By CORA LEWIS

NEW YORK (AP) — Online betting is more accessible than ever, with 14% of U.S. adults saying they bet on professional or college sports online either frequently or occasionally, according to a February poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It’s also in the news, with a growing list of sports betting scandals making headlines.

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Public health advocates and personal finance advisers say it’s important to know the risks if you’re going to gamble online.

“Gambling and ‘responsibly’ seem to be oxymoronic, because if you’re gambling it’s all about risk,” said Caleb Silver, editor in chief of personal finance site Investopedia. “But people still do it. Online gambling and sports betting are only becoming more popular.”

Since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on sports betting in 2018, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized gambling, according to the American Gaming Association.

For those new to online gambling, it can be helpful to set limits in advance on how much you’re willing to lose and how much time you’re willing to spend. Many of the platforms and apps that offer gambling, such as FanDuel and DraftKings, include optional safeguards to limit time or losses. Other apps can block access to the platforms for set amounts of time.

Here’s what to know:

Online gambling can be riskier than gambling in person

The potential losses of digital betting can occur more quickly than in a physical casino, according to Heather Eshleman, director of operations at the Maryland Center for Excellence on Problem Gambling, since people can bet so much so easily and quickly on the internet or apps, with less friction.

The new prevalence of prediction markets, such as PredictIt and Kalshi, has also created new opportunities to place wagers online on everything from election outcomes to celebrity news to the weather.

How to tell if you have a problem with online gambling

According to public health advocates, the biggest warning sign of a problem is if you’re devoting time to online betting that’s taking away from other things in your life — especially your relationships with friends, family, and work. If you’re spending money on gambling that could instead go towards unmet basic needs, that’s also a warning sign.

“We encourage people to only use money they would use for fun and entertainment, not money that should be used to pay the mortgage or the rent or to pay for food,” said Eshleman.

Silver echoed this.

“You have to know before you do it how much you can afford to lose,” he said. “What is your ‘tap out point?’ Those rules have to be firmly established.”

Ways to limit online gambling

Most sports betting platforms offer “responsible gambling tools,” according to Eshleman.

“You can set limits on time, money, deposits, wins, and losses,” she said. “The goal is to set those limits before you start, because if you don’t set them in advance, they’re not really going to work for you. Once you’re into the excitement of it, you’re not going to stop and use those tools.”

Eshleman recommends apps such as GambBan and BetBlocker, which limit access to gambling sites externally. She also directs those who suspect they may have a problem to use the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline or contact Gamblers Anonymous.

Know the risks and downsides

Silver, the head of Investopedia, said he started adding definitions of online betting and gambling terms to the personal finance site when he saw an increasingly “closer connection between sports betting, day trading, options trading, and cryptocurrency trading.” He encourages those who are interested in digital betting to make sure they know what they’re getting into.

“Before anyone even gets an online (gambling) account, they should be required to know the fundamental terms and rules about the way sports betting works,” he said. “What’s the ‘money line’ or ‘parlay?’ How do odds work? What is the maximum I could lose on this bet?”

The other thing to do is to “play with no expectation of a return,” he said. “The likelihood is that you will lose. So, if you’re willing to lose, how much are you willing to lose?”

Cory Fox, senior vice president of public policy and sustainability at FanDuel, who handles the site’s responsible gambling initiatives, compares using the safeguards to wearing a seatbelt when driving in a car and said FanDuel is committed to setting standards for being a responsible operator in the online gambling space.

Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer at DraftKings, said the site is committed to the same goal and compared using the limit-setting tools to taking Ubers instead of driving on a night when you know you’ll be drinking.

Fox added that responsible gambling tools are important to help allow FanDuel to maintain its social license. He said that it’s in the interest of the site to make sure its users can be on the site and play for a long time to come.

Make sure it’s not a coping mechanism

“If you’re taking care of your mental health, you’re less likely to have a problem with gambling,” Eshleman said.

Rather than turning to the thrill of placing online bets, Eshleman encourages people to find positive ways to cope with stress — listening to music, taking walks, getting more sleep and exercise, and spending more time socializing. Social gambling is safer than hidden, private gambling, she said.

“If you’re doing it alone, that’s a red flag that it’s not an activity that’s healthy for you,” said Eshleman. “It all ties in to our basic wellness. I think if people focus on wellness, it will prevent a lot of gambling.”

The Associated Press receives support from the Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

Lawmakers approved a plan Wednesday to rezone a 54-block swath of the Queens waterfront neighborhood, including industrial lots where new housing was previously restricted.

