicians should understand it is not “just some soppy option” but a “very serious opportunity to take stock and develop resilience and emotional understanding”.

“Mindfulness is not a panacea, either in terms of the contribution it can make to politicians’ individual wellbeing, or to their working environment,” said Ruth Ormston, director of the Mindfulness Initiative, a charity that supports the all-party parliamentary group on mindfulness. “But the accounts highlighted in our report do suggest that this evidence-based psychological training provides essential support for many politicians to carry out their roles more effectively.”

The extent of their interest in mindfulness emerges amid continued debate about the way politics is conducted in the UK. Last week Rory Stewart, the former Conservative MP, described as “mad” the way MPs have to pretend to have the answers to everything while in reality “don’t really know what’s going on”. He said some of his “colleagues tried to kill themselves” and others had “total breakdowns”.

From 2013 to 2020 mindfulness training was provided free of charge by the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, which is part of Oxford University. Since then, Awaris, a training organisation that has also coached workers at Ikea and Red Bull has run six-week courses, although the contract is understood to be due for renewal within months.

Clive Lewis, of Labour, said that mindfulness helped him to let go of things that had not gone to plan. Photograph: Jason Bye/Alamy

Tim Loughton, the MP who is co-chair of the all party group and who has previously described how he meditates in the bath, said mindfulness helps politicians “disagree better” and become better colleagues “in a highly divisive and stressful environment”. He said if he is debating some else from the mindfulness class “the level of debate actually improves”.

Mindfulness meditation can be seen as a form of attention training and Crouch said she was able to end meetings faster because “instead of me saying ‘I’m sorry I don’t understand that point’ ie ‘I wasn’t listening’, I’m fully focused.”

Lewis, the Labour MP, said the quality of acceptance emphasised in mindfulness practice helped him be more forgiving when something like a TV interview did not go to plan.

“It helps me to draw a line under something and move on to the next thing, with fewer self-critical thoughts sabotaging my future performance,” he said.

One former government minister who practises mindfulness but withheld their name, said: “I’m more able to do a higher volume of work. I’m able to move between things more easily and I’m less reliant on other methods to relax, which might involve doing something that’s not productive.”

Calling for further development of mindfulness training at Westminster, the report concluded: “Given that in a representative democracy millions depend upon the cognitive, emotional, and relational competencies of a small appointed group, we suggest that such training is not simply a ‘nice to have’.”

Trainers’ top tips to start your work day

• Make time in the morning for mindfulness practice such as meditation, a walk or a slow cup of tea. Make a conscious transition to the start of your working day.

• Create a focused environment by turning off alerts, plan when to look at emails and messages, when to reply and who to include.

• Check your posture and take a deep breath before checking or sending emails or making a phone call.

• Take time to prioritise the day, keep an uncluttered workspace and block out time for deeper work.

• Listen in meetings and conversations. Notice people’s expression, emotion and posture. Notice your reaction in body and mind. Accept both, free of judgment.

• Eat and drink away from your desk, savour the flavours rather than thinking about your to-do list.

• Stretch and take a five-minute walk between meetings. Even if it is the same route, open your senses and let go of thinking.

• Counter human negativity bias by noticing three things you appreciate each day.

• Set aside 10 minutes between meetings or at lunch to practise a mindfulness of breath and body meditation. You can get started using guided audio.

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I’ve been away for a bit. When I returned to my office on Monday after six months, three things struck me. The first was how noisy politics is; specifically, the noise around the voice to parliament. Bam. Bam. Bam. Like a sonic boom, or better, a NutriBullet grinding fibrous plants indiscriminately.

The second insight was Anthony Albanese has developed a clearer pitch on the voice during the time I’ve been away. The third was Peter Dutton still has some Trumpian fan fiction he’d like to sell you. This voice is apparently “divisive” and “unknown”. I’m not sure if we were treated to the opposition leader’s “Canberra voice” pejorative specifically this week. But versions of it are still in the mix.

Many readers of this column are politically engaged (bless you all – I have missed you) and will have followed every single voice development over the past six months. You guys can fill me in, because I haven’t and I’m confident I’m not alone. Many civilians chose to hide from the deadening noise pollution generated at the intersection of political opportunism and preening brand journalism – particularly at the moment. Fake fights with a pontification chaser can be about as restful as nails clawing down a chalkboard.

People who study the mood of the nation tell me national bandwidth is limited. Everyone who isn’t returning from their European summer holiday in a business-class cabin feels up to their neck in adversity: higher borrowing costs, high power and petrol prices, rising rents – relentless cost-of-living pressure – coupled with the relentless stuff of life – demanding or insecure jobs, ailing elderly parents, kids who need attention.

The pandemic and the accompanying economic shock have pushed us off the sunny uplands and changed the psychology of the country; we’ve folded in on ourselves. People are hard to reach. If they are hard to reach, then they are hard to persuade.

So when strategists report that a lot of people are yet to give the voice any thought, I believe it. But Australia’s democracy dragnet is about to remove the option of sitting this issue out. The referendum to determine yes or no to the voice to parliament will be held on 14 October. We are entering the season of civic participation; the realm of forced choice.

This leads us to Albanese’s sharper messaging. His pitch is clearer because the prime minister knows difficult times make a values proposition – in this case giving the First Australians more visibility, status and agency in their own land – a difficult sell. Strategists say there’s a pathway to victory for the yes campaign, but it’s a narrow one. Some Labor folks are more optimistic about a victory than they were a month ago and the prime minister is by nature an optimistic sort. Copping volleys of abuse in their electorates, others feel the campaign is already lost.

Can Australians find the mindfulness in tough times, the requisite stillness, to listen, reflect and consider?

Albanese has focused his attention this week on reassuring the people tuning in for the first time and trying to coax soft no votes back into the yes column. Much of this courtship is playing out in FM radio studios, catching the commuters in cars who haven’t tuned out with Spotify.

For people coming at the concept cold, Albanese’s pitch is threefold: the voice is an advisory body, not this sinister plot you might be hearing about on TikTok; if you don’t know what the voice is, please find out – it won’t take much time; and voting yes will cost you nothing – “there is so much for Australia to gain”.

Albanese’s message to the soft nos is “don’t close the door”. The prime minister used this locution five times at the yes campaign launch on Wednesday. The next six weeks will be a pitched battle for the soft nos. Albanese and John Howard were bookends this week – the current prime minister with his don’t close the door exhortation at the Adelaide launch and the former prime minister declaring at one point when he was out and about: “If you are intending to vote no, hold hard to that intention.”

“No feels” is a gravitational current, a tide, carrying us to Dutton. Things are noisy and they will get noisier between now and mid-October, so let’s be clear about some things.

Public support for the voice started to wane after the Liberal leader declined to back the proposal. Indigenous Australians asked through the Uluru statement for a constitutionally enshrined structure – a voice – to end a couple of centuries of silencing. Dutton chose intraday politics. He coddled his base rather than reaching for the moment of national unity. After electing to stage the referendum as a partisan death match, Dutton now decries this “divisive” voice. (As if the current division wasn’t a core function of his political strategy. As if he’s a bystander.)

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Dutton’s voice claims explained: politics with Amy Remeikis – video

Persisting with his bystander fantasy, Dutton also decries an alleged lack of detail about the voice. This could be funny if it wasn’t a try-on. Dutton, one of the most senior parliamentarians in the country, is in the box seat to help shape the voice if Australians vote yes in October. The Liberal leader is a legislator in a parliament that will resolve the structure of the advisory body. Resolving the detail would, however, involve turning up for work; it would involve Dutton resolving to become something more interesting than a pastiche of wreckers past. At the moment Dutton is preoccupied with headlining the Tony Abbott Hits and Memories Tour; like Taylor Swift’s Eras, with fewer sequins and friendship bands.

Finally, there is Dutton’s disdain for a “Canberra voice” – a pejorative hurled by a person who has been (wait for it) holed up in Canberra since 2001, entirely confident he has a right to speak, be heard and to shape the national policy debate. If representative bodies based in the national capital are a swamp that must be drained, perhaps we should cancel the parliament?

Just because this behaviour is transparent doesn’t mean it won’t be effective. As I noted a minute ago, the yes campaign needs to be able to connect with people in order to persuade them and clamour is its own strategy. Flooding the zone with shit (as Steve Bannon would have it) is a means of obscuring nuance and truth.

