Herb Pinder, WNYC Studios Journalist Profile

Articles

Evidence of rats, roaches shut Jacob's Pickles on Upper West Side for days

3 weeks ago | gothamist.com | Arun Venugopal |Herb Pinder

Jacob’s Pickles, a staple of the Upper West Side dining scene, temporarily shut down this week after the Department of Health found a series of health code violations. The violations, posted on the department’s website, include “evidence of rats” and roaches in the restaurant. The establishment at 509 Amsterdam Ave., one of several Jacob’s Pickles locations around the city, is scheduled to open Monday, according to a statement from management.
2 LI volunteer fire departments settle discrimination claims over Confederate flags

Mar 18, 2025 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

Two volunteer fire departments on Long Island have agreed to stop displaying Confederate flags and symbols on their property, undergo state human rights law training and pay fines to settle claims they engaged in unlawful, discriminatory conduct, New York officials announced.
Brooklyn man charged in pair of subway knife attacks

Jan 5, 2025 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

A Brooklyn man was charged Sunday in connection with a pair of stabbings in the city, both following arguments in the subway. Jamar Banks, 52, is accused of stabbing a passenger in the back on a northbound 2 train early New Year’s Day, at the 14th Street and Seventh Avenue station, the NYPD said. The next morning, he allegedly stabbed an MTA worker in the back and armpit, on the northbound 5 train platform at the Pelham Parkway station, officials said.
NYC immigrants due to share nearly $93M to settle unlawful detention claims

Dec 20, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder |Arya Sundaram

New York City has agreed to pay up to $92.5 million to settle claims it unlawfully detained more than 20,000 undocumented immigrants beyond their scheduled release from city jails, some for weeks at a time, to allow federal immigration enforcement officers to take the immigrants into custody and put them into deportation proceedings. The money will go to a class of immigrants detained by the Department of Correction between April 1, 1997 and Dec.
Gov. Hochul has ‘very productive’ call with President-elect Trump, pitches policies

Nov 9, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she congratulated President-elect Donald Trump on his re-election, pitched her federal priorities for New York, and signaled she was ready to move on from Democrats’ election losses. “We had a fairly lengthy call. It was very productive,” Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters in San Juan, site of the post-election Somos Puerto Rico policy conference. The phone call came Thursday, Hochul said, following Trump’s rout of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat.
A Rikers Island detainee’s 2023 death by suicide set to get new scrutiny

Oct 14, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

The death of Curtis Davis by suicide in a Rikers Island jail cell in July 2023 prompted a quick flurry of inquiries and recommendations, including calls for bolstered suicide prevention training for Department of Correction staff and more accurate record-keeping. But that won’t be the final word.
Man who forged lease and utility bills pleads guilty in Queens squatting case

Sep 29, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

The first sign that things were amiss at a home on Lakewood Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, came when a real estate broker listing the vacant property couldn’t enter with a furnished key. The locks had been changed on the front door leading to a studio unit. And on a follow-up visit days later, on March 4, the broker learned the locks had been changed to a front door leading to an upstairs unit. Another discovery was made on that visit: A stranger had moved in.
While MayorAdams projected calm, indictment describes panic, cover-up after federal raid last year

Sep 27, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

The indictment of Mayor Eric Adams unsealed Thursday offers new details about what transpired behind the scenes in early November 2023, when the federal government’s investigation first came into view. Adams had flown to Washington, D.C., the morning of Nov. 2, to discuss the migrants “issue” he claimed would “destroy” the city. But he cut the trip short after news broke that the FBI had raided the homes of his chief fundraiser, international affairs liaison and others.
A new portrait of NYC street vendors emerges amid enforcement spike

Sep 25, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

A lot is unknown about the street vendors of New York City, the food sellers and goods merchants alike. Although many vendors conduct their business openly, they strive to fly under the radar of a vast bureaucracy arrayed to upset their fruit carts, uproot them from sidewalks and otherwise reduce their numbers.
Former Rikers correction officer won’t face charges in detainee’s 2022 death

Sep 23, 2024 | gothamist.com | Herb Pinder

A former Rikers Island correction officer won’t face charges in the 2022 death of an incarcerated person, even though the guard’s failure to render aid to the ailing man violated New York City Department of Correction policy and contributed to his death, the state attorney general’s office said.