Anable Basin in Long Island City—once eyed by retail giant Amazon for its Queens headquarters before the controversial plan fell apart—is part of the rezoning area. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

The City Council approved a plan Wednesday to rezone a stretch of Long Island City, including industrial lots where new housing was previously restricted—what officials say will spur nearly 15,000 new apartments in the coming years, as the city struggles to fill a historic housing shortage.

The so-called OneLIC plan will update zoning rules for 54 blocks near the East River waterfront, including along Anable Basin (the inlet where retail giant Amazon once planned its controversial “HQ2” offices.) It’s expected to create more housing than any neighborhood-specific rezoning in the last 25 years, officials said; around 4,350 of the new units will be income-restricted.

The deal also includes $650 million for a range of local projects, including funds for a new waterfront esplanade, sewer upgrades, and repairs at the nearby NYCHA Queensbridge Houses.

“The approval of this plan opens the door for more New Yorkers of all income levels to live and work here—and to benefit from new open space and community investments,” City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick said in a statement Wednesday.

The neighborhood rezoning is the fifth passed under Mayor Eric Adams, who leaves office at the end of the year. It’s also the second in Queens: in late October, the Council approved a plan to allow more housing in Downtown Jamaica, what officials say will help address a dire need as New Yorkers struggle to afford increasingly high rents, and more than 100,000 people sleep in shelters each month.

Areas rezoned for residential under the OneLIC plan will be subject to the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) rules for the first time, requiring at least 20 to 25 percent of new units built on private sites are affordable.

Those apartments will be reserved for households earning up to either 40 or 60 percent of the Area Median Income, or AMI (equivalent to $58,320 or $87,480 a year for a three-person household, respectively). The city also plans to develop 1,000 affordable units on public land within the rezoning area, at least half of which must be set aside for “Extremely” and “Very Low-Income” households—or those earning no more than 50 percent AMI.

Long Island City is no stranger to development: the neighborhood’s population grew by 60 percent between 2013 and 2023, according to the Long Island City Partnership, a local business advocacy group. Glossy apartment towers have bloomed along the area’s waterfront.

The waterfront along Hunters Point just south of the rezoning area, where many new buildings have risen over the last several years. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

That existing growth is why some locals have opposed the rezoning, saying an influx of new residents will further strain local infrastructure that already hasn’t kept up.

“Long Island City has not avoided development. So why is all this new development coming here?” said Lisa Goren, a member of the Long Island City Coalition/Hunters Point Community Coalition.

“The City of Yes was supposed to distribute housing equitably,” she added, in reference to Mayor Adams’ plan passed last year, which overhauled zoning rules citywide to make it easier to build.

The Coalitions have been advocating for an alternative plan, dubbed the Hunters Point North Vision Plan for Resiliency, which calls for a robust waterfront park and climate resiliency measures along the shoreline. They say that any new housing should be built further inland, outside the floodplain, noting that the area was hit hard by flooding during Hurricane Sandy.

“We have to do resiliency and we have to house people. We can do both. And that’s what we’re saying,” Goren said. “We’re saying that we’re given a false choice in this plan.”

But city officials argue the rezoning area has been held back by outdated rules that restrict new housing in a neighborhood that’s prime for more homes, pointing to its proximity to Manhattan and access to multiple subway and bus lines.

Councilmember Julie Won, who represents the area, said she fought to secure millions in community benefits as part of the deal, like the upgrades to the nearby Queensbridge Houses and improved sewer infrastructure.

A view of the Queensboro Bridge from Vernon Boulevard. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

The city has also pledged to open 1,300 new school seats and add five acres of open space under the Queensboro Bridge—including comprehensive renovations to Queensbridge Baby Park, a once popular neighborhood space which has fallen into disrepair.

This and the planned new waterfront esplanade will result in a continuous stretch of open space along the neighborhood’s waterfront, Won noted, linking Queensbrige Park north of the rezoning area to Gantry Plaza State Park and Hunters Point South Park to the south.

“All that is long overdue,” Won said ahead of the Council’s vote on the plan Wednesday. “Finally, through this project, we will become one Long Island City to integrate current and future residents in all corners of this neighborhood.”

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org. Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

A previous version of this story misspelled Lisa Goren’s last name. City Limits apologizes for the error.

The post 15K New Homes for Long Island City? Council Approves Major Rezoning Plan appeared first on City Limits.

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — After years of living on the street and crashing on friends’ couches, Quantavia Smith was given the keys to a studio apartment in Los Angeles that came with an important perk — easy access to public transit.

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The 38-year-old feels like she went from a life where “no one cares” to one where she has a safe place to begin rebuilding her life. And the metro station the apartment complex was literally built upon is a lifeline as she searches for work without a car.

“It is more a sense of relief, a sense of independence,” said Smith, who moved in July. She receives some government assistance and pays 30% of her income for rent — just $19 a month for an efficiency with a full-market value of $2,000.