I suspect direct contact with voters will matter over the next six weeks because the latest Digital News Report from Oxford University and the Reuters Institute tells us the proportion of people who say they avoid the news, often or sometimes, remains close to all-time highs. A lot of people are turned off by constant negativity. The 2023 research also suggests there has been an uptick in people sharing information through closed networks “where people can have private or semiprivate conversations with trusted friends in a less toxic atmosphere”.

Now we’ve entered the realm of forced choice, the questions ahead are obvious.

Are enough people in the right parts of the country open to persuasion if the yes campaign can deploy a large enough ground game – meaning door knocking and phone banking – to cut through the racially charged sludge on social media, the conspiracy theories and the thickets of straw men?

Will people be angry that compulsory voting forces them to make a choice about something that feels less pressing than their own, entirely legitimate, compounding stresses? Or can Australians find the mindfulness in tough times, the requisite stillness, to listen, reflect and consider?

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‘HELP FOSTER KIDS W/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES’: With the New York State legislature having finished its 2023 session, legislators Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and Senator John Mannion are renewing calls for Governor Hochul to sign A.2798/S.3119 into law. If enacted, the bill would require New York State to identify the total number of children who are in foster care and have I/DD, with the ultimate goal of referring children to available supports and services.

Prior to passing the Senate and Assembly in this session, the bill passed the legislature in 2022, with Governor Hochul vetoing the measure in December.

Hevesi and Mannion – representing their committees on Children & Families, and Disabilities, respectively – immediately took to working with partners at the start of 2023 to put the legislation back on the Governor’s desk. The legislators succeeded in doing so, with unanimous support in both houses of the legislature.

“If we don’t know the extent of this problem, we can’t solve the problem. Thousands of kids with I/DD could become homeless after leaving foster care, solely because our state doesn’t have a mechanism to identify and help them,” said Assemblyman Hevesi, Chair of the Committee on Children & Families. “Our partners at OCFS are fantastic in implementing supports, but they need the go ahead from Governor Hochul in order to do this. Anything short of a full commitment here from the Executive will leave us unable to address many preventable and likely life-long problems for foster youth.”

Senator John W. Mannion, Chairman of the Disabilities Committee said, “I sponsored this legislation to help ensure that children with I/DD in foster care receive the support and services they need. The data collection requirements in this bill will give us a better understanding of this population, and the evaluation and analysis provisions will help us improve the way we serve them. I thank Assemblyman Hevesi for his continued partnership and the many advocacy groups who have worked diligently alongside us to get this legislation passed by both houses.”

The legislators are joined by advocates from across New York, including the IDD/CW Collaborative (Collaborative) – a coalition representing nine of the most influential child welfare agencies in the state – which recently reached out to Governor Hochul directly to implore the Executive to sign the legislation into law.

“We enthusiastically support the pending legislation requiring OCFS to collect data on children with I/DD who are in foster care in New York State,” the Collaborative stated in a June 20 letter to the Governor, “We have been advocating for such information so that we can better support these children and can plan next steps for youth as they age out of foster care.”

In their letter, the Collaborative cited estimates from the National Foster Youth Institute that 25% of foster youth become homeless within four years of exiting foster care, a number the Collaborative believes increases significantly for children with I/DD who may not be receiving necessary support.

“All of us at The I/DD-Child Welfare Collaborative applaud Assemblyman Hevesi and Senator Mannion for standing up for children with intellectual disabilities (I/DD) who are in foster care in New York State,” said Alan Mucatel, the Collaborative’s President. “This law will allow the Office of Children and Family Services to collect important data to help identify children with I/DD, evaluate the level of support they receive, and plan accordingly for them when they age-out of foster care. It is critical that the legislation passed is signed into law to ensure that the children this bill supports can live their best lives, as all individuals have a right to enjoy.”

“Children and youth with I/DD often end up in a child welfare setting as a last resort due to the lack of access to appropriate supports and services. This system was never set up to support the complex needs of these vulnerable children and youth,” said Deborah Napolitano, a behavioral science professor at Daemen University, and the lead advocate in drafting the legislation. “This bill will help us understand the scope of the problem in order to provide these individuals with the resources they need to meet their goals and achieve their hopes and dreams, which is exactly what we want for all of our children.”

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: The following officials and organizations responded to the Supreme Court Decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President; and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.

Congressman Gregory W. Meeks: “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to dismantle years of progress toward a level playing field in higher education. The court willfully ignored the fact that the remnants of racial discrimination and inequality in this country persist.

“‘The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,’ wrote acclaimed intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois in 1903. With today’s ruling to end consideration of race in college admissions, the Supreme Court appears intent on perpetuating the color line straight through the 21st century.

“For decades, the consideration of racial diversity at educational institutions has played a role in breaking down systemic barriers for underrepresented students and advancing our nation’s fundamental ideals of inclusivity and opportunity. Every student deserves a fair chance at success no matter their racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic background. I will continue to voice my opposition toward right-wing extremism manifesting through decisions from our highest court.”

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng: “Today’s Supreme Court decision will have devastating impacts on the diversity of our institutions of higher education and learning in general. This decision does nothing but preserve and increase the likelihood of admissions for wealthy and well-connected students. In order to factually achieve a more transparent and fair admissions process, we must look at the admission process holistically, which cannot happen without addressing the practice of legacy, athletic scholarships, and faculty and donor connections in the admissions process.

“We must maintain a transparent and equitable admissions process that ensures that the identities, strengths, achievements, and experiences of all applicants are valued and considered. I am angry that Asian Americans are being used as pawns in this lawsuit and as a wedge between communities of color and will be treated as scapegoats under the false assumption we will benefit (from this decision). Asians Americans are being used by the same people who purport to care about them getting into universities, but are passing alien land laws preventing them from buying homes. The number of Asian American students admitted is unlikely to increase. The quality of our education will decrease and benefit the wealthy and well-connected.

“I remain committed to promoting diversity and equal opportunity for all in higher education.”

Joint Statement from Asian Wave Alliance (AWA), Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY), New York City Residents Alliance (NYCRA), and Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC): “Asian Wave Alliance (AWA), Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York (CACAGNY), New York City Residents Alliance (NYCRA), and Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC), all community advocates for education and all opposed to discrimination against any race, join in celebrating the Supreme Court decisions on the cases of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v Harvard University and v University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). CACAGNY, a long-standing supporter of SFFA, is particularly proud to have supported SFFA from District Court to Supreme Court with four amicus briefs. We all join in thanking SFFA and its president Edward Blum for their years of tremendous work on these landmark cases. We are thankful that the Supreme Court has finally ruled against decades of pernicious discrimination against Asian American students. Colleges have abused Affirmative Action for too long. Their collective reward and punishment by race deprived the rights of hundreds of thousands of individual applicants. Discrimination by group identity is unconstitutional, un-American, and immoral. We call upon universities to comply with the law and stop in good faith to discriminate by race.”

Yiatin Chu, NYC public school parent and President and Cofounder of AWA, stated, “As an immigrant and Asian American parent, I feel a great sense of hope and vindication in the fight for equal rights. The Supreme Court’s ruling to end affirmative action should be celebrated by everyone. The United States is a country of limitless opportunities and equal protection, and treating students equally regardless of race is a fundamental right that the court has now returned to us. Students should be evaluated on their talents, accomplishments and potential, not penalized for a checkbox on race in their college applications.”

Phil Wong, President of CACAGNY, stated, “Ever since the 1978 Supreme Court Bakke Affirmative Action ruling, college admission offices have been counting their incoming students by race. This violates the principle of a colorblind Constitution. It’s contrary to the 14th Amendment and to the Civil Rights Act. It’s immoral. It often hurts the very people it is trying to help. I am glad SCOTUS Justices fixed the mistakes from the previous decisions, so that the Court’s integrity and legitimacy will be affirmed for decades to come.”

Donghui Zang, President of NYCRA, stated, “New York City Residents Alliance is thrilled to witness the historic end to decades-long discriminative policies in college admission, which has suppressed hundreds of thousands of Asian youths’ pursuit of the American dream. We thank Mr. Edward Blum for his leadership and devotion to equal rights. We also understand that many years of discrimination would not go away overnight. We are, however, determined to fight to the day when all American children are judged on their diligence, intelligence, and capabilities rather than their skin color, for the benefit of America’s younger generations.”

