The Wall.St Journal 21Feb2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Friday, February 21, 2020 |A9B

GREATERNEWYORKWATCH

NEW YORK CITY

Some Fines Waived

To Help Businesses

Small businesses in New
York City will get a reprieve
from some fines, as officials
work to help struggling local
shops.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said
Thursday the city would elimi-
nate some fines for first-time
violations and lengthen the pe-
riod for business owners to fix
certain violations, expanding an
existing effort to lessen fees on
small businesses.
Among the violations that
will be forgiven for first-time of-
fenses are failing to clean 18
inches from the curb into the
street, which carries a $
penalty, and excessive noise cre-
ated by an air compressor,
which results in a $560 fine.
Others include a $75 penalty for
supermarkets and bodegas that
don’t clearly display scales for
weighted items. And failing to
post price lists at laundromats
draws a $375 fine.
Inspectors at multiple city
agencies, including the Depart-
ment of Sanitation and the De-
partment of Worker Protection,
would be more lenient in ticket-
ing, officials said. The mayor’s
office will work with the City
Council to review more than 75
violations that could be included.
—Katie Honan

CONNECTICUT

Dulos Friend in Court

In Missing Mom Case

A Connecticut attorney
charged in connection with the
disappearance and presumed
death of a mother of five
pleaded not guilty Thursday to
conspiracy to commit murder.
Kent Mawhinney, 54 years old,
will continue to be held on $
million bond after a brief appear-
ance in Stamford Superior Court.
His attorney didn’t comment
while leaving the courthouse.
Mr. Mawhinney, of South
Windsor, was a friend of and at-
torney in civil matters for Fotis
Dulos, the estranged husband of
the missing woman who had
been charged with her murder.
Jennifer Dulos hasn’t been
seen since May. Fotis Dulos was
charged with murder in January,
even though no body has been

found. He maintained his inno-

cence, and died Jan. 30, two

days after an apparent suicide

attempt at his Farmington home.

Mr. Dulos’s ex-girlfriend, Mi-

chelle Troconis, previously

pleaded not guilty to a murder

conspiracy charge.

—Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

Man Pleads Not Guilty

In Deadly Shooting

A man accused of firing a

gun into the crowded bleachers

at a New Jersey high-school

football game last year, killing a

10-year-old boy, pleaded not

guilty Thursday to murder and

other charges.

Alvin Wyatt, 31, of Atlantic

City, didn’t speak at the hearing.

He is charged with murder,

two counts of attempted murder

and two weapons offenses,

stemming from the Nov. 15

shooting at a playoff game be-

tween home team Pleasantville

and Camden. Among the three

people wounded was Micah Ten-

nant, who died from his injuries.

Ibn Abdullah, 27, who authori-

ties have said was the intended

target and who later was

charged with weapons offenses,

and a 15-year-old boy also were

wounded. Both have recovered.

—Associated Press

New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio has extended the
timeline on a hotly debated
plan to diversify schools in a
swath of Queens.
Mr. de Blasio discussed the
decision at a heated town hall
meeting in Forest Hills Wednes-
day night. The meeting included
new details about diversity ef-
forts in District 28, which en-
compasses an economically and
racially diverse range of com-
munities in the heart of Queens.
The mayor said he is open
to adding new seats at special-
ized high schools, whose ad-
missions policies have been
controversial.
Some parents have feared
District 28 middle schools
might be dezoned, where stu-
dents aren’t assigned to
schools in their neighbor-
hoods. Most middle schools in
District 28 have students who
live nearby enrolled. Some
parents worry that system
might change. The parents’
opposition stalled public work-
shops, which were supposed to
lead to formal recommenda-
tionsinJunefromaworking
group appointed by the city
Department of Education.
Under the new timeline,
parent meetings will be held
at each elementary and middle
school, and the public work-
shops—a total of six—would
begin in March and end in De-
cember. A list of people ap-
pointed to serve on the work-
ing group was released before
Wednesday’s town hall after
months of residents’ com-
plaints that the members’
names had been kept secret.
Many parents in District
28’s northern section, includ-
ing the relatively affluent For-
est Hills, are concerned that if
schools are dezoned, their
children might be sent long
distances to low-performing
schools in the lower-income
southern end, which includes
Jamaica. Commutes between
some neighborhoods can take
an hour by bus.
Supporters of more inte-

grated schools say students

learn better with peers from

different backgrounds. Some

say children in the south should

have access to higher-achieving

schools in the north that offer

more accelerated instruction,

clubs, sports and arts.

The release of the names of

the working group didn’t sat-

isfy some parents upset about

the process, saying it lacked

transparency and that commu-

nity members should have had

more say in creating the group.

