NBC New York - Local

Nearly 100 Cats Survive Upstate NY House Fire That Left Some Badly Injured

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 04:29:03 GMT

Nearly 100 cats survived a house fire in a town outside Rochester, New York, according to an animal protection group.

The Lollypop Farm shelter had been told as many as 70 cats lived in the Perinton home when it caught fire. But its workers had rescued 97 cats as of late Thursday, the Democrat and Chronicle reports.

Many of the cats suffered smoke inhalation, the Humane Society of Greater Rochester said, and it wasn’t clear whether all of them would survive.

The fire began about 1 a.m. Thursday and was confined to one room, according to the Bushnell’s Basin Fire Department.

Two adults were outside when firefighters arrived and declined medical treatment, Bushnell’s Basin Assistant Fire Chief Mark Alberts said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Woman Takes Stolen Postal Truck for Joyride in Brooklyn, Strikes Multiple Parked Vehicles

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 02:47:57 GMT

A woman stole a post office truck in Brooklyn Friday evening, and then took it on a joyride during which time she struck more than a dozen other vehicles, police said.

The U.S. Postal Service employee was away from the vehicle making deliveries when the woman hopped inside the truck around 6:30 p.m., according to police.

She took off, driving around and striking around 14 parked vehicles, although it could be more as the exact number is not yet known, police said. The last vehicle she struck was parked at Kingston Avenue and Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, when police were finally able to catch up as she was blocked in by the crash that she caused.

No injuries were reported.

The woman was taken into custody immediately after the incident, but no charges had yet been filed. It was not clear how much damage the postal truck, which is about the size of a box truck, took in the excursion.

The investigation is ongoing.

NJ Man Admits to Role In Multimillion-Dollar Pharmacy Kickback Scheme

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 02:09:04 GMT

The son of a former co-owner of a New Jersey pharmacy has pleaded guilty to his role in a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme and defrauding the IRS, acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced Thursday.

Alex Fleyshmakher admitted to paying doctors and doctors’ employees to steer prescriptions to the now-closed Prime Aid pharmacies in Union City and New York.

Fleyshmakher also admitted to concealing millions of dollars in insurance reimbursement checks between 2011 and 2018 by cashing them at Brooklyn check-cashing businesses or depositing the checks into Canadian bank accounts before moving the funds to American accounts he owned and controlled.

Authorities said that the prescriptions from just one New Jersey medical practice steered $24.8 million in Medicare and Medicaid payments to Prime Aid in Union City.

The charges to which Fleyshmakher pleaded each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 27.

Honig said that other conspirators in the kickback scheme included Fleyshmakher’s father, Igor Fleyshmakher, of Holmdel, who previously pleaded guilty for his role in the conspiracy; and Eduard Shtindler, of Paramus, who previously pleaded guilty in a related kickback conspiracy. Both sentencings are pending.

Conviction Overturned for NJ Man Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Daughter

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 00:43:52 GMT

A state appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction of a southern New Jersey man convicted of sexually abusing his daughter beginning when she was 5, and ordered a new trial.

The three-judge panel wrote that some testimony shouldn’t have been admitted at the man’s trial because it was unfairly prejudicial.

The man, identified by the initials C.W.H., was sentenced to 24 years in prison after his daughter came forward and reported the alleged abuse in 2015. She testified the abuse lasted until she was 12 years old, in the mid-1990s.

At the trial, prosecutors played video of the man’s interview with police, during which he denied many of the allegations or said he didn’t recall. They also presented testimony by the State Police detective who conducted the interview.

In Friday’s ruling, the appeals court concluded that the detective’s testimony that he felt the defendant was being deceptive was prejudicial and “impermissibly colored the jury’s assessment of defendant’s credibility.”

The court also said certain parts of testimony from the victim’s sister-in-law, in which she recounted being uncomfortable around the defendant and getting “weird vibes” from him, were prejudicial as well.

