Michele Evans

Independent Journalism & Public-Interest Reporting – by Michele Evans

Courts. Due Process. Media Accountability. Public Safety. New York Civic Life

Michele Evans covers New York City courts, criminal-justice procedure, NYPD, FDNY, domestic-violence systems, media accountability, public-interest issues, and advocacy efforts through courthouse observation, public records, legal analysis, and lived-experience reporting.

Evans is an author, independent journalist, and former ESPN technical producer whose work has appeared in The New York Times.

Last updated July 8, 2026

Recent Public-Interest Reporting 

• ⚖️ Justice finally paid.off.  Judge orders release of millions Donald Trump owes E. Jean Carroll – Affter years of appeals, delay, and denial – this is what accountability looks like when a verdict finally moves from paper to consequences.
• 🎆 Illegal fireworks reportedly hit a Bushwick high-rise, – Sending residents fleeing and raising new questions about enforcement, building safety, and holiday risk.
• 🚨 New York’s latest prison review – Raises hard questions about force, concealment, staffing, and who gets protected when violence happens behind the walls.
• 🏠 NYC’s housing fight is bigger than rent – Tenants need repairs, safety, enforcement, and clear rules before public money changes who controls distressed buildings.
• 🚨🏙️ Midtown safety scare in NYC – A 42nd Street building was evacuated after interior columns buckled and multiple floors began sagging. Construction workers were safely evacuated
• ☎️ A hotline is supposed to answer when danger finally has a safe minute to speak – New York’s domestic-violence lifeline just failed a public accountability test.
• 💢🇺🇸 When the mob threw the Fourth of July party in Queens 🇺🇸💢.- Burgers, fireworks, Ozone Park, the Bergin Club, and the Dapper Don waving to the crowd. Only in New York. 🗽🔥
• 🚨 No privacy at Rikers is not an inconvenience – It is humiliation. It is danger. It is abuse.  Open dorms. Communal showers. Bathroom stalls with no doors. Women forced to manage their menstrual cycles in public view.
• 🎤🏝️ Rikers Island has entered the chat – Hip-hop said it. New York lived it. And yes, I was there too. From Nas to Mobb Deep to Wu-Tang, Rikers has been haunting the city’s music and memory for decades.
• 🚧✨ Swifties, street closures, and NYPD in full Midtown mode. – Madison Square Garden turned into a New York traffic puzzle as fans gathered, streets closed, and commuters tried to keep moving.
• 🚨 A viral Empire State Building stunt is now a public-safety story. In New York, private spectacle becomes public risk the second emergency response is pulled in.
• 🔥 NYC is under a heat emergency – As July Fourth crowds, power strain, and cooling-center access collide. Who gets relief first matters.
• A House of Worship Should Not Become a Gauntlet – No one should have to walk through fear, intimidation, or obstruction just to enter a sacred space. New York must protect the right to worship while making sure houses of worship do not become pressure points for harassment, hostility, or political theater.
• Secret Facial Recognition Cannot Be the New Anonymous Witness – When police use hidden facial-recognition technology to point the finger, the accused must have the right to question how it worked, what it found
• The City Says Rikers Is Closing. The Budget Says New York Is Still Paying to Keep It Alive – New York City just reached a budget deal, but buried in the numbers is the contradiction: millions more to patch Rikers while the closure timeline keeps slipping.
• Rikers Is Closing an Infirmary. The Real Story Is Why New York Was Still Using It? – New York City is celebrating the closure of North Infirmary Command. But the harder question is how long medically vulnerable people were housed in a facility the city is now finally shutting down.
• Captivity Inside Captivity – Luigi Mangione’s elevator delay was more than a delay. Twenty minutes trapped in a courthouse elevator while in federal custody raises a deeper question: when the system controls a defendant’s body, who accounts for what that confinement does to the person inside?
• E. Jean Carroll Wins Again as Supreme Court Leaves Trump’s $5 Million Verdict in Place  -The Supreme Court refused to take Donald Trump’s appeal, leaving E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million civil verdict for sexual abuse and defamation stan ding. After years of delay, denial, and attacks, the judgment remains.
