Honora Rodriguez was going about her day at Kaposia Library in South St. Paul, where she is the branch manager, when a man came in to return an overdue vinyl – nearly 50 years late.

Zef Miller tried to return a long overdue Cat Stevens record to South St. Paul’s Kaposia Library on April 7, 2025. Miller had checked it out in 1976 when he was in the eighth grade. (Honora Rodriguez / Kaposia Library)

As an eighth-grader in 1976, Zef Miller checked out Cat Stevens’ “Greatest Hits” vinyl record from the now-closed South St. Paul Library. On Monday, he brought the very same record to Kaposia Library, wanting to return it to its rightful owners and see how much he owed in overdue fees, Rodriguez said.

“I went to check out the new library with my grandchildren and I had to open a new library card,” Miller told the Pioneer Press on Thursday. Opening a new library card got him thinking about the last time he used one.

“I went there many times and checked out many albums. I was too poor to buy them then,” Miller said of the South St. Paul Library.

“It got lost in my other albums, I guess it wasn’t something I cherished at the time,” Miller said of the Cat Stevens record, which he never intended to keep past its due date.

“(The record) was checked out three years before I was born,” said Rodriguez, who has worked as a librarian since 2007. “It’s the oldest return I’ve seen,” she said.

“It’s been in my record collection for 50 years,” said Miller, adding that he listened to it “one last time” before bringing it in.

Yusuf Islam, who is more commonly recognized by his former stage name Cat Stevens, rose to fame with hits like “Wild World,” “Father And Son” and “Morning Has Broken.”

The singer-songwriter changed his name and converted to Islam in the late 1970s. After converting, he took a step back from the entertainment industry and became involved in charity work before being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

How much does he owe?

When the record was initially checked out, the South St. Paul Library at the northeast corner of Third and Marie avenues was an independent city-run library.

The nearly 100-year-old library, which was built in 1927 when Calvin Coolidge was president, was closed in December 2023 due to the lack of space, accessibility and modern amenities.

South St. Paul is now home to the one-year-old Kaposia Library at 131 N. Seventh Ave., which, lucky for our Cat Stevens fan, is part of the Dakota County Library system.

Unbeknownst to Miller, the Dakota County Library system terminated its late fees as of Jan. 2, 2024.

Before this change, readers were charged 30 cents for each day a book was kept past due, Rodriguez said.

Hypothetically, if this same rule applied to vinyls, this particular earworm would have set Miller back around $5,250 to return.

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Rodriguez assured that the library would charge a replacement fee at most, but it’s still fun to do the math.

“My son said they would take the album and put it on a wall of shame,” Miller said with a laugh, but so much time had passed that the library wouldn’t take it back.

“The reluctant returner was ready to settle up, but we let him know: We’re fine free AND no longer circulate vinyl! So, this time, the record gets to stay with him,” Rodriguez wrote on the Dakota County Library Facebook page.

Before other music enthusiasts get any ideas, note that while late fees no longer accumulate, if an item is overdue by 42 days, it will be considered lost and billed to the account holder.

“If implemented, RACE would incentivize large-scale relocations to older, underused office spaces to bolster the citywide economy. This would work hand-in-hand with REAP, elevating additional businesses, neighborhoods, and industries.”

(Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit)

Anyone who has lived, worked, or even visited New York City can attest to its growing lack of affordability. The city’s 183,000 small business owners aren’t exempt—with rising costs on everything from materials to utilities, it’s harder to stay afloat and nearly impossible to grow. This is stunting businesses and job growth, and as a result, communities in every corner of our city, with no signs of abating anytime soon.

Any elected official who is serious about addressing our affordability crisis must prioritize strengthening jobs in our city. That means we need smart policy that maintains and grows businesses by providing them the resources to succeed. 

One successful initiative doing so is the Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP), which incentivizes businesses to move to New York City’s outer boroughs and Northern Manhattan. As leaders of the Chambers of Commerce in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, we’ve seen this impact firsthand from businesses that have relocated, grown, created jobs, and contributed to our boroughs’ overall vitality.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s got the right idea—in the Executive Budget, as part of her affordability agenda, she proposed a five-year extension of this essential incentive so communities are able to withstand the financial pressures that come with living here, making them more resilient.

Take Brooklyn, where at least 50 businesses have utilized REAP, creating over 3,500 new jobs. Not only is that impacting those thousands of New Yorkers and their families, it’s also creating economic activity for Brooklyn’s bodegas, restaurants, and other businesses, beginning a positive loop that strengthens the borough.

And those businesses themselves are contributing to Brooklyn’s strength: the Architecture Research Office used REAP to relocate to a larger office space in Willoughby Square, and went on to design a brand new building for the Khalil Gibran International Academy, New York City’s first Arabic-English dual-language public school.

In Queens, REAP has also had profound impacts. Data from the Long Island City Partnership shows that the program has led to an estimated 3,000 new jobs in just the one neighborhood, with many stemming from the manufacturing industry.

And as the South Bronx is seeing a boom in development and activity, REAP is helping businesses match the growing needs there. From office jobs to manufacturing jobs, REAP helps diversify our economic strength to make it more resilient both citywide and across each borough.   

Gov. Hochul understands that without adequately supporting our small businesses, our communities will suffer— which is why she doubled down on her promise to support business owners in New York City and introduced the Relocation Assistance Credit for Employees (RACE) program.