A message was left Friday with the Cumberland County prosecutor’s office, which tried the case.

Car Strikes Police Cruiser on Long Island, Smashes Into Home Before Catching Fire

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:33:19 GMT

A vehicle slammed into a police cruiser on Long Island, then careened into a nearby house before igniting on fire, according to police.

The SUV was heading eat on Woods Road in North Babylon when it crashed into the marked Suffolk County police car that was crossing at the intersection of Elkton Lane just before 2 p.m. Friday, county police said.

After hitting the police car, the SUV went into a house — and then caught fire, police said. The flames quickly spread to the house. Fortunately, the fire was doused with no injuries to anyone inside the home.

The police officer inside the cruiser was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital with injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening, according to county police. The driver of the SUV was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, and is expected to recover.

No arrests have been made, nor did police indicate anything criminal had transpired. An investigation is ongoing.

NY Prosecutors Interview Michael Cohen About Trump Finances

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:13:30 GMT

New York prosecutors conducted an hourslong interview Thursday of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, asking a range of questions about Trump’s business dealings, according to three people familiar with the meeting.

The interview focused in part on Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, his biggest and longest standing creditor, according to the three people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The interview, at least the second of Cohen by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, comes amid a long-running grand jury investigation into Trump’s business dealings. District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. has been waging a protracted legal battle to get access to the president’s tax records.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on Trump’s request for a stay and a further appeal after he leaves office Jan. 20.

The New York investigation is one of several legal entanglements that are likely to intensify as Trump loses power — and any immunity from prosecution he might have as a sitting president — as he departs the White House.

The Manhattan-based grand jury has been continuing its work despite the coronavirus pandemic, which has curtailed many court operations.

The Republican president also faces a civil investigation, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James into whether Trump’s company lied about the value of its assets to get loans or tax benefits. Cohen also is cooperating with that inquiry.

He previously told Congress that Trump often inflated the value of his assets when dealing with lenders or potential business partners, but deflated them when it benefited him for tax purposes.

The White House declined to comment. A message seeking comment was sent to Cohen’s attorney.

Trump has repeatedly called the investigations by Vance and James, both Democrats, a baseless political “witch hunt.”

Vance has declined to provide specific details about the investigation, but pointed to news reports of what prosecutors described as “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization” in court filings.

Among the reports Vance’s office referenced in court filings was a 2017 article about Ladder Capital, a commercial mortgage lender that made more than $250 million in loans to the Trump Organization that were secured by Trump properties. Jack Weisselberg, the son of Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, is a director of Ladder Capital.

Subpoenas issued in the investigation cover 11 entities engaged in business dealings as far away as Europe and Dubai, according to an appeals court judge speaking at a hearing on the matter.

Cohen, who is serving the remainder of a federal prison sentence on home confinement, has been asked by investigators to examine certain Trump Organization documents and to provide other details about its corporate structure, the people familiar with the matter said. Cohen pleaded guilty to evading taxes, lying to Congress and facilitating campaign finance crimes.

Germany-based Deutsche Bank continued to do business with Trump even after he defaulted in 2008 on a loan for his Chicago hotel and condo development. Trump sued the bank and others whom he blamed for his inability to repay.

But Deutsche Bank’s private banking division continued to lend to Trump, including $125 million to finance the purchase and renovation of his Doral golf resort in 2012, according to previous disclosures.

NBA Fines Irving $50,000 for Health, Safety Violations

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 22:55:01 GMT

Kyrie Irving’s absence from the Brooklyn Nets has become a costly one.

The NBA fined the point guard $50,000 on Friday for violating its health and safety protocols, and said he could return to team activities Saturday — though he won’t play in the Nets’ game that night.

The league added that he would forfeit his salary for each game he misses during a five-day quarantine period that would end Saturday if he continues to test negative for the coronavirus. He’s already missed two, which means he has lost nearly $900,000 of his $33.5 million salary.

