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☆ The high-speed train in Saudi Arabia that connects Mecca and Medina
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia CNN —In the distant past, Muslim pilgrims came to the holy city of Mecca on foot. Haramain means “two sanctuaries” in Arabic, named for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina that sit on the line’s opposite ends. Business class passengers on the train can watch seat-back TVs. Even on a short journey like the one from Jeddah to KAEC, business class passengers are entitled to a full meal service. When it comes to high-speed railway, it seems as though the Haramain line is only the beginning in Saudi Arabia.

Persons: Tawfiq Al Rabiah, ” Al Rabiah, King Abdullah, King, Saudi riyals, Lilit Marcus, Foster, they’re, KAEC, isn’t, it’s, Umrah, Khalid al, Falih Organizations: CNN, Saudi Arabia CNN —, King Abdulaziz International Airport, King Abdullah Economic, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi, CNN Station, Foster + Partners, du Nord, Getty, Saudi Gazette, Bandar, Saudi Railway Polytechnic, Saudi Arabia’s Investment Locations: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Mecca, Hajj, Medina, Jeddah’s, Jeddah Al, New York, Paris, du, Sulimaniyah, Bandar Aldandani, AFP, KAEC, umrah, Islam, Riyadh

☆ Trump Indictment Places Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg in Spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ’s pursuit of criminal charges against former President Donald Trump could provide a case for the history books while also testing one of New York City’s top prosecutors, a newcomer to political office who built his career in state and federal law enforcement. Mr. Bragg, 49 years old, took office in January of last year, becoming the first Black district attorney in Manhattan after winning the nomination in a crowded Democratic field and then triumphing in his first run for public office. He campaigned by touting his lengthy record in law enforcement, which includes stints with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and the New York attorney general, as well as sharing his personal experiences living with crime and aggressive policing while growing up in Harlem during the 1980s crack epidemic.

☆ Trump Probe Places Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg in Spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ’s pursuit of potential criminal charges against former President Donald Trump could provide a case for the history books while also testing one of New York City’s top prosecutors, a newcomer to political office who built his career in state and federal law enforcement. Mr. Bragg, 49 years old, took office in January of last year, becoming the first Black district attorney in Manhattan after winning the nomination in a crowded Democratic field and then triumphing in his first run for public office. He campaigned by touting his lengthy record in law enforcement, which includes stints with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and the New York attorney general, as well as sharing his personal experiences living with crime and aggressive policing while growing up in Harlem during the 1980s crack epidemic.

☆ A Skeptic’s Tour of New York City’s Natural Wine Bars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Lettie Teague | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ON THE CASE Lettie Teague ventured into the natural wine bars of New York City with an open mind and a battery of questions for the bartenders. I’ve had some natural wines that were pleasant and many that were not. So I decided to taste the wines in their natural habitat: natural-wine bars. You can find natural-wine bars all over the world, and New York City—on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, in particular—is a real stronghold. If I was going to get a clearer impression of natural wine and perhaps taste some better wines, these New York neighborhoods seemed like good places to start.

☆ The 20 Oddest Requests New Yorkers Have Made to 311 Over the Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Operators taking calls in the New York 311 Calling Center in 2004. Give a New Yorker free rein to complain and this is what you get: “I’d like to file a noise complaint against my refrigerator.”The request from someone annoyed by the appliance was just one of the many odd calls made to New York City’s 311 service since its inception in 2003. Officials created the line for mundane complaints, like too-loud construction or heating problems, but bizarre calls trickled in, too. On Friday, the city released some of the wildest ones to mark the service’s 20th anniversary.

☆ A Huge City Polluter? Buildings. Here’s a Surprising Fix.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Brad Plumer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

Carbon dioxide from these boilers wafts up chimneys and into the air, one of the city’s biggest sources of global warming emissions. “And we expect that it won’t be the last.”The boiler releases carbon dioxide. The remaining carbon dioxide was then chilled to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit and turned to liquid. The system currently captures about 60 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by the Grand Tier’s boilers, Mr. Asparro said. While they’re paying for the carbon dioxide, they are not charging a premium for their blocks.

☆ Uber is making it easier to find your ride at the airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Uber on Tuesday unveiled some new product features that aim to make it easier for you to find your ride at the airport. The ride-hailing company said it was adding step-by-step instructions in the app to guide people through the airport and get them smoothly from the gate to their Uber pick-up location. Some of the US airports where this feature will be available include all three of New York City’s main airports (John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty), as well as Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Miami International Airport. “Our new series of products and features will help you plan for your upcoming trips and make your airport travel smoother than ever.”Uber wants to make it easier to find your ride at the airport. Finally, the company said it was expanding its Uber (UBER) Reserve offerings (which lets users reserve a ride up to 90 days in advance) so that travelers can book flights, hotels and Uber (UBER) rides for upcoming trips all at once.