“Can we squash the whole

plan, start all over, and make

the working group by the par-

ents and for the parents?”

asked Vijah Ramjattan, presi-

dent of District 28’s Commu-

nity Education Council, a

largely advisory parent body.

Mr. de Blasio said he is

open to adding members to

the working group and no

changes to the district’s en-

rollment policies would hap-

pen without community sup-

port. “Nothing can move in

the end—we don’t want it to

move unless the CEC has

bought into it,” he said.

Separately, Mr. de Blasio

said he is still examining new

options for overhauling admis-

sions for eight specialized high

schools that admit students by

a single test. He has acknowl-

edged his last proposal to

scrap the exam went nowhere

in Albany. He wants to diver-

sify the schools, where stu-

dents are predominantly Asian.

Advocates for Asian-Ameri-

can students have called Mr.

de Blasio’s efforts to scrap the

entrance exam a racist effort

that would cut the numbers of

Asian students at specialized

high schools.

The mayor said he expects

to make announcements about

specialized schools “in the

coming months.”

“There is a real desire out

there for more specialized

school seats,” he said. “You

could do that by adding to exist-

ing schools, you could do that by

adding brand-new specialized

high schools. Both have merit.

I’m very open to doing that.”

BYLEEHAWKINS

Mayor Delays Plan to

Diversify Some Schools

cessing applications from New

Yorkers for Global Entry and

other Trusted Traveler pro-

grams that make it easier for

people to clear customs.

About 80 demonstrators

gathered outside the jail to

protest ICE deportation poli-

cies and to call for the

agency’s abolition. Their

chants were audible during

Mr. Albence’s presentation.

Miriam Axel-Lute, who

came to the demonstration

from Albany, said ICE didn’t

need access to the database

and said the Trusted Traveler

restrictions are an attempt by

the federal government to

“bully New Yorkers about a

law we passed for the safety of

our roads and our neighbors.”

The restrictions on infor-

mation-sharing were signed

into law last summer by Gov.

Andrew Cuomo as part of a

measure that allowed illegal

immigrants to apply for a

driver’s license. Supporters

say the law has helped immi-

grants assimilate into the

state, while opponents—in-

cluding Republican officials—

say it hurts public safety.

Undocumented immigrants

may establish their identity

with documents such as foreign

passports. Authors of the new

law included provisions that

prevent the state’s Department

of Motor Vehicles and county

clerks who issue licenses from

sharing information with fed-

eral immigration authorities,

absent a court order.

Mr. Cuomo said the Trump

administration’s restrictions

on travel programs are politi-

cal, and discussed the issue

with President Trump at the

White House last week. The

Democratic governor said in

Manhattan on Thursday that

ICE wanted full access to the

database to arrest undocu-

mented people and “continue

their political jihad.”

The governor has offered

DHS limited access to the

driver’s license database for

New Yorkers applying for the

travel programs. Mr. Albence

said that compromise wasn’t

acceptable because ICE agents

were running 5,000 queries a

week through New York’s da-

tabase before they lost access

in December.

“I don’t know how you com-

promise on public safety,” Mr.

Albence said. The agency did

“targeted enforcement actions.”

The Trump administration

changed ICE’s deportation pol-

icy, making every immigrant in

the U.S. unlawfully a target for

deportation. The Obama admin-

istration had directed immigra-

tion officials to prioritize immi-

grants convicted of crimes.

—Michelle Hackman

contributed to this article.

TROY, N.Y.—The head of U.S.

Immigration and Customs En-

forcement called on state offi-

cials to reverse restrictions on

sharing driver’s license data

that went into effect last year.

The inability of federal offi-

cers to search New York’s data-

base while processing vehicles

at the border or during investi-

gations into crimes including

human trafficking, is danger-

ous, Acting ICE Director Mat-

thew Albence said Thursday.

“Short of taking our guns

away, I can think of no law

that would be more dangerous

to our officers and our agents,”

Mr. Albence said, flanked by

more than 30 law enforcement

and elected officials during a

news conference at the Rens-

selaer County Jail near Albany.

Mr. Albence’s trip revived

the immigration debate that

has roiled New York since offi-

cials from the Department of

Homeland Security said this

month they would stop pro-

BYJIMMYVIELKIND

ICE Presses for Access to Data

Protesters demonstrated outside the Rensselaer County Jail, where acting ICE Director Matthew Albence held a news conference Thursday.

CINDY SCHULTZ FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

N.Y. restricts driver’s

license information

that can be shared

with federal officials.

GREATER NEW YORK

NY