Chien Kwok, Co-President of PLACE NYC, stated “PLACE NYC advocates for merit-based rigorous education. Excellence in learning outcomes is achieved with focus on the earliest years of childhood, not with racially discriminatory guises that New York City and Harvard use, such as lotteries or ‘holistic’ criteria, to deny high-achieving students’ entry into rigorous academic programs or schools. This is especially reprehensible when used by institutions because there are ‘too many’ Asians. Violations of such rights is exactly what the Civil Rights Act protects against. It is long past due to end discrimination in education.”

NURSING HOME SUED FOR NEGLECTING ELDERLY, FRAUD: New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit on June 28 against the owners, operators, and landlords of four nursing homes for years of repeated and persistent fraud and illegally misusing more than $83 million in taxpayer money that resulted in severe injury and death from neglect. The nursing homes, owned and operated by Centers for Care LLC, doing business as Centers Health Care, include Holliswood Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare (Holliswood Center) a 314-bed facility in Queens County, Beth Abraham Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Beth Abraham Center) in Bronx County, Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Buffalo Center) in Erie County, and Martine Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Martine Center) in Westchester County. Residents at these facilities were forced to sit for hours in their own urine and feces, suffered from severe dehydration, malnutrition, and increased risk of death, developed infections and sepsis from untreated bed sores and inconsistent wound care, sustained life-changing injuries from falls, and died.

Following an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), the lawsuit alleges that the nursing homes’ owners and operators converted more than $83 million in Medicaid and Medicare funds to enrich themselves, their families, and business associates through an elaborate network of related companies and collusive, fraudulent transactions, rather than use the funds for their intended purposes of providing sufficient staffing and required resident care. To stop further harm and suffering, Attorney General James is seeking to prohibit the nursing homes from admitting new residents until staffing meets appropriate standards, to implement a financial monitor and a healthcare monitor, and to disgorge any and all wrongfully received government funds.

The nursing homes are allegedly all controlled and managed by Centers for Care LLC doing business as Centers Health Care (Centers Health Care), a multistate network of nursing, rehabilitation, and senior care services and facilities. Centers Health Care is co-owned by Kenneth Rozenberg and Daryl Hagler.

Also named in the lawsuit are: Light Operational Holdings Associates LLC (Light Operational), an entity that owns 98 percent of Beth Abraham Center and 65 percent of Martine Center; CFSC Downstate LLC (CFSC); BIS Funding Capital LLC (BIS Funding); and Skilled Staffing LLC (Skilled Staffing) — all companies owned by Rozenberg, Hagler, their family members, and business associates that received payments from the nursing homes for purportedly providing services.

Rozenberg and Hagler are named in their individual capacities, as are several of their family members and business partners.

The lawsuit alleges a pattern of residents not receiving adequate care and suffering neglect, mistreatment, and humiliation as a result of the owners, operators, and landlords depriving the nursing homes of over $83 million intended for resident care. Due to insufficient staffing, staff members were often unable to assist residents with basic activities of daily living, such as help using the bathroom, getting in and out of bed, eating, and maintaining personal hygiene. Call bells were routinely ignored or unanswered, residents were forced to sit in their own urine and feces for hours, meals were not provided in a timely manner, and personal belongings were lost or stolen, including hearing aids, dentures, clothing, and even an electronic piano. Residents, family members, and staff reported unsanitary conditions, including neglected food trays, vermin, flies, and persistent smells of human waste.

The horrors endured by the nursing homes’ residents began well before the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted from Rozenberg and Hagler repeatedly operating the facilities with insufficient staffing in order to increase their own profits. Allegations of mistreatment, neglect, and humiliation at the nursing homes detailed in the lawsuit include (content warning: the following graphic descriptions may upset some readers):

o   A resident at Beth Abraham Center experienced multiple falls while trying to take herself to the bathroom when her call bell went unanswered. Following a fall in October 2020, the facility’s staff informed the woman’s daughter that she had not been injured. Three days later, the resident complained of pain and was sent to the hospital, where the emergency room doctor discovered she had a dislocated hip that required emergency hip replacement surgery. Doctors at the hospital also found that the resident was suffering from a severe diaper rash covering the majority of her lower torso, indicating a lack of proper care. The resident has since left Beth Abraham.

o   A man was a new resident in the dementia unit at Buffalo Center. When the resident’s son was on his way to visit his father, he passed someone who “looked like a zombie or a ghost,” wandering down the street. When the son arrived at Buffalo Center, he was asked to wait to see his father. When staff finally brought his father out, the son realized the person he had seen wandering the streets earlier was his father, and that he had managed to leave the facility without staff noticing. His father was sent to the hospital that same day, where he was diagnosed with severe dehydration. Upon his release from the hospital, his son moved him to a different nursing home. He was a resident at Buffalo Center for just three weeks.

o   A woman fell from her bed at Holliswood Center and was returned to bed without a medical examination or treatment. No notice was sent to her family. When her daughter was unable to get in touch with her, she visited Holliswood Center but was turned away by staff and told she could not visit her mother. Her daughter called the police, and then watched as her unconscious mother was wheeled out by paramedics. Staff at the nursing home would not provide an explanation for her mother’s condition, and a CT scan at the hospital showed her mother suffered a brain bleed caused by traumatic impact requiring emergency surgery. The woman no longer resides at Holliswood but continues to suffer from speech defects and emotional extremes as a result of the injury.

o   A woman at Martine Center appeared to be in pain while she was visited by her daughter. When the daughter pulled her mother’s hand out from under her blanket, it was covered in feces. The daughter found that her mother, who used a colostomy bag, was wrapped in a towel filled with feces and without a colostomy bag. When she unwrapped the towel, she saw her mother’s exposed intestines and the surrounding area covered in feces. While staff attempted to clean her mother, she complained that the area burned, and when they were done, there was still visible feces smeared around the wound.

o   A resident at Martine Center did not receive adequate care for his bed sores. When his wife visited in October 2021, she was shocked to find that his wounds had progressed to Stage III and Stage IV ulcers, one of which was eating away most of his buttocks. His wife began the process of having her husband removed from Martine Center to be cared for at home. Before she got the chance to bring him home, he developed sepsis, was hospitalized, and died.

Financial Fraud

The owners of Centers Health Care engaged in multiple fraudulent schemes to divert more than $83 million in government funds from the nursing homes, including collusive real estate arrangements, unnecessary and exorbitant loans with inflated interest rates, phony fees paid to companies they and their family members own, and paying themselves inflated salaries for work that was not performed.

Rozenberg and Hagler controlled the nursing homes using a partnership model that turned nursing homes into money-making machines. Hagler, as landlord, charged the nursing homes, which were owned by Rozenberg, inflated rents that well exceeded necessary mortgage expenses. They concealed this scheme by submitting much lower proposed rents to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) when applying to become the nursing homes’ licensed operators. After becoming licensed operators, the Rozenberg-owned and controlled operating companies imposed much higher rent payments on the nursing homes so Rozenberg and Hagler could take the excess funds for themselves. For example, in September 2015, Buffalo Center reported to DOH that the facility would have an annual rent of $600,000. A few months later, when Buffalo Center closed on its purchase of the facility, Rozenberg, as Buffalo Center’s owner, and Hagler, as Buffalo Center’s landlord, signed a new lease obligating the facility to pay an annual rent of $2 million — 233 percent greater than the rent reported to DOH.

Rozenberg and Hagler also caused the nursing homes to transfer money through loans to other facilities affiliated with or controlled by Centers Health Care, at no benefit to the nursing homes, staff, or residents. These loans, contrary to the mortgage and property loans, were often made without interest and were seldom repaid. In 2018 and 2019, the owners transferred nearly $5 million from Buffalo Center — money intended for New York Medicaid beneficiaries — to Centers Health Care facilities in other states. The loan was offered without interest, and $3.6 million of that debt remains outstanding, to the detriment of Buffalo Center.

The nursing homes regularly paid invoices from companies that were also controlled by Rozenberg, Hagler, and their families for services that either were not necessary or were not provided at all. BIS Funding, which is owned by Hagler and his son, received approximately $17.2 million from Centers Health Care-affiliated facilities from 2019 through 2021, including more than $3.3 million from these four nursing homes. There are no contracts detailing the scope of services provided to the facilities in exchange for the funds, and the services BIS Funding purportedly provided appear to overlap with work performed for the nursing homes by Centers Health Care’s other contractors, and thus, were duplicative and unnecessary, and also included baseless management fees.