☆ Amazon expansion collides with contraction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) rapid expansion is hitting a wall. When it comes to those trends, even Amazon can’t be too sure. But when it comes to the intersection of hiring and work-from-home trends, even Amazon doesn’t have a crystal ball. Follow @jennifersaba on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSAmazon.com is pausing the construction of its next phase of its second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, the company said on March 3. In 2018, Amazon awarded the Washington suburb with the promise to invest $2.5 billion and hire 25,000 workers.

☆ Where New York’s Asian Neighborhoods Shifted to the Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jason Kao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

In last year’s governor’s election, voters in Asian neighborhoods across New York City sharply increased their support for Republicans. And predominantly Asian areas — precincts with a majority of eligible Asian voters — have undergone a pivotal shift. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Note: The precinct in Kensington is mostly Indian and Bangladeshi. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Flushing, 2022 Murray Hill Bayside Flushing Northern Blvd. Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area Detail area state senate race Bensonhurst Sunset Park McDonald Ave. 65th St. New Utrecht Ave. 8th Ave.

☆ Snow Finally Falls in New York City as Winter Storm Hits Northeast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Forecasters said Central Park in New York City had gotten about 1.8 inches of snow as of Tuesday morning. A winter storm blanketed parts of the Northeast on Tuesday, bringing New York City’s first considerable snowfall this season. Millions of people from Pennsylvania to Maine woke up to snow on the ground early Tuesday. The National Weather Service reported that as much as 7 inches of snow had fallen by the early morning in upstate New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The snow was expected to give way to rain later in the day before easing up by Wednesday morning, the service added.

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ Influx of Migrants Tests New York City Mayor Eric Adams
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The arrival of tens of thousands of migrants has put a strain on New York City’s homeless shelters and presented an unexpected challenge to first-term Mayor Eric Adams , who thus far has relied on a series of ad hoc solutions that have produced mixed results. The issues spilled onto a Manhattan sidewalk last week when migrants who had been staying in a hotel-based shelter refused to be transferred to a Brooklyn cruise terminal that city officials turned into an improvised relief center.

New research conducted by a professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School found that the AI-driven chatbot GPT-3 was able to pass the final exam for the school's Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. Prof. Christian Terwiesch, who authored the research paper "Would Chat GPT3 Get a Wharton MBA? Terwiesch’s findings come as educators become increasingly concerned that such chat bots could inspire cheating. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, on Sept. 28, 2022. Experts who work in both artificial intelligence and education have acknowledged that bots like ChatGPT could be a detriment to education in the future.

☆ An Easy Sheet-Pan Chicken Recipe With Roasted Fennel and Olives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Kitty Greenwald | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Take, for example, this sheet-pan supper of lemony, crisp-skinned chicken thighs roasted with Castelvetrano olives and fennel, Mr. Wyatt’s second Slow Food Fast recipe. “I learned this from German, the butcher at Eleven Madison Park,” Mr. Wyatt said. Unlike other parts of the bird, chicken thighs won’t dry out in the intense heat required to crisp the skin. And the fennel (Mr. Wyatt’s addition) provides an anise-y sweetness that balances the briny olives and tart lemon. “All these flavors work in unison,” Mr. Wyatt said.

☆ New York City’s Luxury Apartment Market Under Pressure in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Kate King | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New York City’s luxury residential market faces numerous obstacles at the start of 2023, ranging from high interest rates to signs of a disappointing bonus season on Wall Street. Sales of the city’s most expensive apartments slowed in the second half of last year, and brokers and analysts said they don’t expect a turnaround soon as the prospect of an economic slowdown pinches even the most affluent home buyers.

☆ NYC mayor cites slower economic growth spurred by high office vacancy, cost of migrant crisis and health care, in budget address
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Mark Morales | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“We crafted this budget in the environment of economic and fiscal uncertainty. The increase in vacancies weakens the commercial office market, according to analysis from the preliminary budget. Rising health care costs and settling expired labor contracts are also listed as hurdles, according to the preliminary budget. Adams said that 88% of jobs lost during the pandemic have been recovered, according to the preliminary budget. The Adams administration also boasts $8.3 billion in budget reserves, according to the preliminary budget, which also looks ahead to investments in affordable housing addressing and environmental concerns.

☆ Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to Be Sentenced for Tax Crimes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Allen Weisselberg is expected to receive a sentence of five months at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, followed by five years’ probation. Former Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg is set to be sentenced Tuesday for tax crimes he committed at the company, after serving as the star witness in a tax-fraud trial that resulted in the conviction of his longtime employer. Mr. Weisselberg, 75 years old, pleaded guilty in August to 15 felonies for participating in a scheme to compensate certain Trump Organization employees, including himself, with off-the-books benefits to evade taxes. Mr. Weisselberg also admitted that from 2005 through 2021, he failed to report $1.76 million in benefits to tax authorities. This unreported compensation came in the form of a rent-free Manhattan apartment, multiple leased Mercedes-Benz cars, home furnishings and private-school tuition for his grandchildren, Manhattan prosecutors said.