• Pride Was Built After a Police Raid. That Is Why This NYPD Fight Still Cuts Deep – Pride began as resistance after a police raid. Decades later, New York is still debating who gets to define safety, visibility, and power at the march.
• My case took 1,126 days to resolve – That is not an administrative backlog. That is a human rights failure.  After testifying before New York City Council, I submitted supplemental testimony on Rikers, discovery delays, EDDS confusion, vendor excuses, denied ATI access, and what reform looks like when it fails in real life.
• A $2.95 Fare Should Not Become a Half-Million-Dollar Jail Stay – New York City cannot keep using Rikers Island as the answer to poverty, homelessness, subway enforcement, and court delay. If the city can spend more than $500,000 a year to jail one person, it can invest in housing, treatment, supervised release, and real public safety before the cage.
• Harvey Weinstein Rape Charge Dropped After Accuser Says She Cannot Endure Another Trial – Harvey Weinstein’s remaining New York rape charge was dropped after Jessica Mann said she could not endure another trial. But the decision raises a harder question about when NYC respects a survivor’s limit and when prosecutors push forward anyway.
• Nothing Says True Love Like an NYPD Street Closure Outside MSG – Rumored Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding near Madison Square Garden is one thing. But in New York City, the real headline starts when the street closure permits, NYPD barricades, and Midtown traffic chaos enter the chat. 💗🚧🗽
• City Council Hearing on Court Delays Exposes the Human Cost of a System Moving Too Slowly – City Council hearing on court delays exposed treatment gaps, discovery failures, agency no-shows, and the shocking human cost of keeping people trapped on Rikers pretrial.
• 🚨 FEDERAL HEAT HITS ADAMS WORLD – Frank Carone’s federal arrest and same-day FBI/NYPD raids put Adams-era power, migrant shelter money, and police corruption under one hard public-interest spotlight.
• 🚨 A former CEO tied to a City-funded homeless-services nonprofit got six months in prison after a fraud scheme – DOI says involved more than $50 million in public money. New York says there is never enough money for housing, shelters, mental health, or jail alternatives. 
• 🗽 When MOME asked for “more context,” Michele Evans answered –  Domestic violence history, DVSJA procedure, Dutch colonial ancestry, Breuckelen, New Orange, Mormon exile, Isaac Morley, and one very overwhelmed bureaucracy.
•  🚨 NYPD Officer Rejects Plea Deal After Gun and Harassment Allegations at 1 Police Plaza – NYPD officer accused of pointing a loaded gun at a civilian subordinate inside 1 Police Plaza rejected a no-jail plea deal in Manhattan Supreme Court. Now the gun, harassment, retaliation, and workplace power allegations move forward into the light. 👀
• 🗳️ People detained on Rikers are still New Yorkers, and many are still legally eligible to vote. This piece breaks down why voting access inside city jails is not a side issue — it is democracy at its most urgent. From pretrial detention to DA elections, the ballot still matters behind the walls. Let them vote. 🗽
• New York’s Top Court Says Prosecutors Cannot Force Survivors to Waive DVSJA Hearings  –  New York’s highest court has ruled that prosecutors cannot force domestic violence survivors to waive DVSJA hearings as part of plea deals.  Nicole Hudson’s case exposed what criminalized survivors already knew: the right to be heard should never be treated like a bargaining chip.
• City Council to Examine How Court Delays Keep New Yorkers on Rikers – NYC Council will examine how court delays, missed productions, and slow case processing may be keeping New Yorkers detained on Rikers before trial.
• 💖 When a Heart Breaks Open – When heartbreak hits a family, the pain does not belong to one person. It ripples through everyone who loved, believed, hoped, and stood beside the story.
• Gilgo Beach Families Finally Face Killer as Rex Heuermann Receives Life Without Parole – The sentence closes the criminal case, but the day belonged to the eight women whose lives were stolen and the families who refused to let them be forgotten.
