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☆ Veteran Collected Benefits After Lying About Purple Heart, U.S. Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A woman in upstate New York was arrested on Wednesday and charged with fraudulently claiming to be a Purple Heart recipient, federal prosecutors said. The woman, Sharon Toney-Finch, 43, of Newburgh, N.Y., defrauded military charities and the Department of Veterans Affairs by lying about having received the Purple Heart, a military award given to those wounded or killed in action, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. Ms. Toney-Finch claimed that she had survived a terrorist attack on her convoy in Iraq while serving a tour in March 2010, the statement said. She also claimed to have been wounded in a mortar attack the preceding February. In March 2016, Ms. Toney-Finch began collecting disability benefits from the department after lying about getting injured during her military service, federal prosecutors said.

Persons: Sharon Toney, Finch, Damian Williams, Ms, Toney Organizations: Department of Veterans Affairs, Southern, of Locations: New York, Newburgh, N.Y, U.S, of New York, Iraq

☆ Man Is Charged With Murder in Fatal Shooting of N.Y.P.D. Officer
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A man was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Police Officer Jonathan Diller, the Queens district attorney announced. Ms. Katz said that Mr. Rivera faced life in prison without parole if convicted. It was not clear whether Mr. Rivera had a lawyer. Officer Diller then yelled at Mr. Rivera to take his hands out of his pockets, the police said. Officer Diller’s partner, Officer Veckash Khedna, shot Mr. Rivera in the back.

Persons: Jonathan Diller, Guy Rivera, Sasha Rosen, Rivera, Melinda Katz, Ms, Katz, Mr, Diller, Veckash Khedna Locations: Queens, Rockaway

☆ Five Students Wounded in Slashing at Queens High School
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Five students were wounded and later arrested on Wednesday after a slashing at a Queens high school, the police said. The slashing occurred during a fight that broke out around 12:43 p.m. at the school, New Dawn Charter High School II in Jamaica, according to law enforcement authorities. Five students were involved, as well as a security guard who tried to break it up. All five students and the guard were taken to a nearby hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries; the five students were then taken into custody. In two consecutive days in December, a 12-year-old girl was slashed in the leg at a Bronx middle school and a 15-year-old boy was stabbed at a Brooklyn high school.

Organizations: Queens, New Dawn Charter High, II Locations: Jamaica, New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn

☆ Suspicious Powder Found at Courthouse Where Trump Judge Has Offices
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An envelope containing white powder was found Wednesday morning at the New York State Supreme Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, officials said. The court building, at 60 Centre Street, contains offices belonging to Justice Arthur F. Engoron, the judge who oversaw former President Donald J. Trump’s civil fraud trial. A court officer had opened an envelope, and white powder fell onto his pants, the police said. The police said that the Fire Department had responded to the discovery of the powder and that the investigation continued. The officer declined medical attention, according to the Fire Department, as did another court officer who was exposed to the powder.

Persons: Arthur F, Donald J Organizations: New York, Police, Fire Department Locations: Lower Manhattan

☆ Hochul Apologizes After Implying Israel Has a Right to Destroy Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul apologized on Friday night for remarks she made at a Jewish philanthropy event in New York City that implied that Israel would be justified in destroying Gaza because of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. “If Canada someday ever attacked Buffalo, I’m sorry, my friends, there would be no Canada the next day,” Ms. Hochul said in a video of the speech posted on social media. “That is a natural reaction. You have a right to defend yourself and to make sure that it never happens again. And that is Israel’s right.”In a statement provided to The New York Times on Friday night, after the speech began circulating on social media, Ms. Hochul said that she regretted her “inappropriate analogy.” She apologized for her “poor choice of words.”