☆ Nurses at Mount Sinai Morningside and West reach tentative agreement as thousands of nurses still due to strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Celina Tebor Vanessa Yurkevich Ramishah Maruf Samantha Beech | Celina Tebor | Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Nurses at two other area hospitals, Mount Sinai Hospital and Montefiore Bronx, are still due to strike after not reaching agreements. The new tentative agreement at Morningside and West brings the anticipated number of nurses to strike down from 8,700 to about 7,125. A Mount Sinai spokesperson told CNN on Saturday the hospital system is actively bargaining with the Mount Sinai Morningside and West campuses under separate union agreements. Another six will be transferred Sunday from the NICUs at Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West, the spokesperson said. “In addition, we have transferred close to 100 patients from the affected hospitals – The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside – to unaffected hospitals within the Mount Sinai system and partner hospitals in NYC and we continue to safely discharge patients who were schedule to go home.” All elective surgeries have been postponed, the spokesperson said.

☆ Meet the team behind CNN’s ‘New Year’s Eve Live’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Tricia Escobedo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

ET as Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen co-host CNN’s “New Year’s Eve Live” from New York City’s Times Square. CNN —Every New Year’s Eve, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen host four-and-a-half hours of live television, joined by celebrity guests and performers, as they count down to the new year. “New Year’s Eve Live” is created by “a patchwork team of CNN employees from different show teams, bureaus and units from around the globe,” Hall explained. Here’s what Doft and Hall told us about the live special and what we can look forward to Saturday night:This is the 20th year that Anderson Cooper has hosted ‘New Year’s Eve Live’ on CNN. In fact, it’s why he chooses to anchor “New Year’s Eve Live” — to make sure the audience has a place to go and to fill people with hope, laughter and love.

The free parking subsidy — the valuable real estate along the curb that cities reserve for cars — is estimated to cost $100 billion to $300 billion, greatly exceeding the sums cities would need to spend to make transit free. It is therefore encouraging to see that a growing number of cities across the country are offering free bus service to riders. Though most cities to experiment with free transit in America have been midsize, several of the country’s major cities are now in various stages of trying out free buses. Unfortunately, a handful of smaller cities that have tried out free transit have backtracked — mostly for financial reasons. Thus far, experience suggests that free transit is a lot more practical than adding lanes to urban grids as a solution to this inevitable urban dilemma.

Several Latinos whose lives and work left a profound imprint on American institutions — from arts and entertainment to legal and civil rights — passed away in 2022. Cavazos began his education in a two-room schoolhouse on the King Ranch in Texas, where his father was a foreman. President Reagan named Cavazos Secretary of Education in 1988, making him the first Hispanic ever to serve in the U.S. Together, “Luis” and Maria” showed young audiences that Latinos were people who worked, fell in love and were part of their community. Her goals were to give Latinos a presence in the dance world, and to instill pride in Hispanic culture.

☆ American Second-Home Buyers Are Pouring Into Italy’s Wine Country
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( J.S. Marcus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

After relocating to Milan from New York City’s Upper West Side in 2021, Bryony Bechtold, a teacher, and her husband, Piero Venturini, 50, a lawyer, began looking for a vacation property. With wine on their minds, they found what they were looking for 90 minutes away in northwest Italy’s Piedmont region, home to Barolo, one of the world’s most prized reds. The couple, who have two teenage daughters, paid about $510,000 this past September for the 3,800-square-foot farmhouse on a 6.2-acre lot with a vineyard. They plan to spend about $160,000 on renovations, including an upgrade of the existing wine cellar.

While travel demand is roaring back, many hotels, airlines, cruise operators and airports are still racing to hire and train workers. That means the level of customer service will likely take a hit, industry experts say. One potential bright spot can be found at sea: During the summer, several cruise lines had to cancel voyages due to staffing shortages, but major disruptions have been largely resolved. “It’s highly unlikely your holiday cruise will be canceled due to lack of staffing,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, a Tripadvisor-run travel site. “This year, I moved my annual holiday travel to earlier in December,” said Abby Rhinehart, an educational researcher in Tucson, Arizona.

☆ New York City Plan to Involuntarily Hospitalize Some Mentally Ill Homeless Faces Legal Challenge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Talal Ansari | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Mayor Eric Adams has said the initiative is designed to address what he called a ‘mental health crisis’ among the homeless population. Civil-rights groups are asking a federal judge to block New York City’s new policy to hospitalize homeless people who are severely mentally ill.New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the initiative last week, and said it was designed to address what he called a “mental health crisis” among the homeless population. The policy, which comes amid concerns about safety and disorder in the city, allows for the involuntary removal of people to hospitals if they appear to be a danger to themselves.

☆ NYC honors historic gay bar with landmark status
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Zachary Schermele | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

One of the earliest sites of gay rights activism is officially New York City’s newest landmark. Located at 159 West 10th St., just a short walk from fellow historic gay bar Stonewall Inn, Julius’ has been open since the 1860s. It started attracting gay patrons in the mid-20th century, and, according to the conservation nonprofit group Village Preservation, it’s the city’s oldest existing gay bar. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016 for its significance in the gay rights movement. A photo of the moment went down in gay rights history.

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