Similarly, Skilled Staffing, which is owned by Rozenberg’s daughter, earned approximately $38.5 million from 2017 to 2021, 90 percent of which came from Centers Health Care-affiliated nursing homes. No contracts exist for the work, and the extent of services provided is not clear. Holliswood Center never hired any staff from Skilled Staffing, but nonetheless paid the company more than $170,000 over a period of one and half years. Skilled Staffing also paid $5 million to Rozenberg’s wife between 2019 and 2021 and transferred another $3 million to various Centers Health Care executives.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated the deficient resident care and poor working conditions that resulted from Rozenberg and Hagler’s decisions. Under the added stress of the pandemic, the nursing homes’ already-tenuous management model snapped, leading to devastating consequences.

In addition to operating with insufficient staffing, the nursing homes failed to ensure proper infection control, such as quarantining sick residents, providing adequate and reliable health screenings, and equipping staff with personal protective equipment. Residents’ family members reported seeing staff without medical gowns, gloves, or face masks while on video calls with their loved ones.

As COVID-19 spread throughout the nursing homes, insufficient staffing was further reduced to skeleton crews, and the facilities were unable to adequately care for residents. Just two months into the pandemic, 70 residents — nearly a quarter of Holliswood Center’s population — had died from COVID-19. More than 400 residents died across all four nursing homes in 2020.

At Martine Center, the Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON) continued to report to work after exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 in early April 2020, telling her colleagues that she did not want to abandon them while they were so understaffed. On April 17, 2020, she punched out of work at Martine Center for the last time. By April 21, 2020, she was hospitalized and tested positive for COVID-19. She died in the hospital a few weeks later.

Throughout the pandemic, while both residents and staff died, suffered, and were otherwise neglected, Rozenberg and Hagler denied the nursing homes’ administrators’ requests for more staffing, fewer resident admissions, and salary increases for overburdened staff.

In the lawsuit Attorney General James seeks a preliminary injunction requiring the nursing homes to obtain and pay for a financial monitor and a healthcare monitor to oversee the facilities’ operations, and a permanent order from the court that would, among other measures:

o   Prohibit the nursing homes from admitting any new residents unless and until staffing meets appropriate standards for sufficient care;

o   Require the nursing homes to engage and pay for a financial monitor to oversee the nursing homes’ financial operations;

o   Require the nursing homes to engage and pay for a healthcare monitor to oversee the nursing homes’ healthcare operations and ensure residents’ outcomes improve;

o   Direct all respondents to fully disgorge the more than $83 million wrongfully received as part of the scheme and return the money to Medicaid; and

o   Direct all respondents, corporate, and individual, with the exception of the nursing homes, to pay statutory costs and reimburse the state for the cost of the investigation.

Investigations into other nursing homes and facilities throughout New York state are ongoing.

CHARGED WITH APPROACHING KIDS FOR EXPLICIT PHOTOS, SEX ACTS: Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that James Villarruel was arraigned on a charge of promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child and other crimes after allegedly paying a 14-year-old girl to perform a sex act and take lewd photos and videos of him, and trying to pay a 12-year-old girl to take photos of him. Villarruel is accused of approaching the girls on a recent afternoon in Flushing as they walked home from school.

District Attorney Katz said: “The actions alleged here are any parent’s worst nightmare. Fortunately, the children bravely told family members what happened, enabling us to hold the defendant accountable for the disturbing charges against him.”

Villarruel, 32, of 270th Street in New Hyde Park, was arraigned last night on an 11-count complaint charging him with promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, promoting a sexual performance by a child, felony luring a child, patronizing a person for prostitution in the second degree, forcible touching, public lewdness in the first degree, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, stalking in the fourth degree, sexual abuse in the third degree and harassment in the second degree.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Maria Gonzalez ordered the defendant to return to court June 30. If convicted, Villarruel faces up to 8 years in prison.

According to the charges:

– On June 15, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Villarruel followed a 12-year-old girl walking home from her middle school on Colden Street in Flushing, approached her and asked, “What are you going to get your dad for Father’s Day” and, “Do you have any money.” He gave the child approximately $90 and told her she was pretty and that he wanted to do a photo shoot with her in nearby Kissena Park.

– As they walked toward the park, Villarruel placed his thumb on the girl’s face. The victim secretively took a photo of Villarruel with her phone and told him she needed to call her mother. The girl held her phone near her chest and Villarruel slapped it out of her hand and told her to swipe through her apps so he could see the phone’s contents. The frightened girl gave the money back to Villarruel, who again told her she was pretty and said, “I’ll see you next time.”

– About 20 minutes later, at 2:50 p.m., Villarruel approached another girl in the same area. He told the 14-year-old his name was John and asked her to take photos of him with his cell phone in exchange for $40.

– Villarruel said he wanted to take more photos in a nature setting and walked with her to Kissena Park, where they went to an isolated grassy area. Villarruel exposed and touched himself and asked the girl to take a photo. He also asked her to lay on top of him with her head facing down on his chest while he took a selfie. He then forced physical contact with the girl.

– Villarruel gave her $60 for taking the photos in the park.

– Video surveillance from the area showed Villarruel walking with both victims, who reported the incidents to family members.

THE WAR ON RATS, CONT’D: As part of the Adams administration’s ongoing commitment to “Get Stuff Clean” and continue the city’s war on rats, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced the launch of the next two phases in getting bags of trash off of city sidewalks. First, the Adams administration is publishing a final rule mandating that all food-related businesses put their trash in secure containers. Second, the administration is starting the rulemaking process on a new proposal to expand the containerization requirements to all chain businesses with five or more locations in New York City. When both rules are implemented, they will cover 25 percent of businesses across the five boroughs and require approximately 4 million pounds of waste produced each day to be placed in secure containers — making New York City’s streets cleaner and more welcoming to all.

“New York City used to be known for our mean streets, but, going forward, we’re going to be known for our clean streets,” said Mayor Adams. “Today, we take giant steps towards that goal by announcing new rules to containerize trash in our city that, once finalized, will cover 25 percent of businesses and result in 4 million pounds of trash getting disposed of in secure bins each day. These two simple proposals will have a transformative effect on our city and will eliminate the mountains of food waste piled up on bags on our sidewalks — making our streets cleaner for New Yorkers and less appetizing for the rats.”

“New York is the home of the best restaurants in the world. I know it, you know it — and the rats know it, too,” said DSNY Commissioner Tisch. “When you leave food behind, they’re ready for a gourmet meal, with the black bags outside food-related businesses basically serving as a to-go box for the rats. That ends now.”

This spring, DSNY published an approximately 100-page report, “The Future of Trash,” providing the first-ever detailed, block-by-block analysis of what it would take to get the black bags of trash — the all-you-can-eat buffet for rats — off the sidewalks. once and for all. While the bulk of the report focused on the 24 million pounds of residential waste that DSNY collects each day, it also explored solutions for dealing with commercial waste, which can be up to eight times the volume of residential waste in certain business districts.

In May, DSNY proposed a rule requiring all food-related businesses — including restaurants, caterers, grocery stores, delis, and bodegas, among others — to put trash and compostable material into secure containers rather than directly on the street. There are approximately 40,000 food-related businesses in the five boroughs — 20 percent of all businesses in the city — and these business types were selected first because they produce an outsized amount of waste, especially waste that attracts rats. Later this week, that rule will be published in the City Record, and it will go into effect on July 30, 2023.

The Adams administration is also building on its commitment to an aggressive, phased approach towards containerization by announcing a plan to expand the container requirement to all chain stores with five or more locations.

Under these two rules, businesses will have substantial flexibility on the type and location of containers, provided they have a lid and secure sides that keep the rats out. Containers may be stored either inside or within three feet of the property line.

“Getting trash off our sidewalks will help keep our streets squeaky clean and rat out some of the city’s most persistent pests,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “I applaud Mayor Adams for taking this rat-ical action to send New York’s whiskered menaces scurrying away for good, and I look forward to continuing to work together to bring about the tail end of New York’s plague of rodents.”

MINDFUL BREATHING PRACTICES COMING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor David C. Banks, and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced that all New York City public schools — from pre-kindergarten through grade 12 — will soon be required to facilitate two-to-five minutes of mindful breathing practices in schools every day. The announcement aims to increase physical and mental health, enhance social-emotional learning, and improve New York City public schools’ culture. As part of this initiative, the city has already begun a rollout of a citywide professional development program for educators in mindful breathing practices.