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul, specter, ” Ms, ” Organizations: United Jewish Appeal, Federation of New, Canada, The New York Times Locations: New York City, Israel, Gaza, Federation of New York, United States, Buffalo, “, Canada

A teenager was taken into custody on Thursday in connection with a shooting at a Bronx subway station earlier this week that killed one person and injured five others, a law enforcement official said. The shooting took place during the afternoon rush hour on Monday at the Mount Eden Avenue subway station in the Bronx. It occurred after a fight broke out between two groups of teenagers on a northbound 4 train at 4:30 p.m. When the train arrived at the station and people began filing off, someone fired a gun, the police said. The shooting continued as people frantically exited the train and ran for cover.

Persons: Obed Beltran, Sanchez Organizations: Mount Locations: Mount Eden, Bronx

☆ Lawyer and Son Ensnared Hundreds of Immigrants in Fraud Scheme, U.S. Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Bronx lawyer and his son were arrested on Monday and charged with orchestrating a seven-year immigration scheme that defrauded hundreds of immigrants and caused some of them to be deported, federal prosecutors said. The lawyer, Kofi Amankwaa, 69, and his son, Kofi Amankwaa Jr., 37, advised clients seeking green cards to sign petitions under the Violence Against Women Act, which enables undocumented immigrants who are victims of abuse to gain lawful permanent residence in the United States, prosecutors said. The petitions falsely claimed that the clients were being abused by their children, who were American citizens. The applications for legal residency were often found to be fraudulent and denied, and some of the Amankwaas’ clients were deported. Their services cost as much as $6,000, plus administrative fees, the complaint said.

Persons: Kofi Amankwaa, Kofi Amankwaa Jr, Damian Williams Organizations: U.S, Southern, of Locations: United States, of New York, U.S

At 2 p.m. on Friday, Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., home to the Buffalo Bills, was covered in snow. Mounds of white powder were piled high across the stadium, obscuring signs, burying seats and blocking the tunnels that lead from the locker rooms to the field. But the Bills, set to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the second round of the National Football League playoffs, had a plan. Ethan Cuddihy, 23, a Buffalo native and a lifelong Bills fan, was more than willing. The team’s beloved quarterback, Josh Allen, had already given him so much; it was only right that Mr. Cuddihy return the favor, he said.

Persons: Highmark, shoveling, Ethan Cuddihy, Josh Allen, Cuddihy Organizations: Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, National Football League, Bills Locations: Orchard Park, N.Y, Buffalo

New York City saw its biggest single-day snowfall in nearly two years on Tuesday, breaking its longest streak on record without significant accumulation, the National Weather Service said. As of 7 a.m., 1.4 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park, according to the weather service — with 0.4 inches falling Monday evening, before midnight, and one inch after. That broke a streak of 701 days without meaningful snowfall, which in New York City is measured by at least one inch falling in Central Park on a given day. The last time there was significant snow in the park was Feb. 13, 2022, when 1.6 inches fell. At least another inch of snow was expected by the end of Tuesday, with some neighborhoods expected to see up to three inches, according to the weather service.

Organizations: National Weather Service Locations: York City, Central Park, New York City

☆ The New York Apartment Where Kissinger Spent His First Years in America
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Art Deco building was the Kissinger family’s first long-term home after they arrived in New York City in 1938 as refugees from Nazi Germany. After a short stint living with relatives and staying in a different apartment nearby, the family settled into the 850-square-foot rental on Fort Washington Avenue in 1940. Mr. Kissinger, the former secretary of state who reshaped the United States’ approach to the Cold War, died in Connecticut on Wednesday at the age of 100. By Thursday morning, news of his death had reached the building on Fort Washington Avenue. The neighbors old enough to remember Ms. Kissinger had long since moved away, according to the current resident of the apartment, Alexei Gonzales.

Persons: Henry Kissinger, Kissinger, Kissinger’s, Paula, Alexei Gonzales, Gonzales Organizations: Fort Washington, Mr Locations: Washington Heights, United States, New York City, Nazi Germany, Fort, States, Connecticut

☆ Girls Thrive in Many Sports. Now They’re Coming for Football, Too.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Honesty Butler was not planning to go to college, let alone leave her home state of New York. Art school was too expensive, so she began to give up on the idea of higher education entirely. Butler had never played a team sport, beyond a brief stint on the track team, but from the first practice, she was hooked. requirement, so Butler was suddenly motivated to keep her grades up — even in math. Now, Butler, 19, is more than 1,200 miles from home in Fort Scott, Kan., where she is preparing for her second season playing collegiate flag football at Fort Scott Community College.

