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The Liberty fall short of securing home court for opening round of the playoffs
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Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000
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The New York Liberty entered Monday night’s game at the Barclays Center with the possibility of securing home court advantage.
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The New York Liberty entered Monday night’s game versus the Atlanta Dream at the Barclays Center with the possibility of securing home court advantage for the opening round of the WNBA playoffs, which begin on Sunday. Three days earlier, the Liberty arguably had their best win of the season, defeating the league’s No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx 93-81 on the road last Friday.
Yet, turnovers and sub-par defense in losing 95-84 to the Dream ensured New York will play on the road this weekend, regardless of the outcome of their final regular season game last night (Wednesday) in Brooklyn, hosting the Dream again.
The Dream had seven steals in forcing 11 Liberty turnovers overall while holding New York to 42.3% shooting, including 24.1% (7-29) on 3-point attempts. The Dream closed out the second quarter on a 10-3 run to take a 41-38 halftime lead, then exploded for 32 third-quarter points to extend their advantage going into the fourth.
Guard Jordin Canada led the Dream with 19 points and center Angel Reese posted 18 points and 10 rebounds. Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart, who was named the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Most Valuable Player (MVP) as the United States brought home their fifth straight gold on September 13, had game highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds, while center Jonquel Jones added 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu, a four-time WNBA All-Star, was just 3-12 from the field (2-7 from 3-point range) while committing two turnovers and fouling out in 29 minutes of playing time.
At the start of the league’s games on Tuesday night, the seedings were still fluid. The Liberty were 26-17 and the eighth and final seed in the playoff standings. The 26-17 Dallas Wings were the No. 7 seed, holding the head-to-head tie breaker over the Liberty, due to a 2-1 record against them this season, despite an identical record having taken two of three games from the Liberty during the season.
The Washington Mystics were No. 6 at 26-16 and could fall below New York with two losses and a Liberty win last night. The Mystics’ last regular season game is tonight versus the Chicago Sky. The Indiana Fever were 27-15 and in the fifth spot, but close out their schedule with back-to-back games against the Lynx Tuesday and tonight, and could drop below the Mystics. The Fever caught a break on Tuesday as Summit, N.J.-born Olivia Miles, a lock to be named the WNBA Rookie of the Year and likely to finish top 3 in the MVP voting, sat out the game due to a left calf injury.
The Golden State Valkyries were No. 2 with a mark of 31-11 and one game behind Minnesota, which was 32-10 going into their game against the Fever. The Las Vegas Aces, the defending WNBA champion, with A’ja Wilson as the prohibitive favorite to win her fifth league MVP award, were 29-13 and the No. 3 seed. The Dream, at 29-14, is holding the No. 4 seed.
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Teachers’ unions press New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject federal school choice program
news/2026/09/24/teachers-unions-press-new-york-gov-kathy-hochul-to-reject-federal-school-choice-program/
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Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000
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Teachers' unions press New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject the federal school choice program.
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This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
A coalition of union officials and civil rights leaders urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday to reverse her plans to opt into a federal tax-credit scholarship program passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.
During a gathering at the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, top officials argued that the voucher-like program represents a threat to public education. They said it would allow public funding to flow to private schools that may refuse to admit higher-need children. They were flanked by several lawmakers and representatives from advocacy groups, including the NAACP.
“Vouchers are about allowing private schools to pick and choose who they admit, leaving the most vulnerable children behind,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. She offered a blunt message to the governor: “Opt out right now.”
The press conference is one of the most visible efforts so far to persuade Hochul, who is facing re-election in November, to change her position about the federal program. Many of the groups support Hochul’s re-election bid and are hopeful she will be receptive to their arguments, even as she indicated in May that she plans to opt the state in.
In a statement, Hochul’s office reiterated its support for the program and emphasized that public school students can benefit from it. “Governor Hochul’s priority is making sure every student receives an education that best meets their needs, which is why she wants the federal scholarship tax credit to benefit all New York students,” Hochul spokesperson Jonah Allon said. He noted the governor has increased funding for public schools and that the tax-credit program would not divert funding from local and state budgets.