• Mangione Defense Abruptly Withdraws EED Strategy One Day After Courtroom Reveal – Mangione’s defense team abruptly withdrew its EED psychiatric-defense notice one day after the strategy surfaced in court, raising new questions about sealed records, trial tactics, and the state-federal collision ahead.
• Knicks Forever: Two Million Parade Fans, Closed Gates, Fulton Street Lock-In, and the Most New York Escape Mission Imaginable – Orange shirt, Orange shades. Orange energy. Reporting from the streets while New York City celebrates championship victory parade – loud, messy, and undefeated.
• A Central Park Carriage Ride Turned Fatal. New York Can’t Keep Calling This Nostalgia  – After 18-year-old tourist Romanch Mahajan died following a Central Park carriage horse crash, New York City’s horse carriage debate is no longer just about nostalgia or animal welfare. It is a public safety issue.
• Mangione’s Extreme Emotional Disturbance Defense Is Not Insanity. It Is a Fight Over Murder vs. Manslaughter – Luigi’s defense team is turning to New York’s Extreme Emotional Disturbance law, a strategy that does not claim insanity, but could reduce murder to manslaughter if jurors accept it.
• The Mangione Hearing Wasn’t Stunning. It Was the Rikers Pipeline With Cameras – Reporters called the Luigi Mangione hearing  stunning. It was not. What happened in court Wednesday was business as usual for a case with these charges.
• Rikers Detainees Earn Degrees as Mamdani Speaks at Graduation – Young detainees earned degrees at Rikers as Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke at graduation, highlighting the education, vocational, arts, and reentry programming New York should be protecting instead of cutting.
• Luigi Mangione Hearing Postponed After Paperwork Error Leaves Defendant Missing From Court – Luigi Mangione did not appear in Manhattan Supreme Court after prosecutors failed to arrange his transport from federal custody, turning a high-profile hearing into another courthouse spectacle.
• Knicks Bring a Championship Back to New York, Then the City Explodes in Joy and Chaos – New York City finally got its championship moment. The Knicks brought the title home, fans flooded the streets, and celebration turned into a night of joy, chaos, arrests, damaged buses, and questions about crowd control after the city exploded in orange and blue.
• Spurs Try to Lock Knicks Fans Out of a Clincher, Because Apparently Home-Court Advantage Now Comes With a Billing Address – Spurs tried to keep Knicks fans out of a possible NBA Finals clincher with a 150-mile ticket restriction. New York showed up anyway..
• When Knicks Celebration Turns Dangerous, The City Has To Ask Harder Questions – A 17-year-old was briefly in a coma after a post game assault near Madison Square Garden, turning Knicks celebration into a serious public-safety warning for New York City.
• Rikers Captain Accused Of Turning Schedules Into A Shakedown – A Rikers Island captain has been indicted in an alleged extortion and wage fraud scheme involving overtime, work schedules, luxury goods, and personal errands.
• Sharpe Calls Knicks Fans Hooligans 🗽🏀 –  Shannon Sharpe called Knicks fans “hooligans,” and New York heard him loud and clear. From MSG watch parties to old-school fan pride, this one asks what a “hooligan” really is, who gets labeled that way?
• Running the Newsroom From a  Spa – The newsroom needed a pedicure. After weeks of migraines, a scary post-MSG health scare, and a nonstop launch sprint, I finally took my daughter’s advice: put down the screen, decompress, and curse Dolan from afar. Bonus: the Knicks won. 💅🏀
• Dolan Cancels Knicks Game 4 Watch Party After City Caps MSG Crowd At 999 Fans – James Dolan abruptly canceled the Game 4 watch party outside MSG after the city capped the event at 999 fans. No screens. No registration. No party. Just New York City chaos outside the Garden.
• Former NYPD Officer Pleads Guilty After Sex With Woman Hours After Arrest, Lewd Texts to Victims  – Former NYPD Officer Matthew Lambert pleaded guilty after prosecutors said he had sex with a woman just hours after arresting her and sent inappropriate messages to two crime victims whose cases he was investigating. The case puts a spotlight on power, access, and police accountability in New York City
• City Wants To Close Rikers. First It Has To Stop Dropping Stuff On Brooklyn – New York City says it wants to close Rikers, but Brooklyn residents are still dealing with the reality of what gets dropped into their neighborhoods first.