Persons: Butler, Kan Organizations: Binghamton High School, New, New York State, Fort Scott Community College Locations: New York, Fort Scott

☆ How to Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The 97th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will take place on Thursday, with over three million spectators expected to brave the early-morning cold for a view of the procession’s many floats, balloons and celebrity performers. This year, NBC has moved the broadcast up a half-hour to an 8:30 a.m. start. There will also be additional cameras stationed along the route for new angles of SpongeBob, Ronald McDonald and Bluey. Who will broadcast the event? The broadcast will air on NBC and livestream on Peacock beginning at 8:30 a.m.Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker of the “Today” show will host the broadcast of the event, which ends at noon.

Persons: SpongeBob, Ronald McDonald, Bluey, livestream, Peacock, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker Organizations: NBC Locations: Savannah

☆ Robert Moses Put Monkeys in a Park in Harlem. They’re Finally Gone.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At first glance, the metal trellis adorning a public bathroom in a playground in Riverside Park may have appeared innocuous. And the park, known as the Ten Mile River Playground, was located in Harlem, a predominantly Black neighborhood — a fact that seemed to many to be beyond coincidence. Shiloh Frederick, a content creator who focuses on New York City history, first learned of the monkeys while reading “The Power Broker,” Robert A. Caro’s seminal 1974 biography of Robert Moses, the parks commissioner who transformed the city through public works projects. Mr. Moses oversaw an expansion of Riverside Park in the 1930s. Mr. Caro wrote that Mr. Moses was known for adding details that made his projects “fit in with their setting,” generally with an eye to making people feel “at home.”

Persons: Shiloh Frederick, ” Robert A, Robert Moses, Moses, Caro, “, ” Locations: Riverside, Harlem, New York City

As police officers guarded the wrought iron gates protecting Columbia University’s main campus on Tuesday evening, checking for student identification cards, a group gathered around a stone dais at the center of the quad. Roughly 400 students held Palestinian flags and handmade signs. Protesters took turns speaking into a microphone, criticizing the Israel-Hamas war, but also their own school over its decision to suspend two pro-Palestinian student groups through the end of the semester. “We’ve said it before, that our voices are louder and more powerful than the money that you receive, Columbia,” said Mohsen Mahdawi, a student and Palestinian refugee. Following their suspension, the groups released a joint statement on Instagram, accusing the university of “selective censorship” of pro-Palestinian groups and calling the move “an attack on free speech to distract from and enable Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people.”

Persons: “ We’ve, ”, Mohsen Mahdawi Organizations: Columbia, Justice, Jewish, Peace Locations: Columbia, Israel, New York City, Palestine

☆ Jill Ellis Still Wants to Win
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As she listened to him describe the type of team he wanted to create, she realized she could be the one to do it. “I was like, ‘Ron, you know, I didn’t go to Wharton,’” Ellis said, referencing the business school at the University of Pennsylvania. One thing Ellis didn’t need to learn, though, is that the key to the franchise’s overall success would be wins on the field. For the Wave’s second signing, Ellis went with Alex Morgan, the face of American soccer. When it came time for Ellis to find a manager, she was committed to hiring a woman.

Persons: Ellis, Ron Burkle, “, Ron, ’ ” Ellis, ”, Abby Dahlkemper, Alex Morgan, Jill, ” Dahlkemper, Casey Stoney Organizations: U.S, University of Pennsylvania, University of California Locations: Wharton, Los Angeles, England

Hundreds of protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war streamed into Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on Friday, in one of the largest protests New York City has seen since the start of the conflict three weeks ago. The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, came as Israel ramped up its military operations inside Gaza. The protesters filled the train station, chanting, “Cease-fire now” and “Let Gaza live.” Most wore black shirts that read “not in our name.” One police officer estimated that there were as many as 1,000 protesters. Steve Auerbach, a pediatrician in the city, said he was concerned about the children caught in the middle of the conflict. “Calling for a cease-fire should be considered a mainstream, normative position.”Banners declaring “Palestinians should be free” and “Israelis demand cease-fire now” were unfurled over stairwell banisters in the terminal.