Yoga and mindfulness integration into school communities addresses and supports significant social and emotional needs of the youngest New Yorkers. Studies show that mindful breathing practices support students’ ability to feel secure and receptive while learning — leaving positive impacts from the integration of these practices into the school experience.

“We live in a time of toxic social media communities, constant news flashes, and unfiltered alerts, all leaving a toll on the mental health of our students. But, today, it is time for our students to calm their nervous systems down,” said Mayor Adams. “Mindful breathing can be done by anyone, anywhere, and anytime. We are proud to announce another promise delivered on from our State of the City speech earlier this year that will soon engage all students in mindful breathing practices. Mindful breathing is another way we are teaching our young people healthy habits that will last a lifetime.”

The announcement follows through on another commitment Mayor Adams made in his State of the City address earlier this year, in an effort to ensure that young people have access to the tools they need to develop habits for good mental health and overall wellness throughout their lives.

The DOE’s Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Preparation Program is the first Yoga Alliance-approved yoga and mindfulness program in a public school system nationwide. Yoga Alliance is the nation’s largest nonprofit association representing the yoga community. The Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Preparation Program is building the capacity of school staff to integrate yoga and mindfulness into DOE public schools to engage students, teachers, and staff.

In March 2023, in partnership with the Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Preparation Program, DOE began to roll out a professional development program to train educators and other school staff in the implementation of mindfulness breathing practices and tools that can be used in the classroom to support the social and emotional needs of students and the wellness of their entire school community. The professional development sessions are virtual and available to all staff.  Educators also have access to online resources to aid in facilitating these practices. In order to ensure schools are free to implement this work in the ways that best suit their school community, school leaders will be empowered to implement this initiative in individualized ways, but all New York City public schools will soon be required to offer all students mindful breathing practices in school every day.

In December 2019, then Brooklyn Borough President Adams’ Office funded the first cohort of 30 DOE employees to graduate and become certified as yoga and mindfulness instructors as part of the Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Preparation Program.

“Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks, and Commissioner Vasan understand that education requires a whole child approach: students’ mental wellbeing is as important to the learning process as the lesson plan or textbook,” said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “Mindful breathing practices can reduce depression, stress, and physical pain, while improving the immune system and cognitive ability. Teaching these practices to our children will lay the foundation for them to excel in school and in life. The DOE’s Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Preparation Program is a powerful tool in Mayor Adams’ arsenal to fulfill his plan for our students to experience better health, emotional maturity, and supportive school cultures.”

DIWALI DESIGNATED PUBLIC SCHOOL HOLIDAY: Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. stated the following in response to the long-awaited designation of Diwali as a holiday in New York City public schools, beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.

“Just as the Diwali holiday symbolizes, light has prevailed once again for thousands of Sikh, Hindu, Jain and Buddhist residents across Queens. Forcing families to choose between the education of their children and the practice of their faith as a unit is far from just, but I couldn’t be happier for all our Diwali-celebrating neighbors who will never again have to make that choice,” said Borough President Richards. “This push to establish Diwali as a public school holiday has been a long and arduous one, but Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, Mayor Adams and all our faith leaders deserve tremendous credit for their persistence in making this day a reality. Congratulations to all our families who celebrate the Festival of Lights – may this fall’s Diwali be the most joyous yet.”

FASTEST DNA TESTING: New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced that, less than one year after the formation of the nation’s first-ever DNA Gun Crimes Unit at a public DNA laboratory, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has achieved a 30-day or less turnaround time for testing and analysis of evidence from gun crimes. This unprecedented achievement not only delivers on a promise by Mayor Adams and Dr. Graham, but also secures New York City’s position as home to the fastest big city lab for the testing and analysis of evidence in gun crimes in the nation — strengthening public safety and the city’s criminal justice system.

“Public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and reducing gun violence is central to that mission. Last year, when we announced the DNA Gun Crimes Unit’s creation, we promised that this would be the fastest lab to analyze and test evidence from gun crimes. Today, we are proud to announce that the testing lab has achieved a 30-day or less turnaround time for testing and analysis of evidence from gun crimes,” said Mayor Adams. “New York City is now home to the fastest big city lab for testing and analyzing evidence. This means those involved in gun crime cases are being brought to justice faster, and we are getting more guns off the street. This is the real CSI: New York, where we are helping the criminal justice system to convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent, and keep our communities safe. And to those who commit crimes with a gun: The evidence doesn’t lie. Science is coming for you fast.”

Funded by an investment of $2.5 million, OCME has hired and trained 24 new forensic scientists to ensure a fully staffed DNA Gun Crimes Unit dedicated solely to the testing and analysis of evidence from gun crimes throughout the five boroughs. Funding also supported upgrades in laboratory management software, the purchase of new equipment, and supplies that helped achieve these historic results.

During the month of May 2023, OCME achieved a 28-day turnaround time for the DNA testing of gun crime evidence, surpassing the initial 30-day goal for the first time. The 30-day turnaround time is measured from when testing is requested by a district attorney to the distribution of the case report to the district attorney and the NYPD.

Faster processing of DNA gun crime evidence helps move cases through the criminal justice system to keep communities safer. Recent cases handled by the OCME laboratory included the shooting of a New York City police officer in Jamaica, Queens, in April 2023, as well as the fatal shooting of a deli worker on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in March 2023, where swift analysis of DNA evidence contributed to prompt indictments of suspects in both cases.

While the 28-day turnaround time for testing gun crime evidence is unprecedented, the OCME DNA laboratory continues to perform at high levels across the board. The turnaround time for all violent crimes, including homicides, sexual assaults, robberies, and assaults, stood at 33 days for the month ending May 2023 — a benchmark achieved by no other big city forensic laboratory.

OCME operates the largest public DNA crime laboratory in North America, responsible for testing physical evidence from criminal cases within New York City. The lab tests approximately 50,000 items of evidence each year across all categories of crime.

Managed and staffed by scientists in OCME’s Department of Forensic Biology, the city’s DNA laboratory serves the criminal justice system as an independent resource, with testing results used to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. The lab is accredited by the American National Standards Institute National Accreditation Board and the New York State Forensic Laboratory Accreditation program.

HONORING AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICAL HERITAGE: U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks (NY-05) and Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), joined by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), introduced a bicameral Resolution recognizing the contributions of African American music to America’s musical heritage, addressing the need for greater access to music education for African American students, and supporting the designation of June 2023 as African American Music Appreciation Month.

The bill acknowledges the legacy of African American music and honors the legendary Black musicians and artists who have greatly contributed to music history. Genres such as spirituals, jazz, ragtime, blues, forms of classical composition emerged from the revolutionary talents of African Americans and the hard work of these trailblazing artists.

“To African American communities, music is more than just entertainment, it has the power to heal, to empower, and to inspire change,” said Rep. Meeks. “I am honored to serve a district that was home to iconic musicians such as Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and James Brown, and continues to be filled with creativity and artistic passion. Throughout history, African Americans have used music to connect to a rich African heritage and as a vehicle for expression in the face of subjugation and oppression. The spirit and influence of African American music continues to be deeply entrenched in the soul of our communities, our nation, and our world.”

“I am glad to join Congressman Meeks and Senator Booker in introducing this resolution recognizing African American Music Appreciation Month,” said Rep. Kamlager-Dove. “Our music has been a source of strength during the darkest chapters of American history. It has been the way our ancestors celebrated and mourned for centuries, and it is how we continue to express ourselves and exert our resilience. We must continue to uplift the work of Black artists and shine a light on their importance and integral influence on the music industry and American culture.”

“From jazz and blues to R&B and hip-hop, African American music continues to shape the fabric of our nation’s culture and society,” said Senator Booker. “Despite the outsized influence it has in the United States, African American music education is largely absent in our school curriculums. This resolution will not only recognize the immense contributions Black musicians have made to our nation, but will also expand access to music education so our children can appreciate and build upon our nation’s rich history of music.”

This Resolution reaffirms the effort to educate students about the heritage of Black culture in music and the need for African American students to have access to music education.