• City Council Is Finally Looking at the Court Delays Keeping Rikers Full –  New York City leaders are finally looking at the court delays helping keep Rikers full, but the real question is whether hearings will turn into action.
• Knicks Game 4 Watch Party Is Back Outside MSG, But This Time New York Wants a Ticket Scanner –  Knicks fans get their Game 4 watch party outside MSG, but this time New York City is adding tickets, screening, and crowd control after Game 3 chaos.
• A Technicality Should Not Decide Whether Prison Sexual-Abuse Survivors Get Heard – New York says it supports survivors, but prison sexual-abuse claims are now being challenged over technical filing rules. Survivors like “Lola Lockbox” say Albany should stop using paperwork to shut the courthouse door.
• 🏀Knicks Fall to Spurs in Game 3, But Knicks Spirit Was Running High –  Knicks lost Game 3, but New York did not lose its mind, its volume, or its sense of theater.  From a bus driver in a Knicks jersey to MSG security, subway music, missing photos, and classic NYC crowd chaos, Game 3 turned into a full field-reporting adventure. 
• Knicks fans were told to arrive early, skip the bags, and maybe head toward Bryant Park –  which is funny, because some visitors may have been there first. 👻🏀 A little NBA Finals chaos, a little Midtown security theater, and a little New York ghost history.
• 🚨 KNICKS FINALS NIGHT IN NYC: WATCH PARTY WHIPLASH 🚨 – With Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, huge crowds expected, prior arrests around fan celebrations, and President Trump reportedly attending, New Yorkers deserve more than last-minute confusion.
• 🏀 Even Rikers was watching the Knicks – Nearly 2,000 incarcerated New Yorkers reportedly joined watch parties across 44 housing units — a reminder that basketball can cut through walls, cages, and everything this city tries to forget.
• ❤️‍🩹 Love Time Can’t Erase – A DOC call log gave me back more than numbers. It showed 5,495 calls from Rikers, $523 in jail phone costs before calls became free, and a love story built through monitored lines, missed calls, late nights, and one familiar voice that kept reaching me through the walls.
• A Mormon Squatter Story, a Manhattan Lawsuit, and the Strangest Full-Circle Pioneer Moment in New York – Bizarre LDS Church lawsuit over an alleged NYC chapel squatter becomes something stranger: a full-circle Mormon story stretching from Joseph Smith, the Knight family, and upstate New York to a modern Manhattan court fight over refuge, property, and who gets told to leave.
• Former NYPD Detective Sentenced to Four Years in COVID Relief Fraud Scheme – When the Help Line Becomes the Hustle.  Former NYPD Detective John Bolden was sentenced to four years in federal prison after prosecutors said he helped more than 65 people obtain fraudulent COVID-era PPP loans. The case raises a larger accountability question about public trust, emergency relief, and who gets protected when systems are abused.
• Mystery Sealed Hearing in the Luigi Mangione Case Is Exactly Why New York Courts Need More Sunlight – A sealed mystery hearing in the Luigi Mangione case puts Justice Gregory Carro back at the center of a high-stakes courtroom story, raising urgent questions about secrecy, judicial power, and what the public is not being allowed to see.
• When PREA Becomes a Weapon on Rikers Island – On Rikers Island, a PREA report can protect someone, or it can be weaponized to threaten, retaliate, separate people, and make names dangerous inside the dorm. This article exposes how a system created for safety can become another source of harm when confidentiality, oversight, and accountability fail.
• Rikers Is Still Open. The City Is Still Cutting. And People Inside Are Still Paying the Price.- New York City keeps promising to close Rikers, but people are still inside, still at risk, and still paying the price while the City Council debates DOC budget cuts.
• The Rikers Survival Cup: How One Green Mug Became Everything Inside – The green Rikers cup was not just a cup. Inside, it became a coffee mug, noodle bowl, commissary dish, survival tool, status symbol, and one of the most guarded objects in the dorm.
