Born Anna Monahemi in Iran, Democrat Anna Kaplan will represent Long Island’s 7th district in the NYS Senate, Tablet reports.

As President Andrés Manuel López Obrador takes office, Mexicans in New York and Los Angeles express hope for less corruption and violence back home, more respect for nationals in the U.S., and a focus on such issues as education and women’s rights, El Diario/La Prensa and La Opinión report.

Sing Tao Daily covers the mixed reaction to the city announcing it will no longer build a new jail at 80 Centre St. and instead expand the Manhattan Detention Complex.

State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins will become the first woman to lead a New York state legislative chamber. She speaks to Amsterdam News.

In announcing her candidacy for New York City public advocate, Melissa Mark-Viverito spoke about the lack of Latino and female representation in city government, El Diario/La Prensa reports.

As Queens residents mourned the sudden death of José Peralta, the first Dominican-American state senator, Rep. Adriano Espaillat is requesting that the New York DREAM Act be named in his honor, El Diario/La Prensa reports.

At a forum in Jackson Heights, Council members Carlos Menchaca and Daniel Dromm joined other lawmakers to discuss the federal government’s proposal to expand the definition of “public charge,” reports Queens County Politics.

Chinese owners of 99-cent stores in Flushing consider raising prices amid the trade war between China and the U.S., reports World Journal.

Newly elected Salvadoran-American state senator Monica Martinez talks with Noticia Long Island about the hopes her win has brought to the TPS community, and her desire to keep working for the 9th District in Suffolk County where she was a legislator.

Sharon Lee, once the senior advisor and press secretary for former City Comptroller John Liu, was named the deputy borough president of Queens, reports World Journal.

The city expanded interpretation services to include more languages at polling sites. However, interpreters must stay more than 100 feet away from the entrance, a requirement some call “unreasonable,” reports Bklyner.

Nearly 14 years after her son died at the hands of a police officer, Iris Baez joined fellow advocates and public officials at City Hall the day before the Right to Know Act went into effect, reports The Bronx Free Press.

Chalkbeat looks at how the federal government’s proposed redefinition of “public charge” would affect health clinics based in NYC public schools.

Business owners welcome a City Council bill to protect small businesses, many of them immigrant-owned, from rising rents, El Diario/La Prensa reports.

Public officials and community leaders rallied for support of the Separation of Children Accountability Response Act (SCAR Act), which would require agencies to report on the separated children in their facilities, reports The Indypendent.