CITY’S FIRST JEWISH ADVISORY COUNCIL: New York City Mayor Eric Adams just announced the formation of the city’s first-ever Jewish Advisory Council. Members of the newly-formed council will focus on all issues affecting Jewish New Yorkers, including public safety, quality of life, and education, and will ensure Jewish communities across New York City are connected with all of the city’s resources and services available. Chaired by Joel Eisdorfer, senior advisor to Mayor Adams, the council will be comprised of 37 members and will convene regularly to discuss issues affecting the city’s Jewish community.

“Our Jewish community — the largest in the world outside of Israel — is a critical part of New York City,” said Mayor Adams. “From the top of the Bronx to the bottom of Staten Island, the work and contributions of our Jewish brothers and sisters are felt across all five boroughs. With antisemitic crimes up across the nation, our newly-formed Jewish Advisory Council will ensure that Jewish New Yorkers in every community have a seat at the table and have access to the support and resources the city offers.”

“The establishment of the Jewish Advisory Council demonstrates the Adams administration’s commitment to fostering strong relationships with the Jewish community in New York City,” said New York City Community Affairs Unit Commissioner Fred Kreizman. “The Jewish community is valued and vital to the vibrancy of New York City’s culture. I look forward to working together with Jewish community leaders from all five boroughs to address issues and ensure access to city resources.”

“The Jewish community is extremely fortunate to have a mayor who has a deep understanding of the challenges facing the Jewish community,” said Senior Advisor to the Mayor Joel Eisdorfer. “While antisemitic hate crimes are rising around the world, Mayor Eric Adams proudly, vocally, and physically stands with the Jewish community at every opportunity. With the creation of this unprecedented council, the mayor is clearly showing that actions speak louder than words and that he leads from the front.”

“I’ve seen firsthand Mayor Adams’ commitment to the Jewish community,” said Deputy Chief of Staff Menashe Shapiro. “Regardless of your denomination, affiliation, or sect, New York’s Jewish community has a mayor who understands the unique cultural and ethnic sensibilities of the Jewish community and who is dedicated to ensuring their needs are met and everyone is safe and secure.”

The council includes Jewish leaders from all five boroughs and across sectors, including not-for-profit organizations, community-based organizations, and religious leaders. “Today’s creation of the Jewish Advisory Council by Mayor Eric Adams is historic in several respects,” said David G. Greenfield, CEO, Met Council. “First, it brings together Jewish leaders of different backgrounds and denominations from across New York to work together. Second, it provides a regular forum for consultation with City Hall on issues that are critical to the broader Jewish community. Finally, it comes at a time that antisemitism is at a record high and proves the commitment that Mayor Adams has made to fight hatred and antisemitism. Mayor Eric Adams made history when he appointed the first Chasidic Jew, Joel Eisdorfer, to the role of senior advisor. Today’s announcement is equally important. We’re grateful for Mayor Adams’ leadership and look forward to working with Chair Joel Eisdorfer on this critical initiative.”

FEDERAL BROADBAND EQUITY FUNDING: Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and the New York Congressional Delegation announced New York State’s ConnectALL Office has been allocated more than $664 million in funding from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The BEAD allocation is the largest single investment in the ConnectALL program and will be used primarily for providing fiber optic infrastructure to locations in New York that currently have no broadband service.

“This transformative investment in New York’s ConnectALL program will be a gamechanger in advancing our statewide strategy to make affordable, high-speed internet available to all,” Governor Hochul said. “In today’s economy, reliable broadband access is an absolute necessity, and I thank the Biden administration, Majority Leader Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and New York’s congressional delegation for continuing to prioritize critical infrastructure needs and for supporting our mission to expand broadband to every corner of our state.”

The $1+ billion ConnectALL initiative, announced by Governor Hochul in her January 2022 State of the State Address, is New York State’s largest-ever public investment in broadband, aimed at transforming the state’s digital infrastructure to connect all New Yorkers to the internet. In addition to funding to reach unserved and underserved locations, ConnectALL includes grant programs to invest in public broadband infrastructure, to upgrade service to affordable and public housing, and to support digital inclusion and education on using the internet.

New York will submit an initial grant distribution proposal to President Biden’s National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA). Following approval of the initial proposal, the ConnectALL Office will solicit applications from internet service providers to build new broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas of the state. That package of applications will be included in New York’s final proposal to NTIA, after which the state will receive its full BEAD allocation to issue grant awards.

The BEAD allocation follows a $100 million award from the Treasury Department’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund announced by the Governor in May and two planning grants totaling over $7 million announced in December.

The BEAD allocation is based largely on New York’s portion of the nation’s unserved locations, as reported by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC’s map originally showed New York had 106,290 unserved locations. In October 2022, Governor Hochul issued a challenge to the FCC’s broadband data maps, which revealed more than 31,000 underserved and unserved locations missing from the FCC’s data, following a statewide mobilization of regional, county, and local officials and New York’s own, first-of-its-kind interactive broadband map. In May, the FCC released updated data including over 140,000 unserved locations in New York and nearly 38,000 locations that have access to the minimal level of internet speeds to qualify as underserved.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “In New York and throughout America, there are far too many under-resourced communities without the ability to connect online and engage with family, work, school and telemedicine. Working with President Biden, House Democrats passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to ensure that every single community throughout our nation has access to high-speed internet. We invested $65 billion to expand broadband in every single zip code. I thank President Biden and Governor Hochul for their leadership in shepherding $665 million in crucial investments across New York.”

Representative Grace Meng said, “In Congress, I’m proud to have helped create the $7.1 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund, which helped schools and libraries in Queens and across New York purchase Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, internet service and internet-enabled devices so that we could increase access to the internet in our communities. I thrilled to hail this BEAD allocation as well, and glad to see that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that I helped pass continues to deliver for our state. I will continue championing the crucial issue of improving internet and broadband access, and I thank Governor Hochul for announcing these funds.”

FUNDING FOR COLDEN AUDITORIUM: Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D,WF-Fresh Meadows) is announcing an allocation of $250,000 to Queens College’s Colden Auditorium at the Kupferberg Center for Arts. The new investment will upgrade the auditorium’s advanced systems, installing new theatrical industry standard equipment with updated lighting, theatrical rigging, video projections, and orchestral as well as choral systems. These much needed changes will ensure technical and safety demands are being met, serving a more diverse group of performers and audiences. It will also offer artists the opportunity to perform in an improved professional and top-quality venue.

“In supporting our community whenever possible, shaping great minds academically both inside and outside of the classroom, Queens College never wavers in its dedication as a strong community partner,” said Assemblywoman Rozic. “That’s why I am thrilled to provide sustaining sponsorship of the cultural staple that is the Kupferberg Center for the Arts. With this new funding, the Colden Auditorium will continue to serve thousands of people each year, whether fans of an international performer or proud families attending a graduation.”

“We are deeply grateful to Assemblywoman Nily Rozic for the $250,000 she allocated to help renovate Colden Auditorium at Queens College. Many hundreds of thousands of Queens residents and beyond have utilized Colden, the largest such indoor venue in the county. We host concerts, commencements, speakers, theatrical productions, and civic programs, reflecting the rich diversity of the world’s borough. The generous support of Assemblymember Rozic will greatly assist in modernizing and maintaining this invaluable community asset.” said Queens College President Frank Wu.

“Colden Auditorium has been an important place for public gatherings since it first opened in the 1960’s. And, today, it is still a place where Queens comes together. Assemblywoman Rozic’s funding will support critical renovations and upgrades to the auditorium’s technical and production capabilities. This will position Colden for ongoing success and relevance for years to come.” said Kupferberg Center for the Arts Director Jon Yanofsky. The Colden Auditorium is located on the Queens College campus in Flushing and seats 2,100 people. Last year, Rozic attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for Queens College’s new and improved athletic track and field, for which she allocated a $500,000 grant for its renovation.

METS, NY BLOOD CENTER TEAM UP: New York Blood Center (NYBC) will be partnering with the New York Mets to encourage New Yorkers to give blood by offering presenting donors a NY Mets t-shirt from Sunday, June 25 – Sunday, July 9. Additionally, all platelet and double red cell donors during this timeframe will receive a voucher redeemable for two tickets to a select 2023 NY Mets home game. These promotions will be available at any of NYBC’s 19 donor centers.

The NY Mets have been a long-time partner of NYBC, hosting blood drives multiple times a year and encouraging blood donation during some of the most critical times for the blood supply. The NY Mets recently hosted their summer blood drive at the Piazza Club at Citi Field, where they collected 713 blood donations, bringing the organization’s total blood donations to over 15,000.

