Early Addition: Newark was briefly 'sister cities' with a non-existent Indian state invented by a wanted fugitive

James Ramsay

Published Mar 6, 2023

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Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in front of City Hall in 2014

Julio Cortez/AP/Shutterstock

James Ramsay

Published Mar 6, 2023

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Good Monday morning in New York City, where the Knicks are good (again). Here's what else is happening:

A new City Council bill would keep public school swimming pools open year round as part of an effort to train more lifeguards.
A Yonkers-based homeless shelter operator whose vice president of New York City Housing programs happens to be the sister of Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter has won 17 contracts with the city worth a total of $1.7 billion.
Washington Heights dog owners say conditions at a local dog run inside J. Hood Wright Park are so bad, their pooches have broken legs by running on hard services and crashing into cinder blocks that have been exposed after years of gravel erosion.
For six days back in January, Newark was officially sister cities with the "United States of Kailasa," a fictitious jurisdiction within India invented by Swami Nithyananda, a 45-year-old Indian man who calls himself a god and is wanted in India on charges of child abduction and sexual assault, among other crimes. (The deal ended after someone at Newark City Hall figured out the hoax.)
Kortney Olson, a bodybuilder who competed in the TBS competitive slapping show "Power Slap: Road to the Title," got knocked unconscious during her first slap fight — and is joining a chorus of people saying the "sport" should be canceled.
Police say Pete Davidson crashed a Mercedes into a Beverly Hills house over the weekend after speeding through the neighborhood and first hitting a fire hydrant.
Switzerland is making Toblerone remove the picture of Matterhorn from its iconic packaging after the chocolate company moved some of its production to Slovakia.
How you save people's names in your phone apparently says a lot.
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And finally, fish goals: