Queens Daily Eagle

By Jacob Kaye Two new lawsuits allege that the city’s Department of Correction illegally kept Rikers Island detainees indoors without access to outdoor recreation time for weeks on end, wreaking havoc on detainees’ mental and physical health. A pair of class action lawsuits recently filed in federal court claim that the DOC regularly failed to offer detainees outdoor recreation time, despite city rules that mandate that New Yorkers held on Rikers get an hour of outside time per day.

By Ryan Schwach The state is putting up more than $7 million to pay for legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigration court after the Trump administration ended its contract with legal services providers, leaving 1,400 children in New York to represent themselves in deportation cases, officials announced on Wednesday.

By Noah Powelson As federal immigration officers have been spotted with increasing frequency in Queens, local officials on Monday told their constituents to prepare themselves in the event that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempt to arrest them or their neighbors.

By Noah Powelson The city’s public defender strike officially ended last week after the final striking legal aid union reached a tentative agreement over a new contract with their employer, ending a labor struggle that saw over 1,000 union members strike at various points throughout the past month. Bronx Defenders and their Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys – UAW Local 2325 union reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract late Thursday night.

By Ryan Schwach Mayor Zohran Mamdani threw his support behind a Queens legislator's bill that aims to rein in Amazon and other companies’ use of contracted delivery drivers. Mamdani said Monday he would sign the bill, called the Delivery Protection Act, should it come across his desk.

By Jacob Kaye The state Commission on Judicial Conduct last week ordered a Queens Civil Court judge to be removed from the bench, marking the first time the top level of discipline has been doled out by the commission to a judge in the World’s Borough in nearly a decade. Queens Civil Court Judge Joseph Kasper was found to have improperly handled his transition from attorney to judge in 2022 in a number of ways.

By Noah Powelson Three Queens judges were nominated to run for the New York State Supreme Court by the Queens County Democratic Party on Thursday in the upcoming general election. Queens County Criminal Court Supervising Judge Edwin Novillo and Civil Court Judges Oma Phillips and Gail Adams will run for three recently vacated seats on the borough’s bench in November.

A federal appellate court last month ruled that prosecutorial disciplinary proceedings and records should be public. Eagle file photo by Jacob Kaye By Jacob Kaye A federal appeals court recently upheld a lower court ruling that found that New Yorkers have the right to access prosecutorial disciplinary proceedings and records, which are currently shrouded in secrecy.

Democratic nominee for Congress Claire Valdez celebrated an overwhelming victory in her June primary, and is now gearing up to head to federal office. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach By Ryan Schwach Most had expected election night to be a long haul for sophomore Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who was running in a competitive four-way race to succeed a revered New York lawmaker.

Tenants of 41-25 Case St. in Elmhurst continue to report mold infestations, broken fixtures, and holes throughout the building two months after a judge ordered A&E Realty to address the issues. Eagle file photo by Noah Powelson By Noah Powelson Tenants of a building owned by the city’s “worst landlord” say their Elmhurst apartment complex remains in poor condition, nearly two months after a Queens judge ordered the owners to repair it.