Persons: Israel ramped, ”, Steve Auerbach Organizations: Central, New, Jewish Voice, Peace, “, ” Locations: Israel, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, Gaza

☆ Families of Hostages Gather in New York to Pressure the United Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, just steps away from the United Nations headquarters, pro-Israel demonstrators on Tuesday laid out some 200 pairs of shoes — one for each person held hostage by Hamas. “We’re not satisfied knowing that it’s been 17 days and nothing seems to be moving,” said Orna Neutra, whose son, Omer Neutra, is being held in Gaza. Everyone needs to speak up.”Ronen Neutra, Omer’s father, said his family had no idea where Omer was or what condition he might be in. Omer was serving as a soldier in the Israeli military on the border with Gaza when he was abducted, but he grew up in New York. “The world is very divided, but I’m not an expert on that,” Ms. Zeitchik said.

Persons: “ We’re, it’s, ”, Orna Neutra, Omer Neutra, ” Ronen Neutra, Omer’s, Omer, “, ” Mr, Neutra, Alana Zeitchik, Kibbutz Nir Oz, Zeitchik’s, Sharon Cunio, David Cunio, Emma, Julia, Danielle Alony, Amelia, I’m, Ms, Zeitchik Organizations: Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, United Nations, Israel Locations: Dag Hammarskjöld, Israel, Gaza, New York

“He’s known to us in the subway system,” the chief said, adding that video from security cameras in the station had helped investigators identify Mr. Jones as the suspect. Being shoved suddenly on a subway platform in particular is a perennial urban nightmare. Through Oct. 15, there had been 15 people pushed off subway platforms in New York City this year, compared with 22 in the same period last year, the police said. In May, a woman was critically injured after a man shoved her head against a moving subway train at the Lexington Avenue/63rd Street station. The woman, Emine Yilmaz Ozsoy, 35, was partially paralyzed in the attack.

Persons: “, Jones, Emine Yilmaz Organizations: Bowery, Committee, Lexington Locations: New York City

☆ Central Park’s Great Lawn Is Closed Until April After Concert Damage
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Great Lawn, the 12-acre oval of green space that is one of the most popular gathering places in Central Park, will be closed to the public until April after it was damaged during a concert late last month, the Central Park Conservancy confirmed on Tuesday. The concert, the Global Citizen Festival, typically brings about 60,000 people to Central Park each year. It was held this year on Sept. 23 and drew a crowd about half its usual size, despite a heavy rainstorm that dropped about an inch of rain on the park. The heavy equipment used to put on the concert and the foot traffic it attracted caused extensive damage during the downpour, and “fully destroyed” a third of the lawn, the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park, said in a statement. “The Central Park Conservancy is very disappointed that the iconic Great Lawn is now closed and unavailable for New Yorkers to enjoy this fall,” the statement said.

Organizations: Park Conservancy, Global Citizen, Conservancy Locations: Central Park, Central

The Bronx, among the city’s boroughs, has been hit particularly hard by the drug, which can kill in minute quantities. On Saturday, at least one person was in police custody and being questioned, according to the police, and the New York City medical examiner’s office said an autopsy to determine Nicholas’s cause of death was scheduled. There were 2,668 fatal overdoses in the city in 2021, reaching “unprecedented levels,” according to data released by the city this year. The increase was driven by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that was involved in 80 percent of overdose deaths that year, and residents of the Bronx had the highest rate of deaths, the city found. The day care, Divino Niño, is in the 52nd Precinct in the northern portion of the Bronx, which is among the areas hardest hit by fatal overdoses.