The summer months are always difficult for the blood supply, especially around the 4th of July holiday weekend, when school breaks and summer travel plans make blood donation less of a priority. In addition, the unprecedented COVID-19 health crisis has caused a loss of blood donations, including 20,000 fewer donations from high school and youth donors each year. Hospitals and patients rely upon a steady flow of volunteer donors to receive life-saving blood products, but blood donations still have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“We are so grateful to the New York Mets for always stepping up to the plate to host blood drives and encourage blood donations, especially during the summer months, which are a critical time for the blood supply,” said Andrea Cefarelli, Senior Vice President at New York Blood Center. “We’re calling on all eligible New Yorkers, especially our youth donors, to come out and support the home team by donating blood and giving the gift of life this week.”

Blood donors can give every 56 days, and platelet donors can give twice per month. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently lifted eligibility restrictions for individuals who lived in Europe during certain periods of time. To view current eligibility guidelines, visit nybc.org or call 800.688.0900.

To make an appointment at a donor center near you, donors can call 800-933-2566 or visit this link. Can’t donate blood? You can still support NYBC’s mission by texting ‘NYBC’ to ‘20222’ to give $25.

104TH PCT ANNOUNCED NAT’L NIGHT OUT: The 104th Precinct announced its upcoming National Night Out Against Crime will be held on Tuesday, August 1, from 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm in Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village. There will be Public Safety Info, a Free Concert by the Shadetree Mechanics (sponsored by Juniper Park Civic Association & Queensboro UNICO), Fun for the Kids, Dance Performances, Free Food, Community Vendors, and a live DJ. “Join the NYPD and the 104th Precinct Community Council to celebrate National Night Out Against Crime.”

104th Precinct Community Council President Jon Kablack explained, “National Night Out, ‘America’s Night Out Against Crime’ began as an effort to promote involvement in crime prevention activities, police-community partnerships, neighborhood camaraderie, along with sending a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back. On Tuesday, August 1st, the 104th Precinct Community Council is hosting its annual National Night Out event and is asking local neighbors and businesses to contribute either financially, or in the form of in-kind donations and/or services. This is such an important event in our community and your donation will have a significant impact on the ability of our Council to sponsor this free community event. We hope that you would consider supporting us and joining us on this important day. With your support we know we will meet our goal! Thank you for partnering with our Community Council. If you have any questions, please contact the 104th Precinct Community Affairs Office at (718) 386-2431. Thank you for your time, consideration, and for your interest in our communities.”

VICTORIOUS COUNCILMEMBERS’ STATEMENTS:

NYC Councilmember Lynn Schulman issued the following statement following her victory yesterday in District 29’s Democratic primary:

“Now that the results are in, I am heartened by my decisive victory in this primary. This is a result of showing up for our communities, speaking to neighbors, and producing results since I took office. We have fought to make our district healthier and safer, invest in our schools, and support our seniors — and we have succeeded. Government can be an incredible tool for our communities if we elect the right people, and as our country veers to the right, we are reminded how vital it is to have progressive women at all levels of government, including the City Council.

“We won our primary by building bridges — the same way we are delivering results in the City Council. With the help of a broad coalition of diverse community leaders, colleagues in government, and organized labor, I spread across our Queens communities my vision for the change we need. Similarly, over the last year and a half, I have helped unite New Yorkers of every background who share our hopes and dreams.

“Lastly, I am humbled by the opportunity to continue to represent the community I grew up in, alongside the new constituents I have gained. I am beyond excited to be on my way to a second term in the City Council advocating for a Queens of the future that we can all be proud of.”

Councilmember Linda Lee has declared victory in the Democratic Primary Election for New York City Council District 23. She issued the following statement:

“I’ve dedicated my life to serving our most vulnerable populations – our older adults and our children. As your Councilmember for the past year and half, I have worked tirelessly to secure historic funding for our schools, to support law enforcement and make our neighborhoods safer, and to deliver a better quality of life for our seniors and families.

“I am honored and humbled that Eastern Queens voters saw through the misinformation, divisive rhetoric, baseless attacks, and negative campaigning of my opponents, and voted to allow me to continue to serve our community.

“I want to thank my family, friends, campaign team, colleagues, the unions and issue advocacy organizations, and local supporters who helped get me here tonight because I couldn’t have done this alone. Tonight, I will celebrate, but tomorrow I’ll be right back at work building on our accomplishments and fighting for Eastern Queens residents.”

Councilmember Julie Won released the following statement on her Primary election victory: “I am incredibly humbled by my neighbors’ overwhelming support for my re-election to the City Council! From the beginning, my campaign has always centered the needs of the working class, immigrants, and families across the district. From approving a record amount of permanent affordable housing, and protecting our education budget, to delivering our district’s fair share of city funding and free WiFI for all our neighbors in NYCHA – I am proud of the work I’ve done in my first term as Council Member.

“Our landslide victory demonstrated that a campaign rooted in positivity, real accomplishments, and genuine grassroots support will always triumph over one built on lies, personal attacks, and dirty tactics. I will always be grateful for each member of my amazing team, all of the progressive activists, labor unions, and hundreds of volunteers who stood with me to turn out every last vote. It has been the honor of my life to serve the people and places I love. Now, it’s time to get back to work!

NYC Councilmember Shekar Krishnan released the following statement: “We Won! Yesterday was a victory for the taxi workers and deliveristas, the working parents and teachers, the artists, and activists. For all who believe our great city can provide housing, education, health care, and green space to all of us. For all who know that our city’s future is not bleak but bright. I am so grateful to fight for our future alongside allies like you.”

LIU SECURES $73K TECH FUNDING: State Senator John Liu announced $73,500 in technology funding for PS 376Q following the successful advocacy of one the school’s young students.

Four years ago, while attending a community event in Bayside, Senator Liu met 6-year-old Maxwell Rosenfeld who struck up a conversation about his school, PS 376Q in Bayside. The conversation deviated from most typical conversations with 6-year-olds, for when Senator Liu asked him how he likes his school, the young Baysider asked his State Senator for technology funding.

Maxwell followed up on his request with an official letter (and a picture he drew memorializing their meeting) to Senator Liu. Max continued to lobby Senator Liu over the years for this funding, which finally proved fruitful this month when Senator Liu announced his efforts were successful in securing $73,500 in technology funding from the State budget. Now a graduating 5th grader, Senator Liu met with Maxwell to thank him for his outstanding service to his school community.

State Senator John Liu, who chairs the Senate Committee on NYC Education, stated, “Elected officials often get requests for funding, but this request was unique because of Max’s young age, his knowledge about how the system works, and especially his dogged persistence! He lobbied and wrote letters to get what he knew his school needed. Unfortunately, the pandemic slowed his request down, but today we’re happy to announce that his efforts were successful in securing technology funding that will benefit his school community for years to come. If there’s a greater lesson for Max and his fellow students here, it’s that no obstacle is too great to overcome, and don’t ever let the adults say you’re too young to make a difference! Congratulations to Max and to all of PS 376Q!”

Maxwell Rosenfeld stated, “Technology helps us learn better and will prepare us for the future. I’m proud I was able to force Senator Liu to do the right thing.”

—With contributions by Annette Hanze Alberts

This column was originated by John A. Toscano

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2023-06-23 07:00

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June 23, 2023

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The words “woman” or “women” appear just 49 times in Republican Sen. Josh Hawley’s new book, counting the end notes. The 248-page book is, after all, about masculinity — as the title states, it’s about “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs.” 

The chapters of part two break down what the senior senator from Missouri sees as the parts of being a man: husband, father, warrior, builder, priest, king. He connects these roles to the Bible — how, he writes, men are called to embrace responsibilities and purpose. The enemy trying to block this path of righteousness is the liberal elite. They value self-gratification over responsibility and say any evil is “the fault of ‘the patriarchy’ or systemic racism or capitalism or the like.” (Quote marks around “the patriarchy,” and just that term in the list, are his.)

Hawley, 43, a product of Stanford and Yale, first ran for statewide office in 2016, becoming Missouri’s attorney general before his successful Senate bid in 2018. In 2020, he became the first senator to say he’d object to the certification of President Joe Biden’s legitimate win. Just about a week later, on January 6, 2021, he raised his fist to the crowd gathering outside the Capitol before running away from them when they stormed the building to try to do with violence what he was trying to do with procedure.  