• Another Rikers Officer Pleads Guilty, and the Pattern Is the Story – A second correction officer admitted to false workers’ compensation claims tied to use-of-force incidents at Rikers Island. New Yorkers should be furious.
• When the Badge Becomes the Threat: NYPD Harassment Lawsuit Raises a Public-Trust Question – A new lawsuit alleges an NYPD officer pulled a gun on a female colleague after repeated sexual harassment, raising serious questions about workplace safety, accountability, and public trust inside the department.
• New York’s Parole Reform Fight Is Personal for People Who Have Lived Under Supervision – New York parole reform is moving forward in Albany. As someone recently released from parole supervision, Michele Evans explains why Fair & Timely Parole and Elder Parole are public-safety, reentry, and human dignity issues.
• When Domestic Violence Victims Go Silent, New York Must Listen Harder – When domestic violence victims go silent, it is not always refusal. Sometimes silence is survival. A closer look at why Bronx abuse cases are being dropped, and what New York must hear before another woman becomes a statistic.
• FDNY Firefighter Arrested After Alleged Unprovoked Attack on NYPD Officer at Queens Hospital – FDNY firefighter charged with felony assault after allegedly punching an NYPD officer inside Queens Hospital Center.
• SUNY Educational Justice Fellowship SUNY offers $14,000 opportunity for Formerly Incarcerated and Directly Impacted Students.  Applications are due June 5.
• Four Men Were Killed While Sleeping Outside. I Remember Why This Story Hit So Hard – The Chinatown murders were not just a crime story. They were a reminder of how exposed a person becomes when the street is their bedroom.
• While Everyone Watched Mangione, Another Carro Murder Trial Exposed the Machinery of 100 Centre Street – Justice Gregory Carro’s courtroom is now tied to Mangione, the SoHo Crypto Torture case, Isaac Argro’s murder conviction, and my own lived experience before the same judge.
• When the Badge Turns Rat: Mamdani’s Sheriff Shakeup and the Blue Wall Problem – Mamdani’s reported move to replace Anthony Miranda with NYPD whistleblower Edwin Raymond raises bigger questions about policing culture, retaliation, public trust, and why insiders who expose misconduct matter.
• 🚨Two Months From 18. Five Years Of Control? – Dr. Pamela Buchbinder’s case was turned into true-crime spectacle. But I was a witness, and I know the woman behind the headlines. Now, with her son just two months from turning 18, a five-year protective order request raises a disturbing question: is this protection, or a last-ditch attempt to maintain control?
• Another High-Profile Judge Carro Case: Crypto Defendant Accused in SoHo Torture Plot Set for Bond After Year at Rikers   –  A high-profile crypto kidnapping and torture case before Justice Gregory Carro raises new questions about bail, Rikers, pretrial detention, wealth, and judicial discretion in New York criminal courts.
• Rikers Murals Come to Weeksville: Art, Memory, and the Lives We Refuse to Leave Behind – Murals created with young people at Rikers Island are coming to Weeksville Heritage Center, turning art, memory, incarceration, and healing into a powerful public record.
• When Pain Has to Ask Permission: What a Migraine Feels Like Inside Rikers – A migraine becomes a window into Rikers, where even basic relief can mean fluorescent lights, crowded dorms, cold benches, hours of waiting, and ibuprofen as the only answer.
• The Trump-Epstein Reading Room Turns 3.5 Million Pages Into a Public Reckoning – A Tribeca pop-up exhibit has turned roughly 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records into a physical monument to secrecy, survivor accountability, and unfinished justice. The “Trump-Epstein” reading room is drawing attention online, but the deeper question is whether the public will get real transparency or just another round of spectacle.
• Trump’s Win Over Letitia James Shows Why Americans Are Suspicious of Lawfare – A New York appeals court threw out the massive civil fraud penalty against President Trump, handing him a major win in his fight with Letitia James. The ruling does not erase every part of the case, but it sharpens the larger debate over lawfare, political prosecution, and whether punishment crossed the line from accountability into destruction.