“Having your own space, you feel like you can do anything.”

Metro areas from Los Angeles to Boston have taken the lead in tying new housing developments to their proximity to public transit, often teaming up with developers to streamline the permitting process and passing policies that promote developments that include a greater number of units.

City officials argue building housing near public transit helps energize neglected neighborhoods and provide affordable housing, while ensuring a steady stream of riders for transit systems and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the number of cars on the road.

“Transit-oriented development should be one of, if not the biggest solution that we’re looking at for housing development,” said Yonah Freemark, research director at the Urban Institute’s Land Use Lab, who has written extensively on the topic.

“It takes advantage of all of this money we’ve spent on transportation infrastructure. If you build the projects and don’t build anything around the areas near them, then it’s kind of like money thrown down the drain,” Freemark said.

Transit housing projects from DC to LA

The Santa Monica and Vermont Apartments where Smith lives is part of an ambitious plan by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 10,000 housing units near transit sites by 2031 — offering developers land discounts in exchange for affordable housing development and other community benefits.

A family arrives at a metro station next to the Santa Monica and Vermont Apartments in Los Angeles, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In Washington D.C., the transit authority has completed eight projects since 2022 that provided nearly 1,500 apartments and a million square feet of office space. About half were in partnership with Amazon, which committed $3.6 billion in low-cost loans and grants for affordable housing projects in Washington, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and the Puget Sound area in Washington state. Almost all are within a half-mile of public transit.

“Big cities face the greatest challenges when it comes to traffic congestion and high housing costs,” Freemark said. “Building new homes near transit helps address both problems by encouraging people to take transit while increasing housing supply.”

Among projects Boston has built, the Pok Oi Residents in Chinatown is a 10-minute walk to the subway and a half-dozen bus stops. That’s a draw for Bernie Hernandez, who moved his family there from a Connecticut suburb after his daughter got into a Boston university.

“The big difference is commuting. You don’t need a car,” said Hernandez, who said he can walk to the grocery story and pharmacy. His 17-year-old daughter takes the subway to school. Now, his car mostly sits idle, saving him money on gas and time spent in traffic.

“You get to go to different places very quickly. Everything is convenient,” Hernandez said.

States take aim at zoning regulations

States from Massachusetts to California are passing laws targeting restrictive zoning regulations that for decades prohibited building multifamily developments and contributed to housing shortages.

Last month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state law allowing taller apartment buildings on land owned by transit agencies and near bus, train and subway lines.

Land owner Ricky Cannizzo drives a backhoe through his property, which was approved to be developed into residential units and commercial space, Jan. 28, 2025, in Lexington, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

“Building more homes in our most sustainable locations is the key to tackling the affordability crisis and locking in California’s success for many years to come,” said State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat who authored the bill.

California joins Colorado, which requires cities to allow an average of 40 housing units per acre within a quarter-mile of transit, and Utah, which mandates about 50 units per acre. In Washington, the governor signed a bill this year allowing taller housing developments in mixed-use commercial zones near transit.

“We want to ensure that there are mixed-income, walkable, vibrant homes all around those transit investments and that people have the option of using cars less to improve the environmental health of our communities,” said Democratic Rep. Julia Reed, who authored the Washington bill.

“It’s about giving people the opportunity to drive less and live more.”

Housing takes center stage in Massachusetts

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has made housing a priority.

Among her most potent tools is a 2021 law that requires 177 towns or communities nearby to create zoning districts allowing multi-family housing. The state provided nearly $8 million to more than 150 communities to help create these zones, while threatening to cut funding for those that don’t. More than 6,000 housing units are in development as a result.

“You put housing nearby public transit” Healey said. “It’s great for people. They can literally get up, leave their home, walk to a commuter rail and get to work.”

Bernie Hernandez, who lives at the Pok Oi Residences, poses in his Chinatown neighborhood, Oct. 17, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Among the first to comply was Lexington, which has approved 10 projects, including a $115 million complex with 187 housing units and retail space.

Walking past earth-moving equipment and dump trucks at the construction site earlier this year, project manager Quinlan Locke said: “This is a landscape yard. It’s commercial. It’s meant for trucking.”

But, he added, in “two years from now, it’s going to be meant for people who live here, work here and play here. This is going to become someone’s home.”

Opposition to zoning changes

Some advocates argue the lofty goals of transit housing are falling short due to fierce local resistance and lack of funding and support at the federal and state levels.

Higher mortgage interest rates, more government red tape, rising construction costs and lack of investment at transit stations also have contributed to a troubling trend — nine times more housing units built far from public transit versus near it in the past two decades, according to a 2023 Urban Institute study.

