Free Republic

The faculty of a Washington Heights high school is rebelling against their principal, charging in a vote of no-confidence that she has “flagrantly but unsuccessfully attempted to divide our school by race.” Paula Lev, principal of the High School for Law and Public Service, is now under investigation by the city Department of Education for allegedly telling a faculty member she “was going to get rid of all these white teachers that aren’t doing anything for the kids of our community,” a complaint states. Lev, a Dominican, also asked the faculty member to “conspire with her” to try to oust...

She calls herself the "Graffiti Grandma," and now a Washington Heights resident is speaking out after she said she was arrested in April for simply writing a message on the side of a boarded-up building — using chalk. Amid ongoing protests and growing concerns regarding policing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NYPD is now facing outcry for a different kind of arrest that landed Jill Nelson behind bars. Nelson, an author, said she was walking down a block in her neighborhood when she passed the business that has green plywood all around it. She pulled out a piece of chalk...

It was a warm June afternoon when Judith Plaskow got the email reminding her of a guest arriving soon. The woman staying at Plaskow's Washington Heights apartment was a stranger who needed to be picked up at the Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan's West Side. She was young — just 19 — and had never been to New York City before. Plaskow guessed she'd be scared. The woman wasn't coming to the big city for thrills or fun. There'd be no Broadway show, no visit to the Empire State building. She was making a 10-hour trip to receive safe,...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Something stinks in upper Manhattan. Residents claim skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights, roaming the streets surrounding Fort Tryon Park and stinking up the neighborhood. “I tell my friends down in midtown or Hells Kitchen that there’s a skunk problem up here and they don’t believe it,” resident Mark Bailey said. “They’re in front of every building…they’re not just in the parks, they’re all over.” [...]

Note: Photo included. Contrite St. John's Univ. student behind alleged massacre threats on Facebook says booze to blame BY KERRY BURKE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, September 17th 2009, 3:34 PM PHOTO CAPTION: "Radames Santiago Jr., 18, a student from St John's, who was arrested for making threats on his Facebook page." SNIPPET: "A St. John's University freshman who posted messages on Facebook threatening to launch a "Virginia Tech attack" at the Queens campus told the Daily News that he was just drunk and never would have caused anyone harm." SNIPPET: "Santiago, who lives in Washington Heights with his mom...

July 25, 2008, 0:00 p.m. In the HeightsA recent musical set in Washington Heights is a rare voice for conservative views. By Monica Mullin Barack Obama is not the only one singing a hopeful tune these days. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights — an exuberant paean to life in a New York City barrio — is overflowing with hope. A hope refreshingly based on essentially conservative values. What a far cry from Paul Simon’s ill-fated 1997 musical The Capeman, the play Ben Brantley of the New York Times once compared to “watching a mortally wounded animal.” Also set...

The day I moved to Washington Heights, a kid stood on the sidewalk and stared at me. It was sweltering that day, and even though it wasn’t the most practical choice for moving day, I wore one of those tank tops with the built-in bras, so I immediately feared the worst: I must have popped out of my top while picking up a box. Why else would an 8-year-old boy stare at me like that? I looked down. I was decent, but he was still staring. Then it became clear: I was the white lady moving into this Dominican kid’s...

A retired city police officer was found dead in his Long Island home on Sunday, apparently slashed to death by a samurai sword, authorities said. The former policeman, Scott Nager, 51, was found dead by his wife, Laura at about 1 p.m., said Officer Al Prim, a spokesman for the Suffolk County police. Nager served on the city police force for 15 years, working as a patrolman in the 34th precinct, which includes Washington Heights and Inwood. He retired in July, 1996 because of a service-related injury, The New York Times reported. Suffolk county police said Laura Nager's son, Zachary...

MICHES, Dominican Republic -- The fragile wooden boat carrying 56 Dominicans hoping to slip into Puerto Rico illegally was only a couple of hours into a two-day voyage when it was ripped apart by the towering waves of the open sea. Terrified migrants tumbled into the water -- screaming, flailing at the swells -- and more than 30 drowned immediately. The survivors clung to the partially submerged boat, praying, crying, begging for life. Over the next two days, Epifania de los Santos recalls, people quietly drifted off in ones and twos, never to reappear. "They began going crazy. They got...