• Question for Knicks fans: Did the NYPD overreact outside Madison Square Garden, or was this the only realistic way to keep the streets under control after the Knicks win?  – A historic Knicks win sent fans into the streets outside Madison Square Garden, but the celebration quickly became a crowd-control test for New York City, after arrests, barricades, and NYPD warnings.
• Knicks Joy Is Taking Over New York. The City Needs a Better Plan Than Shutting the Party Down –  The Knicks are going to the NBA Finals, and New York is celebrating. But the chaos around MSG shows a bigger problem: the city cannot just shut down watch parties and pretend fans will disappear. Championship joy needs a public-safety plan, not just barricades.
• Staten Island Shipyard Explosion Shows the Hidden Risk Behind New York’s Industrial Waterfront – A deadly explosion at a Staten Island shipyard has left one civilian worker dead, dozens of first responders injured, and a city waiting for answers.
• New York’s Assault Problem Is the Warning Sign Behind the Safer-City Headlines – Murders and shootings are down, but felony assaults remain stubbornly high. The question is not whether New York looks safer on paper. The question is who is still getting hurt.
• Knicks Fever Meets Crowd Control: NYPD Shuts Down MSG Watch Parties Outside the Garden – NYPD has now blocked outdoor MSG watch parties after crowds outside Madison Square Garden reportedly grew unruly.
• When the Uniform Throws the Sign: NYPD Officers, Gang Symbolism, and the Collapse of Public Trust – Two NYPD officers are under internal review after a viral photo allegedly showed them flashing gang signs.
• The Knicks Are Winning. Madison Square Garden Is Still Fighting Its Old Court Wars – As the New York Knicks surge through the playoffs, Michele Evans examines the legal and cultural shadow around Madison Square Garden lawsuits.
• From Mr. Big Shot to Brooklyn Federal Court: Why the Chauncey Billups Gambling Case Matters Beyond Basketball – Michele Evans previews the federal Operation Royal Flush case involving Chauncey Billups, alleged rigged poker games, NBA fame, organized crime, and the growing collision between professional sports and gambling culture.
• New York Should Not Need Another Courtroom Birth to Stop Shackling Pregnant Women – A recent courtroom birth in New York has renewed urgent calls to pass anti-shackling protections and the CARE Act, which would expand medical care and human-rights safeguards for pregnant people in custody.
• City Hall Rally Will Honor New Yorkers Who Died in Custody as Advocates Demand Action on NYC Jails – Advocates will rally at City Hall on May 26 to honor New Yorkers who died in custody, including Rajpattie Ramkellawan, and demand urgent action to stop deaths inside NYC jails.
• When the Gatekeeper Becomes the Smuggler: A Rikers Officer, Drug-Soaked Papers, and the Corruption Inside the Walls – A Rikers correction officer is accused of taking bribes to smuggle drug-soaked papers into the jail – a case that raises larger questions about corruption, contraband, and who truly controls danger inside the walls of Rikers Island.
• The Courthouse Is Crumbling – and So Is New York’s Promise of Justice – An overcrowded, unsanitary courthouse exposes the hidden human cost of New York’s crumbling justice infrastructure. Decay, neglect, and danger inside the buildings where the city claims justice is served.
• Trapped in the Belly of the Beast: How a Manhattan Court Elevator Broke an Inmate – and Why the City Paid For It – A harrowing first person account of a courthouse elevator failure at 100 Centre Street, the injury and humiliation that followed, and the medical proof forcing New York City to pay.
• The Bed After the Cell – A raw personal essay by Michele Evans on love, trauma, numbness, and the quiet aftermath of surviving the system.
• The Counselor Inside Rikers Rehab Dorm – A firsthand account of recovery inside Rikers “A Road Not Taken” program dorm, where counselor Virginia Shepherd led groups, AA meetings, workbooks, and moments of humanity inside a jail never built to heal anyone.
• I Saw For Venida, For Kalief at Tribeca. Deion Browder’s Words Are Still With Me – A personal reflection on seeing For Venida, For Kalief at Tribeca, meeting Deion Browder, and how Venida Browder’s poetry, Kalief’s story, and Rikers’ legacy continue to demand public memory and accountability.
