TV News LIES

New York City’s Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz is set to leave her post in the Adams administration by early July, she told Gothamist, leaving open a critical role tasked with overseeing the city’s response to its growing housing and homelessness crises.

Mayor Eric Adams appointed Katz — a former city housing official, supportive housing administrator and policy expert — to the role at the beginning of his first-term in January 2022.

The newly created position was a partial response to calls for a deputy mayor to coordinate the various agencies that handle housing, including the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYCHA and the Department of Social Services.

In an exclusive interview, Katz said she did not yet know where she’ll go next, but plans to take the summer off.

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Abortion bans in deeply conservative Nebraska and South Carolina each fell a single vote short of passing in their legislatures amid heated debates among Republicans, yet another sign that abortion is becoming a difficult issue for the GOP.

As the last vote was cast in Nebraska, where abortion is currently banned after 20 weeks of pregnancy, cheers erupted outside the legislative chamber, with opponents of the bill waving signs and chanting, "Whose house? Our house!"

In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Sandy Senn criticized Majority Leader Shane Massey for repeatedly "taking us off a cliff on abortion."

"The only thing that we can do when you all, you men in the chamber, metaphorically keep slapping women by raising abortion again and again and again, is for us to slap you back with our words," she said.

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The Department of Justice on Friday announced charges in a fentanyl-trafficking investigation against more than two dozen members of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, including the four sons of now-imprisoned cartel leader El Chapo, known as "the Chapitos."

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges take aim at "the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world – run by the Sinaloa Cartel, and fueled by Chinese precursor chemical and pharmaceutical companies."

Garland said the charges target suppliers in China who sell fentanyl precursors to the cartel, a Guatemalan-based broker who purchases the chemicals on behalf of the cartel, operators of labs in Mexico where the cartel manufactures fentanyl, a weapons supplier who provides the cartel with firearms smuggled into Mexico from the U.S., leaders of the cartel's security forces, money launderers and the cartel’s leaders.

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Getting swallowed up by the gaping maw of the ground beneath one's feet is the stuff of nightmares. And it is what's happening — again — in the small Texas town of Daisetta.

A huge sinkhole that had appeared to be stable for more than 15 years suddenly began expanding about a week ago, growing by several acres and leaving nearby residents terrified that it will take them and their homes.

Video footage taken by Bluebonnet News on Sunday shows buildings, tank containers and other structures partially submerged in water. Deep cracks in the earth emanate from the dark pool like veins, running beneath empty warehouses and heavy equipment.

Years ago, the original crater made national news after suddenly collapsing on May 8, 2008. Over two days, it grew from a 20-foot hole to a cavity measuring about 900 feet across and 260 feet deep.

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A federal judge temporarily blocked a Tennessee law restricting drag shows on Friday, the day before it was set to go into effect.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker granted a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the law for two weeks, finding that it was “likely both vague and overly-broad.”

The law, signed by Gov. Bill Lee (R) last month, criminalized drag shows that take place in public or where they could be seen by children.

Parker agreed with Friends of George’s, the Memphis-based LGBTQ theater group contesting the law, that “this language could mean just about anywhere.”

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A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after he burned a cross in his front yard to intimidate his Black neighbors, according to the Justice Department.

Axel Cox, 24, was sentenced on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime and violating the Fair Housing Act in December.

According to the Justice Department, Cox burned a cross in his front yard on Dec. 3, 2020, and used "threatening and racially derogatory remarks" toward his Black neighbors.

The 24-year-old built the cross from supplies in his home — as he put together the wooden cross and placed it in his front yard, propping it up so his Black neighbors could see it. He then doused it with motor oil and lit it on fire.

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