Hawley is among the speakers at this week’s Faith and Freedom Coalition Road to the Majority conference in Washington, D.C., an event that brings together conservative Christians with politicians and policymakers — including many of the 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls. 

Melissa Deckman is the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and an expert on the intersection of gender, religion and politics. After reading Hawley’s book, she spoke to The 19th about the picture he paints of men, the lack of women in it and what it says about America’s political right. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Terri Rupar: There’s this picture of American society that Hawley paints in his book and that the Faith and Freedom Coalition really embraces too. How do religion and politics work together to shape this view of America?

Melissa Deckman: In reading “Manhood” by Josh Hawley, I’m really struck by the patriarchal view of how society should be. And this is something that is endemic, I think, to the Christian right. For years, conservative Christians have argued that having a strong two-parent family — one where there’s a husband, one where there’s a wife — is really the solution to most of society’s ills. And I think those themes are very apparent in Josh Hawley’s book. 

He talks about the importance of building strong marriages, the importance of fathers. And I would say that these are important things that many Americans agree with. But for cultural conservatives, for conservative Christians, they’re solutions to the problems that we see in American society. It’s not necessarily about public policy and trying to find other solutions to deal with the problems that exist. 

He does criticize both parties, particularly on globalization, trade and immigration. But as you point out, there’s not a lot of policy talk otherwise in the book. What are the policies that come out of this worldview?

I was struck in the book that there really was a lack of proposed policy solutions. It used to be that the Republican Party would talk about tax policies or policies that would shore up families.

But what I found in the book was really a lot of conversations about returning to a time when men put on their bootstraps: work harder and double down on individual responsibility as a way to solve the problems that are really largely structural. 

He paints this picture of going back several decades to the 1950s, where people can be farmers and kind of live off the land, or he uses the example of his uncle who has a small business pouring concrete. What struck me is that there are many people on the political left who would say we need, in fact, to invest more in having trade schools, we need to invest more in education that gets people ready for these pretty well-paying blue-collar jobs. But I don’t see the Republican Party having actual policy proposals that would have government spending toward, for example, increasing vocational/technical education, I don’t see increasing the spending at community colleges to address the shortages in industries that we actually need. 

And to that end, he talks about the work of Richard Reeves, who’s a policy analyst and scholar at the Brookings Institution who’s talked about the need to invest in what he calls “HEAL” [health, education, administration and literacy] jobs. Richard Reeves and other economists talk about areas where we are in dire need of hiring more people: nursing, education, these sorts of jobs. And it might be beneficial for government policy to try to get young men to go into those career paths, because it’s actually really good to have more male teachers, it’s good to have male nurses, it’s good to have more men in mental health, because we do know — and Josh Hawley rightfully cites these statistics — that there’s crises in terms of mental health for young men. But Hawley deflects, and says that those sorts of jobs would be emasculating for men. And so there’s not necessarily a policy proposal to, in fact, address the shortfalls.

I think about how this connects back to women, because any kind of definition of masculinity also has implications for women and gender non-conforming people. 

When you think about the success that we’ve seen in getting more women to adopt higher-paying jobs that have traditionally been the purview of men — that required legislation and cultural policy change. That is decades of — after Title IX, of having government efforts to introduce women in these traditionally male-dominated fields. But there was also a cultural sense, among business and industry, that it’s important to have one half of society’s brains and interests and talents be incorporated in these sorts of positions. But there was also a concerted effort to try to promote STEM education and after-school programs for girls. It really took an all-hands-on-deck effort to achieve — not gender parity, but more equal distribution of women in these sorts of careers that pay a lot more. 

I think we need something on the other side to help with respect to imagining where young men and boys can go into these other sorts of professions as well. I’m not sure what that looks like. But we don’t see that in Josh Hawley’s book. And I don’t think you see this in a lot of conservative think tank thinking. 

Melissa Deckman
(Courtesy of Melissa Deckman)

The points that he has made are versions of ones that have been made for decades, people can go back a couple of generations and see people lamenting falls in masculinity, different ways that masculinity expresses. Do you have a sense of how his version of masculinity compares with previous generations, especially in terms of politics? 

I think what’s new about Hawley’s book is that it’s in the political context, where conversations about masculinity have really taken on more nuance, and I think look different than they did 20, 30, 40 years ago. These conversations about what manhood entails are not new. But I do think that these larger debates of what even gender identity means in a world where we have less fixed notions of what it means to be male and female — I think that he’s trying to write this book in that larger context. 

He also doesn’t talk about the downsides of masculine frames. He doesn’t really talk about the fact that it’s largely men who are perpetuating mass shootings, it’s largely men who are essentially causing sexual violence, that are causing crime. But I think the #MeToo movement has forced a larger recognition that there’s some things about masculinity that are not good for society. 

There are challenges that young men face today in terms of suicide, in terms of going to college, in terms of becoming less likely to be employed compared to their father’s generation, their father’s father’s generation, but it’s really an intersectional divide. These problems are disproportionately far worse for young men of color, but also young men of the working class. And so there’s never really any grappling with that in his book, which I found to be somewhat disappointing. 

Is there a sense from polling and research of how many Americans agree with Hawley? 

On the one level, I think that a lot of what Josh Hawley writes about in terms of self help are things that most Americans would agree with. I don’t have any polling per se, but I think many of us would say, yes, it’s good for people to be independent. I think that people do agree that sacrificing for the greater good, providing for your families, these are wonderful things. 

But I do think in terms of the appeal of this book, ultimately it’s really about turning to a religious solution to these problems. So if you think about religious demography in general — maybe this is another reason that he wrote this book at this time. We know that the fastest-growing religious group in American society are people that are religiously unaffiliated. And so I think that this book is appealing to conservatives already, who tend to be more people of faith. 

I think another feature that doesn’t get addressed is that there are people of faith who are progressive as well. There are passages from the Bible that also prescribe for more egalitarian policies. When we talk about welcoming the stranger, there are many religious people in this country who believe that we need a more humane immigration policy, for example, and they derive those ideas from their religious faith. I think about, for example, the role of the Black church in promoting civil rights, and there were many religious imperatives behind that sort of thing. 

Where do women fit in? What does this view of how men should behave and how society should be structured mean for women who want to, say, run for office or hold a position of power?

That’s a good question. I was reading the book and thinking: Where are the women in this society? He, in fact, rarely talks about the role of women in this sort of society. I think it’s an opportunity lost, because there is a very, I think, far-right patriarchal view of the world that essentially says women should be less than in this sort of society. And so he doesn’t really say much about that. I wonder, the absence of talking about women in this role — what is that telling us? Not to mention people who are from the LGBTQ community. 

A line that jumped out at me in the book is when Hawley’s writing about Andrew Tate [the influencer who this week was charged in Romania with rape and human trafficking] and that vision of masculinity. He says it’s not manly, it’s self indulgent, it’s misogynist. And he writes, “Every man who has been in a locker room recognizes the type,” and so I can’t help but think of Donald Trump and the “Access Hollywood” tape, which Trump dismissed as locker room talk. But then we saw Hawley back Trump’s challenge to the 2020 election, including the raised fist to the crowd at the Capitol on January 6. How do we see this Andrew Tate to Donald Trump to Josh Hawley vision of masculinity playing out?

The other thing I was thinking as I read the book was, for all of the values that Josh Hawley talks about, none of these traits describe Donald Trump. He’s, in fact, the anathema to all of the traits that are talked about here. I think to his credit, Josh Hawley denouncing Andrew Tate is helpful. But to then absolve and not discuss Donald Trump in any of these sorts of things is also, frankly, just hypocritical. 

For many conservatives, many people in the Christian right who may have been hesitant to endorse Donald Trump prior to his election in 2016, their response would be twofold: One, look at the policies that Trump has passed, he is our champion. Secondly, I think much of our politics today is about whataboutism, and the other side is worse. And so many conservative Republicans would rather back Trump because they believe the reelection of Joe Biden or Democrats in office will lead to worse things. 

But it’s not lost on me that there’s not much talked about with respect to January 6. And it’s also not lost on me that Josh Hawley talks about the importance of developing good citizens and the need for self governance and how these traits are important to self governance. But it seems like many Republicans are content to pass policies that make it harder for younger people, for example, to self govern, or people who differ from them to self govern. 

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