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Narratively slows down the news cycle. Each week, we’ll explore a different theme about New York and publish a series of connected stories -- just one a day -- told in the most appropriate medium for each piece. We might feature a longform article with portrait photos on a Monday, followed by an animated documentary on Tuesday, then a photo essay, an audio piece or a short documentary film. Every story gets the space and time it needs to have an impact. We’ll bring you weeks devoted to New York’s waterways, hustlers, sexual subcultures, obscure pastimes and countless other themes. We’ll even get you involved in theme and story selection.

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In New York, the Legislature in 1977 reduced the penalty for possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana to a violation, which carries a maximum fine of $100 for first-time offenders.

But it remains a misdemeanor if the marijuana is in public view or is being smoked in public, and lawmakers and drug-reform advocates have argued that the misdemeanor charge is often unfairly applied to suspects who did not have marijuana in public view until the police stopped them and told them to empty their pockets.

“Now it’s in public view,” Professor Levine said. “If you go by the police reports, all around New York City, there are people standing around with their palms outstretched with a bit of marijuana in them.”

From 2002 to 2011, New York City recorded 400,000 low-level marijuana arrests, according to his analysis. That represented more arrests than under Mr. Bloomberg’s three predecessors put together — a period of 24 years. Most of those arrested have been young black and Hispanic men, and most had no prior criminal convictions.

Cuomo Seeks Cut in Frisk Arrests

445pm ET: Happening as I post this. Watch live video here. More on the New York City protesters' longer-term plans back at Zucotti Park, including a map, at Mother Jones. (via @antderosa)

Update, 715pm ET: I've been following live reports on Twitter from various sources, and the situation in Times Square sounds intense. By various estimates, 15-20,000 demonstrators have occupied the Square. NYPD are out in full force, including the Counter-Terrorism unit (photo below).

At least a dozen (maybe more) officers on horseback, and buses and paddywagons ready for mass arrests. Multiple sources on the scene describe police tactics aimed at, more or less, "kettling" people into a defined zone, surrounding them with nets, officers on horseback, and police with batons.

Here's a video uploaded a while ago that shows protesters near the "Toys-R-Us" at Times Square. And here's another, that gives a sense of the crowd density a couple hours ago. And here is another, showing mounted officers entering the area filled with demonstrators.

And below, via AntDeRosa at Reuters (a good one to follow today):

Occupy Wall Street protesters shout slogans against banks and economic system while they take part in a protest at Times Square in New York October 15, 2011 REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

There are various reports floating around on Twitter now that NYPD has been "authorized to use tear gas" against protesters. Some on the scene are tweeting that NYPD is ordering crowds: "Leave now and you won't get hurt."

The situation sounds volatile, and like a very large number of people (including families with children, and disabled persons who have limited mobility) are packed into an ever-shrinking space. I hope this does not end badly.

Peter Rothberg of The Nation tweets:

According to multiple sources, all #OWS protesters in Times Square now face arrest if they don't immediately proceed out of the area.

Photo: Above, Molly Knefel. Below, Mumbai Chopra.

Some sources for live coverage tonight: Live blog at NY Daily News. @antderosa, @newyorkist, @owsbot, @joepauca, @jeffrae, @occupywallst.

Update, 8pm ET: Reports of arrests beginning, from multiple sources in Times Square. Joe Pauca: "NYPD paddywagon truck just pulled up. One person has been arrested. Now two. Both placed in truck. More getting arrested. Everyone is yelling to let them go. More NYPD paddy wagons arriving on the scene... jeffrae: Some people at 46th St seem penned in. I can't see but 3 wagons have been brought in. People chanting, 'Let them go.'"

Reuters has a live video stream here. The police are ordering the crowd to step back. The crowd chants back, defiantly, "YOU STEP BACK."

Update, 8:23pm ET: NY Daily News reports that 71 (and counting) have been arrested. Similar reports from eyewitnesses on-site.

From @somebadideas, in NYC: " Arrests, definite, NY police scanner says 2 NYPD are being transported by EMS for injuries (no details)."

From @mmflint, who is on-site: "Arrests have begun. (I mean, of peaceful citizens. Still no banker or CEO in jail.) Now we're watching people being dragged away."

And from @theother99: "Situation remains v. tense. No further arrests. NYPD presence grows. 150+ uniformed officers on site, some riot police in helmets. NYPD riot police now approaching from back side on 46th St.... at least 15+ NYPD Riot Police approach from east side of 46th St. Crowd being cleared to sidewalks."

Boing Boing reader Timothy Krause says, "Here's a photo I shot at tonight's OWS rally-party in Times Square showing a protester being arrested."

Update, 9:00pm ET: Multiple reports that the police have taken down the barricades, and what looked like a very tense confrontation has dissolved. More than a hundred arrests, by some accounts. Massive crowds at the height of the action, 20,000 or more by some estimates. Sources I'm reading on Twitter who were there describe the numbers as overwhelming.]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-protesters.html/feed 56 http://boingboing.net/2011/10/10/sasha-7-painting-occupy-wall-street-sign-homes-for-the-homeless.html http://boingboing.net/2011/10/10/sasha-7-painting-occupy-wall-street-sign-homes-for-the-homeless.html#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:08:13 +0000 Xeni Jardin http://boingboing.net/?p=122595

Scott Matthews of Turnstyle tells Boing Boing:

Hi Xeni, saw your post about the signs of Occupy Wall Street, and thought I'd share ours. Amy (Cory blogged her autism story a few weeks ago) and I took our seven-year-old daughter Sasha to visit Occupy Wall Street last Sunday.

