Nolberto Jimbo-Niola, 52, died outside in the bitter cold this winter and was found on a Queens park bench with discharge papers from a local hospital. His death was one of more than two dozen from hypothermia so far this year in New York City, as residents faced a weekslong stretch of brutally cold temperatures.
Gwendolyn Westbrook, 71, raided the accounts of the United Council for Human Services while she had near-exclusive financial control over the nonprofit serving homeless and low-income people, according to a statement Monday from the district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege that between 2019 and 2023, Ms. Westbrook engaged in unauthorized self-payments, improper cash withdrawals, and fraudulent reimbursement practices that diverted public funds for personal use.
As of Monday, Feb. 2, Code Blue procedures remain in effect for New York City due to extreme cold temperatures. Public warming facilities with food, as well as warming buses, are in operation in every borough, and listed here. The city is also relaxing homeless shelter intake rules during the weather emergency; find a list of intake and drop-in center locations here. If you see someone outdoors in need of assistance, call 311.
Council will vote on a pair of ordinances - one that would make it illegal to leave a trailer that's not attached to a vehicle on a city street and another that would outlaw the practice of renting out an RV parked on the street. Under the vanlording ordinance, it would be illegal to rent out an RV as a living space, store an RV that you plan to lease on the street or charge someone for a street parking spot.