The tax-credit program, approved last year through the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will take effect in January 2027. It allows taxpayers who donate up to $1,700 to an eligible scholarship-granting organization to receive an equivalent reduction in their federal taxes. Those organizations can give students money for private school tuition, tutoring, and other education-related costs.
Governors must opt their states in for students to benefit from the program. Hochul’s office has previously said she’s waiting for regulations from the Treasury Department, expected later this month, to see if there are any “poison pills” that would change her decision to participate.
Union officials said they still believe there’s time to get their message across to the governor. “We’re just hoping that she continues to have an open mind and hears us,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew told reporters on Wednesday.
To date, 30 states have formally opted in, according to a list maintained by the Internal Revenue Service. Most are Republican-led, and many already have state voucher or education savings account programs.
So far, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democrat to officially opt into the program and enthusiastically embrace it. In Kentucky, Kansas, and North Carolina, Republican-controlled legislatures overrode Democratic governors’ vetoes to opt their states into the program. Some Democratic governors, including Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, have firmly rejected the program. Most are taking a wait-and-see approach, prompting furious lobbying from all sides.
The federal program would represent a dramatic expansion of private school choice in blue states that have resisted vouchers, but some public education advocates have argued that it would be a mistake to pass up the opportunity to raise money for tutoring or after-school programs — even if they think the credit is bad policy.
Teachers unions have generally taken the opposite tack, arguing the program will undermine public schools by luring away students and directing more taxpayer dollars to private schools.
Still, enrollment and funding are not necessarily directly linked: State funding for New York school districts has increased in recent years, even as there are fewer students in public schools. Funding for the federal tax credit comes from federal, not state, coffers. Advocates have pitched the effort as essentially free federal money.
Union leaders raised a host of other concerns. They argued that scholarship-granting organizations could spend money in ways that don’t benefit students and that public funding could flow to schools that may not welcome students with disabilities or other needs. They also noted that relatively affluent families could benefit from scholarships to private schools because families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income are eligible.
“The fundamental difference between public and private schools is this: We educate everyone,” said Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers.
Others are pressuring Hochul to move forward with her plans to opt in. A coalition of 37 anti-poverty groups, community-based organizations, and charter school leaders argued in a Sept. 10 letter to Hochul that the program could benefit public school students.
“This program offers a source of funding, at no cost to the state education budget, that can expand access to tutoring, afterschool programming, special education services, and other supports that are too often out of reach for lower-income families,” the letter states. “We believe New York can shape its participation in ways that meaningfully benefit public school students.”
Jim Blew, who advises a coalition of groups backing the tax credit, praised Hochul’s plan to participate.
“We are very impressed that she has stood up to the unfounded arguments from the unions,” said Blew, who worked in the Education Department during Trump’s first term. “This takes no money from the state budget for public education.”
Ideas editor Matt Barnum and national editor Erica Meltzer contributed.
Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
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This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
Teachers unions press New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to reject federal school choice program
Alex Zimmerman, Chalkbeat
Sep 16, 2026 at 5:00pm EDT
Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox.
A coalition of union officials and civil rights leaders urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday to reverse her plans to opt into a federal tax-credit scholarship program passed by Republicans in Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.
During a gathering at the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, top officials argued that the voucher-like program represents a threat to public education. They said it would allow public funding to flow to private schools that may refuse to admit higher-need children. They were flanked by several lawmakers and representatives from advocacy groups, including the NAACP.
“Vouchers are about allowing private schools to pick and choose who they admit, leaving the most vulnerable children behind,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. She offered a blunt message to the governor: “Opt out right now.”
The press conference is one of the most visible efforts so far to persuade Hochul, who is facing reelection in November, to change her position on the federal program. Many of the groups support Hochul’s reelection bid and are hopeful she will be receptive to their arguments, even as she indicated in May that she plans to opt the state in.