Persons: ’, Eric Adams, Joseph E, Kenny, —, Divino Organizations: New, Police Locations: York, United States, Bronx, New York City

So residents turned to other measures — heckling migrants who came looking for shelter and protesting loudly. It was on Mr. Herkert’s street, but he and others residents would not confirm whether they owned it. Gisela Rivadeneira, 24, and her father, Roberto Rivadeneira, 52, both originally from Ecuador, have been staying at the shelter since they arrived there 12 days ago. There are just a few more weeks before a 60-day deadline to move out, which the Adams administration recently imposed on migrants. The messages from the speaker over the weekend underlined the feeling that they are not welcome.

Persons: Gisela Rivadeneira, Roberto Rivadeneira, Adams, Mr, Rivadeneira Organizations: Staten, St, John Villa Academy, Advance, New York Post Locations: Staten Island, Ecuador, U.S

☆ Somber 9/11 Ceremony Draws Mourners to Ground Zero
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They were both at the ceremony supporting their mother, Maureen Tippington Lipshie, who was one of the family members reading names, including that of her brother. She was a nurse who set up a first aid station at ground zero. According to the Uniformed Firefighters Association, 341 firefighters, paramedics and other Fire Department employees have died from cancers and other illnesses linked to the toxic dust at ground zero. They sat by the South Pool and listened to the names being read from a loudspeaker hung on a nearby tree. Ms. Espinoza’s husband, Otto Espinoza, was a police officer who died of cancer in 2015 after being assigned to search and rescue teams at ground zero.

Persons: Maureen Tippington Lipshie, “, ”, Sloane Lipshie, Betty Espinoza, Espinoza’s, Otto Espinoza Organizations: New York Fire Department, Uniformed Firefighters Association, Fire Department

☆ The 343 Reasons a Small Town in Ireland Mourns on Sept. 11
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the garden in Kinsale may never hold more meaning for anyone than it does for Mr. Murphy, who lives in a house next door. Kathleen Murphy had 29 nieces and nephews, he said, but she knew details about all of their lives — whom they were dating, which subject in school was giving them trouble. He once tried to visit the museum and memorial at ground zero, but he said he had to leave. It gets in your head again,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But I don’t feel that when I go to the trees.”

Persons: Murphy, Kathleen Murphy, —, John Sullivan, couldn’t, ” Mr, Sullivan Locations: Kinsale, Cork, Manhattan

☆ Has New York City Reached Peak Lanternfly?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There are many ways to kill a spotted lanternfly. One is the classic stomp: raising a foot high before hammering it into the sidewalk and hopefully flattening one of the distinctive bugs. Another is the shoe-swinging method, in which New Yorkers sacrificially tread barefoot on city streets so as to use their footwear as killing instruments. hero.”People across all five boroughs have dutifully followed the city’s directive to kill the invasive insects on sight. So far this year, the bugs have been documented riding the subway, littering streets and even infiltrating apartments, evidence of a trend that experts anticipated: New York City’s lanternfly problem is getting worse.

Persons: Kieran Culkin, Roman Roy, ” Locations: “, Brooklyn, York

☆ New Chaperones for Labor Day Revelry: N.Y.P.D. Drones Flying Overhead
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Claire Fahy | More About Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York City’s Labor Day revelry will have a new noise this year as the Police Department plans to deploy the remote-controlled, camera-equipped aircraft to monitor large gatherings — even backyard parties — connected to West Indian American Day celebrations in Brooklyn. The plan was announced at a briefing on Thursday in Brooklyn ahead of J’Ouvert and the West Indian American Day Parade, events that honor the region’s diaspora — New York is home to over 600,000 residents of non-Hispanic Caribbean descent. The celebrations commemorate emancipation, but have been the setting of violence in years past, with shootings marring previous events. Both events are set to take place Monday, with J’Ouvert, a predawn carnival procession, kicking off the celebrations at around 6 a.m. in Crown Heights. Efforts to reach the West Indian American Day Carnival Association on Friday morning were unsuccessful.

Organizations: York, Labor, Police Department, West Indian, Association Locations: Brooklyn, J’Ouvert, New York, Crown Heights

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