If implemented, RACE would incentivize large-scale relocations to older, underused office spaces to bolster the citywide economy. This would work hand-in-hand with REAP, elevating additional businesses, neighborhoods, and industries.

However, the state legislature hasn’t stepped up to match the governor’s commitment. The criticism that it shuffles businesses within the city misses both the point, and the moment—our businesses will leave without the proper resources. While neither program was included in State Senate and Assembly’s one-house budget proposals, we are optimistic that our legislative leaders will recognize that we need to use every tool available to address our affordability crisis, and that REAP and RACE are important ones. 

With the budget deadline approaching, it’s imperative that REAP and RACE be included. Investing in both of these programs means investing in more jobs, better affordability for our neighborhoods and a higher quality of life for all New Yorkers. 

Randy Peers is the president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Thomas Grech is the president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce. Lisa Sorin is the president and CEO of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. 

The post Opinion: Helping NYC’s Small Businesses Relocate & Grow appeared first on City Limits.

NEW YORK (AP) — A helicopter crashed Thursday into the Hudson River just off Manhattan, authorities said. There were no immediate reports on injuries or fatalities.

The fire department said it received a report of a helicopter in the water at 3:17 p.m.

Videos posted on social media showed the aircraft mostly submerged, upside down in the water. The fire department said it had units on scene performing rescue operations. Multiple rescue boats were seen on video circling the aircraft.

The rescue craft were near a site close to the Manhattan waterfront, near the end of a long maintenance pier for one of the ventilation towers for the Holland Tunnel. Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on streets near the scene with their lights flashing.

The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with both planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.

Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.

By THALIA BEATY

Bernice King warns decades of work to reduce inequities in housing is at risk, as the Trump administration cuts funding for projects and tries to reduce funding for nonprofits that handle housing discrimination complaints.

“I shudder to think what’s going to happen — there’s still a lot of residential segregation,” King, CEO of The King Center and the youngest daughter of civil rights leaders The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, told The Associated Press. “It’s better than it was during my father’s lifetime. But going forward, we may end up right back where we were in the ‘50s and in the ’60s. People will feel very emboldened to discriminate because they know there’s nothing there to to stop it.”

In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development canceled millions of dollars in grants to nonprofits that handle housing discrimination complaints. A judge temporarily froze the terminations, which HUD said targeted funding awards that included diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, language.

The department will uphold the Fair Housing Act and combat discrimination in housing, a HUD official said, adding that no staffing changes specific to the department have been announced.

King said the attacks on what the administration calls DEI look familiar.

“To me, these are those same old historic, divide-and-conquer tactics to try to keep people fighting with each other and keep people separated and keep a certain hierarchy existing in a society,” she said.

FILE – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King wave to crowd in street from center window of a third-floor walk-up apartment he rented on Chicago’s West Side, Jan. 26, 1966. (AP Photo/Edward Kitch, File)

Continuing to press to end discrimination in housing

Whenever she can, King said she highlights her father’s legacy pressing for economic equality, including speaking Thursday at the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle, near where Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties is building a new condominium named after him.

The 58-unit apartment block is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in King County, which is also named for him. Construction on the site has started and units will eventually be sold to buyers at affordable prices.

Seattle Habitat CEO Brett D’Antonio, said naming the building after King offered a chance to talk about racial equity in housing, part of Habitat for Humanity’s efforts to raise awareness about fair housing, including its fundraising campaign Home is the Key, in April in remembrance of the Fair Housing Act’s passage.

“There was just no better opportunity to name the building in honor of Dr. King as we look to the work ahead of us in tackling affordable housing needs across the country, but also here in Seattle,” he said.

Bernice King remembers when her father moved their family in 1966 to a third-floor walk-up without heat in Chicago. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago to try to break through discrimination in housing, which left Black residents paying more in rent for worse conditions than white tenants.

Martin Luther King Jr. campaigned in Chicago, speaking to crowds of tens of thousands around the area and leading a march to City Hall to tape their demands on the front door. A week after he was assassinated in 1968, the Fair Housing Act was signed into law, which prohibited discrimination in housing based on race and other characteristics and created mechanisms to resolve complaints.

She said the dream of fair and equitable housing that the law’s passage signaled has still not be realized.

“To allow its provisions to be weakened is to betray the commitment and the sacrifices made to realize it,” she said, speaking in Seattle.

FILE – Hands of civil rights leaders Al Raby, left, and Dr. Martin Luther King, post a scroll on door of Chicago’s City Hall, July 10, 1966. (AP Photo/Larry Stoddard, File)

Housing inequity continues today

Large discrepancies in homeownership between Black, Hispanic and white Americans persist today, though that is just one measure of inequity in housing access. The National Fair Housing Alliance found housing discrimination complaints reached a record 34,000 in 2023, with most involving rentals and over half having to do with discrimination based on disability.

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Diane Levy, who researches housing at the Urban Institute, said she was concerned about who will take future fair housing complaints if funding to nonprofits that handle those complaints is significantly diminished.

“If you experience discrimination, if it’s blatant, that takes a toll,” she said, adding even unseen discrimination limits where you can live and whether to rent or buy home, which, in turn, limits where you can work or go to school.

Levy also noted the administration ended federal protections against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Bernice King said this moment calls for creativity and perseverance.

“People feel like it’s okay to discriminate — okay to suppress, oppress and deny,” she said. “It just means those of us who are on the side of standing up for what is right and fighting for freedom, justice and equality, having even more work to do.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.