In a statement, Hochul’s office reiterated its support for the program and emphasized that public school students can benefit from it.
“Governor Hochul’s priority is making sure every student receives an education that best meets their needs, which is why she wants the federal scholarship tax credit to benefit all New York students,” Hochul spokesperson Jonah Allon said. He noted the governor has increased funding for public schools and that the tax credit program would not divert funding from local and state budgets.
The tax credit program, approved last year through the Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will take effect in January 2027. It allows taxpayers who donate up to $1,700 to an eligible scholarship-granting organization to receive an equivalent reduction in their federal taxes. Those organizations can give students money for private school tuition, tutoring, and other education-related costs.
Governors must opt their states in for students to benefit from the program. Hochul’s office has previously said she’s waiting for regulations from the Treasury Department, expected later this month, to see if there are any “poison pills” that would change her decision to participate.
Union officials said they still believe there’s time to get their message across to the governor.
“We’re just hoping that she continues to have an open mind and hears us,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew told reporters on Wednesday.
Thirty states have formally opted in, according to a list maintained by the Internal Revenue Service. Most are Republican-led, and many already have state voucher or education savings account programs.
So far, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democrat to officially opt into the program and enthusiastically embrace it. In Kentucky, Kansas, and North Carolina, Republican-controlled legislatures overrode Democratic governors’ vetoes to opt their states into the program. Some Democratic governors, including Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, have firmly rejected the program. Most are taking a wait-and-see approach, prompting furious lobbying from all sides.
The federal program would represent a dramatic expansion of private school choice in blue states that have resisted vouchers. But some public education advocates have argued that it would be a mistake to pass up the opportunity to raise money for tutoring or after-school programs — even if they think the credit is bad policy.
Teachers unions have generally taken the opposite tack, arguing the program will undermine public schools by luring away students and directing more taxpayer dollars to private schools.
Still, enrollment and funding are not necessarily directly linked: State funding for New York school districts has increased in recent years even as there are fewer students in public schools. Funding for the federal tax credit comes from federal, not state, coffers. Advocates have pitched the effort as essentially free federal money.
Union leaders raised a host of other concerns. They argued that scholarship-granting organizations could spend money in ways that don’t benefit students and that public funding could flow to schools that may not welcome students with disabilities or other needs. They also noted that relatively affluent families could benefit from scholarships to private schools because families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income are eligible.
“The fundamental difference between public and private schools is this: we educate everyone,” said Melinda Person, president of New York State United Teachers.
Others are pressuring Hochul to move forward with her plans to opt in. A coalition of 37 anti-poverty groups, community-based organizations, and charter school leaders argued in a Sept. 10 letter to Hochul that the program could benefit public school students.
“This program offers a source of funding, at no cost to the state education budget, that can expand access to tutoring, afterschool programming, special education services, and other supports that are too often out of reach for lower-income families,” the letter states. “We believe New York can shape its participation in ways that meaningfully benefit public school students.”
Jim Blew, who advises a coalition of groups backing the tax credit, praised Hochul’s plan to participate.
“We are very impressed that she has stood up to the unfounded arguments from the unions,” said Blew, who worked in the Education Department during Trump’s first term. “This takes no money from the state budget for public education.”
Ideas editor Matt Barnum and national editor Erica Meltzer contributed.
Alex Zimmerman is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at [azimmerman@chalkbeat.org](mailto:azimmerman@chalkbeat.org).
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
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DoorDash to pay $131M for underpaying delivery workers in New York City
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Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000
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NEW YORK (AP) — DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to settle claims that it underpaid delivery workers in New York City.
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NEW YORK (AP) — DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to settle claims that it underpaid delivery workers in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday.
The agreement, which officials described as the largest worker settlement in city history, also requires the company to submit to a new monitoring system to ensure compliance with delivery worker pay laws in the city.
In a statement, DoorDash admitted errors, saying, “Simply put, we screwed up.”