In Massachusetts, 19 communities still haven’t created new zones. Some unsuccessfully sued the state to halt the law, while residents rejected new zones in others. Lexington eventually shrank its zone from 227 acres to 90 acres after residents complained.

“If we allow the state to come in and dictate how we zone, what else are they going to come in and dictate?” said Anthony Renzoni, a selectman from the town of Holden, which sued the state and is drawing up a new zoning map after residents rejected the first one.

New housing, a new life

In Los Angeles, the six-story complex where Smith lives in East Hollywood is home to 300 new residents since opening in February. It’s revitalizing the area around the metro site, with a Filipino grocery, medical clinic and farmers market opening early next year.

Half the 187 units are reserved for formerly homeless residents like Smith, who had been living in a rundown motel paid for with a voucher and before that on the street. She’s been assigned a case worker and is getting help with basic life skills, budgeting and finding work.

Equally important: Smith, who can’t afford a car, doesn’t need one.

“I’m very very fortunate to be somewhere where the transit takes me where I want to go,” she said. “Where I want to go is not that far.”

By AREF TUFAHA and JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press

DEIR ISTIYA, West Bank (AP) — Israeli settlers torched and defaced a mosque in a Palestinian village in the central West Bank overnight, scribbling hateful messages in a show of defiance a day after some Israeli leaders condemned a recent attack by settlers against Palestinians.

One wall and at least three copies of the Quran and some of the carpeting at the mosque in the Palestinian town of Deir Istiya had been torched when an AP reporter visited Thursday.

On one side of the mosque settlers had left graffitied messages like “we are not afraid,” “we will revenge again,” and “keep on condemning.” The Hebrew scrawl, difficult to make out, appeared to reference Maj. Gen Avi Bluth, the chief of the military’s Central Command who issued a rare denunciation of the violence Wednesday.

Soldiers from Israel’s military, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, were present at the scene.

It was the latest in a string of attacks that have provoked expressions of concern from top officials, military leaders and the Trump administration.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza.”

Israeli officials have sought to cast settlers violence as the work of a few extremists. But Palestinians and rights groups say the violence is widespread and carried out by settlers across the territory, with impunity from Israel’s far-right government, lead by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has not commented on the surge in violence.

Officials issue rare denunciations

The round of recent denunciations were in reaction to a particularly brazen attack Tuesday that saw dozens of masked Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles and other property in the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf.

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The army said the settlers then fled to a nearby industrial zone and attacked soldiers responding to the violence, damaging a military vehicle. Four Israelis were arrested, and four Palestinians were wounded, authorities said.

President Isaac Herzog described the attacks as “shocking and serious.” Herzog’s position, while largely ceremonial, is meant to serve as a moral compass and unifying force for the country.

Herzog said the violence committed by a “handful” of perpetrators “crosses a red line,” adding in a social media post that “all state authorities must act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon.”

The Israeli army’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, echoed Herzog’s condemnations of the West Bank violence, saying the military “will not tolerate the phenomena of a minority of criminals who tarnish a law-abiding public.”

He said the army is committed to stopping violent acts committed by settlers, which he described as contrary to Israeli values and that “divert the attention of our forces from fulfilling their mission.”

On Wednesday, police said three of the suspects were released. The fourth suspect, a minor arrested on suspicion of arson and assault, will remain in custody for six more days, as ordered by a judge. Police said the actions of the three who were released are still under investigation “with the goal of bringing offenders to justice, regardless of their background.”

Not a new phenomenon

Settler violence has been steadily mounting for decades, and the mosque in Deir Istiya had previously come under attack by settlers.

Settlers vandalized the mosque in 2012, according to the U.S. State Department, and again in 2014, according a roundup of settler violence from the website of the Anti-Defamation League.

The violence had reached peak highs before the war in Gaza erupted two years ago, and since then it’s only gotten worse. October was the month with the highest-ever number of recorded settler attacks in the West Bank since the UN’s humanitarian office began keeping track in 2006, said the office.

Palestinians say the goal of the violence is to push them off their lands. The U.N.’s humanitarian office said 3,535 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence or access restrictions since 2023, a major upswing from previous years.

Emboldened by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, settlers have expanded beyond the bounds of pre-existing settlements to establish new farming outposts, which they call “young settlements.”

The outposts — usually little more than a few sheds and a pen for livestock — now spill down settlement hilltops toward Palestinian villages, with some settlers gaining control of the villages’ agricultural land and water sources.

Palestinians and human rights workers accuse the Israeli army and police of failing to halt attacks by settlers. Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy, and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.

About 94% of all investigation files opened by the Israeli Police into settler violence from 2005 to 2024 ended without indictment, according to monitoring by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din. Since 2005, just 3% of the investigation files opened into settler violence led to full or partial convictions.