Heritage Party Victory

Following Tuesday’s election, Heritage Party candidate Nick Fuentes has been elected to Burough Council by thin margins. Declaring a mandate from the people, Fuentes promised to keep the Five Burroughs safe and free from what he called the “mutant scourge.” 

Critics have accused Fuentes of fanning the flames of hatred and violating the civil rights of an underprivileged minority group. Fuentes’ campaign mocked his critics, with his representative declaring, “Non-humans don’t get to have human rights just because they look like us and scare you. We wouldn’t extend them to a rapid chimpanzee, nor should we to these animals.”

The Infinity Uprising: A Look Back

February 14th, when most couples are visiting expensive restaurants and exchanging candies, marks for the LGBTQIA+ community the 45th anniversary of the Infinity Uprising, when homophobic acts of violence against club attendees at the Infinity Club led to all-out street warfare between the embattled gay community and the marshaled forces of the City Police, and eventually to a building fire which consumed the club entirely.

Occurring over a year before same-sex relationships in the City were de-criminalized in 1980, veterans of the Uprising (who insist that the use of the word “riots” was perpetrated only to justify police violence against club patrons) recall that the night began with attacks on gay men in the streets outside the club. Patrons of Infinity—notable for including lesbian and gender-nonconforming members of the community at a time when most bars and clubs were exclusive to one group or another—poured out to meet the threat on the cold streets. Dancers at the nearby hip-hop dance club Gallery soon joined the crowd, intent on showing a unified front. When police arrived, they reported “rioting in the streets,” and called in officers from nearby precincts, who arrived in riot gear, intent on “breaking those [homosexual’s] heads.”

The violence lasted into the early hours of the morning, leaving scores injured on both sides. At some point, Molotov cocktails were employed against the police, who responded with flashbangs and tear gas, which at the time released combustible gases. It remains unknown how the fire, which ignited in the pillow factory above the club, was started, only its outcome: The complete destruction of the building housing the club and factory. In the end, a City Fire Department tanker truck had to turn its hoses on both the Uprisers and the police in order to clear enough room for the CFD pumper trucks to approach and extinguish the blaze.

The ultimate outcome of the incident may have seemed to have been in the homophobe’s favor—the destruction of yet another safe space for the burgeoning queer community, and yet more hostility with the police, not even a decade after Stonewall. However, the LGBTQIA+ community, in response to the loss of Infinity, came together in a show of solidarity, and soon every bar and club in the Boroughs began allowing gay men, lesbians, drag queens, transsexuals, and the transgender community. Activist organizations sprouted from the ashes of Infinity to advocate for rights and protections, and less than two years later, homosexual activity was officially decriminalized within City limits. It was among the first of the significant victories which, from Stonewall to Obergefell, took the queer community from persecution to celebration over the course of nearly fifty years.

A Quiet Visit

O-Natsu has visited her grandmother in the hospital for a quiet, if productive, chat.

Mogul Family Mansion Drama!

Police have arrested a scion of industry this week after an alleged poisoning of her grandmother, in what police are calling an inheritance scheme. Unusually, they claim she used arsenic, reminiscent of what some are calling a theatrical script.

The family are not releasing any information at this time.

Big Trouble in Little Chinatown

Terror overtook Dayton Street today when a Triad execution turned a latent psychic’s ability against the community, turning hundreds of citizens into zombie-like assailants. The attack lasted almost one hour before riot police were able to restore order. 
Damage estimates range in the tens of thousands of dollars, and dozens remain in the care of local hospitals. At this time, police have arrested six suspects, but are not releasing further details.

Heritage Party Debate Results

Following last night’s debates, the Heritage Party of Statelandia candidate David Fuentes, 45, has surged ahead in the polls, leading his primary opponent, Jordan Kirk, 54, for the first time since March, 49% to 44%.

Mr. Fuentes had been seen as a dark horse for the avowedly anti-Mutant party, after it was discovered that he met with infamous parahuman 2Capes, also known as Parish Williams, 28, on Keen’s Island last October. Although Mr. Fuentes had attempted to dissemble after his trip was discovered, claiming his meeting was with Keen’s Warden to discuss the intricacies of imprisoning and housing dangerous Mutants, video footage was later released of the two chatting and laughing in an Interview Room outside the presence of prison officials. 

During last night’s debate, however, Mr. Fuentes’ principal opponent, Mr. Kirk, appeared to fumble during key policy explanations, seeming to walk back previous declarations that all mutants be imprisoned for civil safety reasons.

”The simple truth is, not every Mutant is dangerous, just as not every Human is safe,” Mr. Kirk explained, in response to a question of funding secure cells for Mutants. “Certainly the majority of Mutants need to be segregated from society, but some might prove they can be of benefit to polite Human society, in one way or another, and those Mutants ought to be, while monitored, certainly, also utilized for the greater good.”

Mr. Fuentes seized upon this perceived flip-flop by his opponent to double down on his own rhetoric of parahuman use.

“If it can be proven that Mutants can be made suitably docile, a prospect which by the way I very much doubt, but if it can be proven, then wonderful; let the States decide whether to rent or even lease out bonded Mutants to trusted businesses and individuals. Some States, I am sure, might even contemplate the sale of Mutants to trusted owners, although I myself think this would be a terrible proposal here in L’Orange,” said Fuentes, referring to the popular nickname for Citieston. “The prospect of money in their pockets might blind our local lawmakers to the inherent dangers these creatures pose, and those which ought be put down for safety might be suffered in pursuit of the almighty dollar. That’s not a risk I feel comfortable asking Joe and Jane Stateslandia to bear, honestly.”

The two remaining candidates, Fatema Moser, 37, and Mike De Witte, 53, both dropped out of the race last night, neither polling above five percent recognition. The Heritage Party of Stateslandia primary will take place next month.

Battle on the Bridge!

Dozens were left stranded yesterday after a new villain made his appearance over the upper deck of the First President’s Bridge on the Upper West Side. Flying through the air on what appeared to be a technologically advanced surfboard, the latest menace, dressed in yellow-painted plate mail, formed globes of green energy in his hands before hurling them to the ground to explode with terrifying energy, according to eyewitnesses. Although it appears the villain may have been trying to rob an armored Margins truck, his aim was apparently as poor as his plan, and the truck—which sources report was carrying just under six million dollars—was able to escape with little more than cosmetic damage.

”It’s a tragedy that we even live in this world,” said Margins representative John McDermott. “When the hard-working men and women of this country have to worry about parahumans showing up and trying to steal what belongs to other people, it just goes to show how much the current administration has bent over backwards for these so-called ‘supers.’ It’s really a shame, a damn shame.”

Although the new threat was unable to achieve his nefarious goal, nearly ten private vehicles were wholly or partially destroyed in his attack, and the center-right lane on the upper deck of the First President’s Bridge received extensive damage. Estimations extend into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for repairs, and traffic will remain congested along the upper deck until repairs are completed, estimated to be sometime late next year.

When asked about the event, Police Commissioner DeWolff praised local first responders. “I’m proud of the hard work and sacrifice of our boys in blue. These are men and women who risk their lives every day to keep the public safe, and although this new villain escaped today, rest assured we will not rest until he—or she—is safely behind bars in our new parahuman detention facility.”

New Players in the Supernatural World

Three new young people have been spied shaking hands with a creepy stranger in a bright orange suit. Stay tuned for more!