“While these mistakes weren’t intentional, that doesn’t make them okay. We pride ourselves on operational excellence at DoorDash — and this was not excellent, nor was it acceptable. Dashers should be paid in full, on time, every time. We are sorry to the Dashers we let down,” the company said.
Most of the settlement will be returned to more than 260,000 workers who were underpaid, not paid, or paid late for deliveries by DoorDash, according to City Hall. The company will also pay about $16 million in civil penalties and other costs to the city.
“When a worker earns a wage, they deserve to be paid that wage — not tomorrow, not after a lawsuit, but on time and in full,” Mamdani said in a statement. “DoorDash underpaid more than 260,000 workers, and today we are getting that money back.”
DoorDash said many of the errors in payment were caused by “technical bugs or happened in complicated situations,” such as deliveries that went outside city boundaries, had multiple pickup or drop-off spots, or included deliveries that were canceled or partially completed.
Last year, the company agreed to pay almost $17 million to settle claims that it unfairly used customer tips to subsidize the wages of its delivery workers in New York, rather than allowing drivers to keep the tips on top of their guaranteed pay.
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Can the Yankees take down the Red Sox without Aaron Judge?
news/2026/09/24/can-the-yankees-take-down-the-red-sox-without-aaron-judge/
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Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000
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The Yankees face a tough playoff path against the Red Sox after manager Aaron Boone reveals a crucial injury to their star player.
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This was supposed to be the year the Yankees would win the franchise’s first World Series since 2009. A roster that included all-time greats Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez, Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, and Series MVP Hideki Matsui, one of the best players Japan has ever produced.
Yet, as the Yankees look towards Tuesday, when they open the playoffs at home against what is virtually certain to be the Boston Red Sox, their longtime nemesis, in a best-of-three wildcard series, the prospects of them navigating an always perilous path to the World Series were reduced when Yankees manager Aaron Boone said this past Tuesday that the reigning American League MVP likely won’t play in the series due to a right calf strain.
“We’re planning on him not being a part of that,” Boone revealed to reporters.
Judge, who has only appeared in 66 games this season, primarily recovering from a right rib stress fracture, which caused him to sit out 84 games from May 31 to Sept. 8, is now on the 10-day injured list, placed there last Friday. The 34-year-old Judge, arguably the best player in the sport over the last decade, isn’t expected back for the divisional round if the Yankees get by the Red Sox.
Last weekend, Boone informed the media the team didn’t have a firm estimate as to when Judge, a three-time AL MVP, three-time AL home run leader, two-time MLB RBI king and last season’s MLB batting champion, would return to the lineup.
“I mean, I have no idea, we’re in the early stages,” expressed Boone, now in his ninth season as the Yankees manager. “We’ll just obviously treat it and see what transpires.”
The Yankees watched Tampa Bay clinch the AL East title on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium when they won the second game of a double-header on Tuesday 6-1. The Yankees shut out the Rays in the opener. Tampa Bay 96-61 going into the third game of the four-game series last night with the finale scheduled for 7:05 tonight. The Yankees were second in the division at 90-67 and the 84-73 Red Sox third.
With Judge unavailable, the Yankees offense will have to be multifaceted — both power and small ball will be required to make a deep postseason run. Designated hitter Ben Rice, who as of Wednesday had 39 home runs and 95 RBIs, both team highs, was the only Yankee with more than 20 homers and 80 runs batted in, so timely power will have to come from sources such as second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (19 home runs), first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (18), and left fielder Cody Bellinger (17).
But it is pitching that must advance the Yankees, led by leading AL Cy Young Award candidate Cam Schlittler, who is 14-6 with a 1.94 ERA and 234 strikeouts. Schlittler is scheduled to start tonight before taking the mound next week in the wildcard series.
But the prevailing question is: Can the Yankees win without Judge?
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System Failures Part 1: In Black neighborhoods, deed theft hides in plain sight
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Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000
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Across New York, officials have admitted to a growing problem, one that has communities increasingly alarmed: deed theft.