• Dana Kaplan Has One Job: Close Rikers and Do It Right – Dana Kaplan’s appointment as Rikers closure czar is a defining test of whether New York City can close the jail complex without turning reform into another broken promise. This article examines the urgency, the politics, and the human stakes of closing Rikers the right way.
• I Testified to the New York City Council About Rikers. The Record Is Still There – In 2021, Michele Evans testified before the New York City Council about the reality inside Rikers Island. Years later, the public record still preserves what officials were told, what survivors endured, and what the city can no longer claim it did not know.
• A Woman Gave Birth in a Brooklyn Courtroom. That Should Shame the Entire System – After a pregnant woman gave birth in Brooklyn Criminal Court, Michele Evans examines how New York’s jail and court systems treat pregnant detainees, the rarely used Rikers mother-baby nursery, and the gap between reform programs on paper and human dignity in practice.
• Closing Rikers Should Not Become Another Real Estate Gold Rush – Rikers Island should close, but New Yorkers deserve transparency about who benefits when 413 acres of valuable public land are finally freed. The city must not allow decades of human suffering to become the moral cover for another real estate or infrastructure windfall.
• Eric Adams Should Not Get a Pass Because He Helped Trump – A government watchdog is urging Manhattan prosecutors to investigate the dismissed Eric Adams corruption allegations. The federal case may be over, but New York still has an independent interest in whether public office, campaign finance laws, and public trust were compromised.
• Securus Should Not Get a New Rikers Contract to Turn Family Calls Into AI Surveillance – New York City already ended the predatory practice of charging Rikers detainees and families for phone calls. It should not now allow Securus to turn those same family connections into AI surveillance, voice monitoring, and another private profit stream.
• Press Credentials Are for Reporting, Not Murder Fandom –  A city-issued press pass should support public interest reporting, not courthouse spectacle or murder fandom. New York can protect independent journalism while refusing to credential people who appear to celebrate violence instead of reporting the news.
• Judge Carro Was My Judge Too. That Is Why I Am Watching the Mangione Trial Closely – Judge Gregory Carro was my judge too, and that experience shapes how I see the power dynamics inside a criminal courtroom. As Luigi Mangione’s case moves forward, I will be watching not only the evidence and rulings, but how the courtroom itself handles pressure, procedure, and the person standing before it.
• Hochul Should Sign the SAFE Shelter Act Now. Survivors Should Not Be Harmed Because They Need Shelter Alone. – The SAFE Shelter Act would help single adult survivors access emergency domestic violence shelter without being blocked by reimbursement rules built around family size.
• The Take It Down Act Is Now in Force. Survivors Need More Than a Button. – The Take It Down Act gives survivors of nonconsensual intimate-image abuse and AI-generated sexual deepfakes a faster path to demand removal from online platforms. 
• Two More People Died on Rikers. The Investigation Must Start Before the Moment They Were Found Unresponsive. – Two people died on Rikers Island within roughly 24 hours, raising urgent questions about medical care and oversight inside New York City jails.
• Another Woman Dies at Rikers. I Was There When Layleen Polanco Died. How Many Times Must This Pattern Repeat? – A heartbreaking report on the death of Rajpattie Ramkellawan at Rikers Island, and why it echoes the 2019 death of Layleen Polanco.
• Judge Carro’s Mangione Ruling Shows Why Courtroom Procedure Matters – Legal analysis of search-and-seizure issues, evidence suppression, and due process in a high-profile New York criminal case.
• Harvey Weinstein’s Mistrial Shows Why #MeToo Still Matters – Public-interest report on courtroom accountability, survivor credibility, and the continuing mission of #MeToo.
• Gladiator School: What 18 Months on Rikers Island Can Do to a Person – Lived-experience report on Rikers Island, institutional trauma, survival, and the human cost of New York City’s criminal-justice system.
• I Said After Day One Trump Was Getting Convicted. The Courtroom Told the Story Before the Verdict Did. – Reflection on attending the first day of Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial, why the courtroom atmosphere immediately signaled conviction, and how lived experience with the New York criminal court system shaped Michele Evans’s early read of the case.

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