Ian McIntosh Appointed Interim Executive Director Of Not Dead Yet

Rochester, NY, January 13, 2025 – A Brief Note on behalf of The Board of Not Dead Yet:  

With the sudden passing of Not Dead Yet’s irreplaceable Founder, President and CEO, Diane Coleman , the Board of Not Dead Yet (NDY) was tasked with ensuring that her legacy continues into the next phase of this important mission, decades in the undertaking. We worked over a period of months, to select and appoint Ian McIntosh [pictured here] as Interim Executive Director. In this unprecedented and challenging time, Ian will provide leadership and direction while stewarding Not Dead Yet’s constant critical mission to oppose the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia as deadly forms of disability discrimination.

Ian joins Not Dead Yet having previously served as the Director of Disability Outreach for the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), a leading, national, secular, non-partisan leader defending the rights of patients, people with disabilities, our elders, and the poor from the threat of legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Clashes Break Out at Anti-Israel Protest in Brooklyn Jewish neighborhood

by Luke Tress, Times of Israel, February 19, 2025:

NEW YORK — Anti-Israel protest groups staged a rally in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, berating the residents as “settlers” and “Zionists” and sparking fights with pro-Israel counterprotesters. 

The protest, led by the Pal-Awda activist group, took place in Boro Park, an area with a large Orthodox population.

Around 200 anti-Israel protesters gathered on a street in the neighborhood within a barricaded area set up by police. A crowd of Jewish residents and other pro-Israel counterprotesters demonstrated on the sidewalk across the street. Dozens of police officers separated the two sides. The protest began just after sundown and the temperature was below freezing.  

The anti-Israel protesters chanted, “settlers settlers go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” “Zionists go to hell,” and “We don’t want no Zionists here.” Most wore masks or keffiyehs to cover their faces.

New York State Issues Mask Mandate

As of mid-December, New York state health care workers who have not received an influenza vaccine have to wear masks when working in places where residents or patients are present in facilities.

In a Dec. 18 statement, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald [pictured right] declared that the “flu is prevalent across the State means healthcare personnel who are not vaccinated against the flu this season need to take extra precautions and wear a mask in healthcare facilities to avoid exposing sick patients and those most vulnerable to complications of the virus.”

His declaration on requiring masking did not mention COVID-19, only influenza. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments, as well as private businesses, required masks due to the virus.

New York State Bar Outlines 2025 Legislative Priorities, Aiming for Fairness, Equity

By Brian Lee, original publication 12/18/24.

At the approach of the 2025 legislative session, New York’s largest bar association announced that it will lobby Albany lawmakers to enact right-to-counsel measures for children, families and immigrants in New York.

The new priorities, the statewide bar group said, will move the state closer to creating a more fair and equitable justice system.

The New York State Bar Association said it will also continue to advocate fervently for a series of past proposals that have failed to become law.

Mayor Adams on Hearing the People and Other Matters

The Democrat mayor made the comments while speaking to Fox News's Martha MacCallum on Wednesday, in which he also discussed the illegal immigration crisis impacting the city.

The host asked Adams what he thought of President-elect Donald Trump's sweeping victory over Harris, in which he secured substantial support in the five NYC boroughs that have historically voted Democrat. McCollum inquired as to where the Democratic Party had gone wrong.

"We stopped speaking to people, we started speaking at people," Mayor Adams told McCollum. "Not hearing the people and you engaging in dialogue while individuals are fearful of affordability, losing their home, the future of their children, and you're having these intellectual conversations, and people are, like, saying, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm hurting and you're asking, 'Is Donald Trump Hitler or not?'" Adams said. "It's just not talking to the real needs of the people."