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Across New York, officials have admitted to a growing problem, one that has communities increasingly alarmed: deed theft.
It is fraud that has affected older adults, immigrants, and homeowners of color in gentrifying neighborhoods like Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Brownsville, East New York, and Harlem, and has become blatant. Victims report being initially confused and later incensed at the realization that they’ve been harmed –– and no one seems to be doing anything about it.
Deed theft happens when someone illegally takes control of a property without the owner’s knowledge or by tricking the owner into signing over a deed. Activists fighting these incidents also say that forced guardianship, foreclosure rescue scams, and police-backed evictions are other forms of deed theft.
Criminal fraud rings know how to manipulate the official systems homeowners trust to reach their next victims. Predatory investors track court records and property filings to target at-risk homes. Before the property gets auctioned, criminals might contact the homeowners and pretend to help them get a fake loan modification or a short sale and trick them into signing papers that transfer the deed to an investor’s LLC. They then quickly transfer the deed to another shell company to hide the fraud and make selling the property easier for quick profit.
But each stolen deed case amounts to a raid on Black generational wealth, notes Attorney Jacqueline McMickens, who recently helped the family of Harlem’s Queen Mother Delois Blakely with her eviction case at 477 West 142nd Street. McMickens says the term “deed theft” doesn’t fully capture the economic harm caused by these cases. “This shouldn’t be continuously looked at as deed theft,” McMickens said. “This is really equity theft.”
At 212 Jefferson Avenue, friends gathered in early April 2026 to support Carmella Charrington in her fight against an alleged illegal eviction attempt by a developer. (Karen Juanita Carrillo photo)
In the Blakely case, seven low-income residents came together to form the 477 West 142nd Street Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) through New York City’s Tenant Interim Lease program. Blakely recently told the AmNews the building had been a safe space, created during Harlem’s roughest years. “No one wanted to live there. It was a blight to Harlem where I live,” she said, remembering the 1970s. “Some of us wanted to deal with that and serve our people. And I happened to be one of them.”
The city officially sold the cooperative the property on Dec. 7, 1982; each family acquired shares in the building for $250 per apartment. But because the shareholders took out a $650,000 mortgage on the property in 2009 and didn’t repay it, they lost the property. They are now being offered leases to remain in their individual units but won’t have access to the property’s equity to pass on to their families.
An insidious way to steal
Stolen property may immediately mean the loss of a shelter for a family, but it also ultimately means the loss of equity, or financial value, for generations to come.
The New York City Sheriff’s Office said it received nearly 3,500 deed theft complaints from 2014 to 2023, mostly in Black neighborhoods where property values are rising. Notable recent cases include a mortgage fraud scheme that took the Harlem property at 267 West 131st Street from the family of Okryun Marrero after she died in 2018.
On April 18, 2024, a woman named Angela Jazmin Ramos Malpica allegedly posed as a Marrero heir and used fake IDs and birth certificates to forge the signatures and details of Marrero’s real heirs and “sell” the property to a straw buyer, Yuan Kuei Li, for $950,000. The same day, Li allegedly transferred the contract to Abdur Rahman and his company, Great Neck Acquisitions Inc., for $1,515,000. On April 25, 2024, Great Neck Acquisitions recorded a fraudulent title with the city and used the house as collateral to secure a $1,636,000 mortgage and construction loan.
“Ramos subsequently cashed three checks totaling $254,875.03, which were funds obtained from the mortgage and construction loan,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced when his office indicted Ramos, Rahman and Li for deed theft in October 2025. “Rahman allegedly received $487,375 from the construction loan into a GNA bank account, which he controlled. Rahman also sent approximately $265,000 of the fraudulently obtained loan proceeds to a corporate bank account for MSK Construction Team Inc., a construction company controlled by Li. Li, through MSK, allegedly used portions of that money to pay for ongoing construction on the alleged stolen property, for which Li was serving as the contractor.”