She was very interested in the many signs splayed out across the sidewalk. We spotted some people with a pile of cardboard, paint, and brushes, and asked if we could contribute.

Sasha asked us what she should write, and we told her to write about something that she cared about and wished could make the world a nicer place. She was very proud to add her sign to join the rest.

Alex Mallis directed this beautiful short film about Occupy Wall Street. ]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/10/07/right-here-all-over-a-short-film-on-occupy-wall-street-by-alex-mallis.html/feed 14 http://boingboing.net/2011/10/05/new-york-state-senators-want-refined-first-amendment-laws-to-prevent-trolling-flaming-and-excluding-people-from-online-groups.html http://boingboing.net/2011/10/05/new-york-state-senators-want-refined-first-amendment-laws-to-prevent-trolling-flaming-and-excluding-people-from-online-groups.html#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:55:47 +0000 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/?p=121788 New York State Senators Jeff Klein, Diane Savino, David Carlucci and David Valesky apparently missed civics class, because they think the First Amendment grants the "privilege" of free speech, not the right, and that this "refined" view of free speech should be implemented in order to stop people from saying stupid things on the Internet.

Their report suggests that a "refined" First Amendment could be used to stop "happy slapping" (a short-lived violent craze from 2005), trolling, "flaming," and "INTENTIONALLY AND CRUELLY EXCLUDING SOMEONE FROM AN ONLINE GROUP" (the caps are theirs).

Seriously? If we don't let you into the club, it's now a form of cyberbullying? It makes you wonder what happened to these particular Senators when they were kids.

The paper also attacks "anonymity," again ignoring how anonymity can often be extremely helpful to kids who wish to discuss things and ask questions without revealing who they are.

As for where they're going with this? Well, you guessed it: they're planning to introduce new laws to deal with cyberbullying (even though NY already has such a law). The plan is to extend two existing areas of law: "stalking in the third degree" will now include cyberbullying, and "manslaughter in the second degree" will be expanded to "include the emerging problem of bullycide."

(via /.)

(Image: The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from brentdpayne's photostream)

NY State Senators Say We've Got Too Much Free Speech; Introduce Bill To Fix That [techdirt.com]]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/10/05/new-york-state-senators-want-refined-first-amendment-laws-to-prevent-trolling-flaming-and-excluding-people-from-online-groups.html/feed 50 http://boingboing.net/2011/09/30/another-hit-from-nypds-mace-in-the-face-cop-di-anthony-bologna.html http://boingboing.net/2011/09/30/another-hit-from-nypds-mace-in-the-face-cop-di-anthony-bologna.html#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:58:48 +0000 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/?p=121176

This video, labelled as being recorded "moments after" NYPD DI Anthony Bologna's now-infamous unprovoked mace assault on four women at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration, shows the same office in another mace attack. How many before we can call it a rampage? How many before the NYPD admits that it's wrong and unacceptable?

To The NYPD: Investigate Officer Bologna's Macing Of Nonviolent Protestors [act.demandprogress.org]]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/09/30/another-hit-from-nypds-mace-in-the-face-cop-di-anthony-bologna.html/feed 43 http://boingboing.net/2011/09/18/integrating-autistic-people-into-the-community.html http://boingboing.net/2011/09/18/integrating-autistic-people-into-the-community.html#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:08:55 +0000 Cory Doctorow http://boingboing.net/?p=118135 NYT, a 8,000+ word feature on Justin Canha, an autistic high school student who has been participating in an intensive program that aims to integrate people with autism (and not just the "high-functioning" kind) into the community. Justin is a talented artist, and is often sweet and charming, but he is also extremely confused by many everyday social interactions. His teacher, Kate Stanton-Paule, has been accompanying him through a multi-year program of daily community routines (shopping, working at part-time jobs), and Amy Harmon's long, well-written piece chronicles the triumphs and failures of the new approach that aims to replace segregation and institutionalization with integration and participation.

Some advocates of “neurodiversity” call this the next civil rights frontier: society, they say, stands to benefit from accepting people whose brains work differently. Opening the workplace to people with autism could harness their sometimes-unusual talents, advocates say, while decreasing costs to families and taxpayers for daytime aides and health care and housing subsidies, estimated at more than $1 million over an adult lifetime.

But such efforts carry their own costs. In this New York City suburb, the school district considered scrapping Ms. Stanton-Paule’s program almost as soon as it began, to save money on the extra teaching assistants who accompanied students to internships, the bank, the gym, the grocery store. Businesses weighed the risks of hiring autistic students who might not automatically grasp standard rules of workplace behavior.

Oblivious to such debates, many autistic high school students are facing the adult world with elevated expectations of their own. Justin, who relied on a one-on-one aide in school, had by age 17 declared his intention to be a “famous animator-illustrator.” He also dreamed of living in his own apartment, a goal he seemed especially devoted to when, say, his mother asked him to walk the dog.

(Image: A job at a bakery, Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times, used with permission) ]]> http://boingboing.net/2011/09/18/integrating-autistic-people-into-the-community.html/feed 58