April 3, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 9
News
Ban on Plastic Bags Comes
Close to Reality in a 3rd State
By Chris Carola adn
David Klepper
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov.
Andrew Cuomo and fel-
low Democrats who con-
trol the Legislature have
reached a deal to make
New York the third state
with a ban on single-use
plastic grocery bags as
they worked to finalize
budget agreements, offi-
cials said Friday.
The ban would prohibit
grocery stores from pro-
viding plastic bags for
most purchases, some-
thing California has been
doing since a statewide
ban was approved in
2016. Hawaii has an effec-
tive statewide ban, with
all its counties imposing
their own restrictions.
Supporters of such
bans say they keep plas-
tic bags from entering
the environment and
causing damage to eco-
systems and waterways.
“With
this
smart,
multi-pronged
action
New York will be leading
the way to protect our
natural resources now
and for future genera-
tions of New Yorkers,”
Cuomo, who proposed
a ban in his $175 billion
budget proposal, said in
a statement Friday.
New
York’s
ban
wouldn’t take effect un-
til next March. The plan
also calls for allowing
local governments the
option to impose a 5-cent
fee on paper bags, with 3
cents going to the state’s
Environmental Protec-
tion Fund and 2 cents
kept by local govern-
ments.
Environmental
con-
servation advocates had
also been pushing for a
statewide fee for paper
bags as a way to encour-
age wider consumer use
of reusable bags.
Nonetheless, Patrick
McClellan, state poli-
cy director for the New
York League of Conser-
vation Voters, said his
group was “thrilled”
that the bag ban appears
headed for passage.
“Plastic bags pollute
our waterways and
streets, and both plastic
and paper bags contrib-
ute to the solid waste
crisis and cost taxpayers
money,” he said. “While
the best policy would
be a ban on plastic bags
coupled with a statewide
fee on other disposable
bags, this agreement rep-
resents a tremendous
step forward.”
Lawmakers are fac-
ing a Monday deadline
on a budget agreement.
Negotiations on other
aspects of Cuomo’s pro-
posed $175 billion spend-
ing plan are continuing
Friday, with the Senate
and Assembly expected
to start passing budget
bills Sunday ahead of the
April 1 start of the state’s
2019-2020 fiscal year.
Lawmakers have also
agreed on a measure that
would close up to three
yet-to-be-determined
state prisons. Cuomo
announced last month
he wanted to reduce the
number of facilities be-
cause of the state’s de-
clining inmate popula-
tion.
The budget will also
contain a provision re-
quiring employers to
give workers three hours
off to vote on election day.
Another provision set
for the budget would im-
pose congestion tolls to
ease traffic in the busiest
parts of Manhattan and
fund transit improve-
ments, but details are
still being discussed.
Negotiations are also
continuing on a propos-
al to tax luxury second
homes in Manhattan
worth more than $5 mil-
lion. The option now be-
ing considered would im-
pose a one-time tax paid
when the properties are
sold, Cuomo told report-
ers Friday.
Revenue from the tax
would go to transit.
Other pending issues
still being negotiated in-
cluded criminal justice
reform and public fi-
AP PHOTO/MARY ALTAFFER
New York may follow Hawaii, California in banning
single-use plastic grocery bags
A man leaves a supermarket in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan carrying his groceries in a
plastic bag, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Two New York lawmakers say Wednesday that they’re optimistic
that a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags could be included in the spending plan that’s due Sunday.
nancing of political cam-
paigns.
One of the other big is-
sues of the year — the le-
Hussle
cont’d from pg 6
beauty that he was. He
loved us,” film director
Ava Duvernay tweeted.
“He’s left that love with
us. And it cannot die.
Rest in Power, King. You
mattered.”
Born on Aug. 15, 1985,
Hussle said his first
passion was music but
getting resources was
tough after leaving his
mother’s house at 14
to live with his grand-
mother. He said he got
involved in street life as
he tried to support him-
self, and he joined the
gang Rollin 60’s Neigh-
borhood Crips as a teen-
galization of recreational
marijuana — will not be
included in the budget.
Cuomo said Friday that
ager.
“I grew up in gang
culture,” Hussle told
the Los Angeles Times
in 2018. “We dealt with
death, with murder. It
was like living in a war
zone, where people die
on these blocks and ev-
erybody is a little bit im-
mune to it.”
Hussle said his stage
name, a play on the
1960s and ‘70s rhyming
standup comic Nipsey
Russell, was given to
him as a teen by an older
friend.
For a decade, he re-
leased much sought-af-
ter mixtapes that he sold
out of the trunk of his
car, helping him create
a buzz and gain respect
from his peers.
lawmakers need more
time to work out the de-
tails to regulation.
He charged $100 for
his 2013 mixtape “Cren-
shaw,” scoring a cash
and publicity coup
when Jay-Z bought 100
copies for $10,000.
Last year he hit new
heights with “Victo-
ry Lap,” his critically
acclaimed
major-la-
bel debut album on
Atlantic Records. The
album debuted at No.
4 on Billboard’s 200 al-
bums charts. It got him
a Grammy nomination,
though he lost out to
Cardi B’s “Invasion of
Privacy.”
“So so SAD man!!
DAMN man this hurt,”
LA Lakers star LeB-
ron James said in one
of many emoji-laden
tweets about Hussle.