Irving has missed the last five games while away from the Nets for personal reasons. He was seen in a video on social media during his absence at an indoor family party while not wearing a mask.

The league’s protocols prohibit attending indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people or entering bars, lounges, clubs or similar establishments.

Irving is the second player to be fined for that. The other is his new teammate, James Harden.

The Nets have not explained the reasons for Irving’s absence, leaving it to him to do when he returns. Their next game is Saturday against Orlando, though they ruled him out, listing health and safety protocols on the injury report. Coach Steve Nash said Friday he had no update about when Irving would rejoin the team.

“Without a doubt, the organization’s disappointed with not having any one of our players, in this particular case Kyrie, not amongst us, not in the trenches with us and so forth,” general manager Sean Marks said Thursday during a news conference to discuss the trade for Harden.

“So I don’t want to speculate and say why he’s out and so forth. I’ve had conversations with him and I’ll continue to have conversations and we look forward to him being back in the gym, where he will address this,” he said.

In December, Irving was was fined $25,000 by the NBA for not speaking to the media during preseason.

NY Nears Nursing Home Vaccine Goal, But Pace Frustrates Some

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:32:37 GMT

New York is close to reaching a vital early goal of its coronavirus vaccine campaign: getting a first dose to every nursing home resident, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday. But the effort to protect those residents has unfolded more slowly than some administrators and relatives hoped.

Some 96 percent of the state’s nursing home residents have received at least an initial dose, and vaccination teams are due to reach the rest by Sunday, said Cuomo, a Democrat.

The federally run program to vaccinate nursing home residents and staff launched Dec. 21. As recently as Jan. 4, only 288 of the 611 facilities that signed up for the federal program had seen residents get their first visit from vaccination teams sent by private pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens.

Jeannie Wells hoped her 92-year-old mother would get the shot quickly at her facility in Rochester, and they would have a path toward seeing each other in person again for the first time since November.

Instead, it was Thursday by the time pharmacists made their first visit to the home, said Wells, a nurse and a member of a local advocacy group called the Elder Justice Committee of Metro Justice. It will be weeks before her mother gets her second dose of the vaccine, and weeks more before its protection fully kicks in.

“I would think that they should have been able to hit the ground running,” she said, adding that it was painful to lose precious time for potentially visiting her mother, whose memory is fading.

“There is no way for anyone to understand that when you’re losing a parent mentally to begin with, to lose that — to have those days taken away — there’s no way you can ever make up for that,” she said.

Stephen Hanse, president of statewide associations of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, said some New York nursing homes initially struggled to get a first shot scheduled with a partner pharmacy.

The state’s nursing homes have reported 1,300 COVID-19 deaths since the end of November.

Meanwhile, many assisted living homes, which tend to elders who require only a low level of medical care, are still waiting for their first vaccine clinic. The Empire State Association of Assisted Living said 21 out of 176 assisted living homes it surveyed recently said their first vaccine clinic wasn’t scheduled until February or March.

New York had initially intended to set aside its vaccine supply nearly exclusively for health care workers and long-term care residents, but has since expanded eligibility to more than 7 million state residents, including anyone age 65 or older.

This week saw a mad scramble of people trying to get a limited number of appointments, and a rising tide of complaints of confusion about how to best get in line for the shots.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned again Friday that the city’s ability to schedule new vaccination appointments would likely be exhausted by next week, if supplies don’t increase.

State officials said 55,000 appointments available at the state’s newly opened vaccination center on Long Island’s Jones Beach were fully booked within two days.

“What you can’t get past, mathematically, is 7 million people chasing 300,000 doses. That is the mathematical problem you can’t solve,” Cuomo said.

Meanwhile, concerns remain about nursing home staff members who have declined to take the vaccine.

At Gurwin Jewish Nursing Home on Long Island, for instance, 88% of the roughly 350 residents had gotten at least the first shot as of Friday, the facility said.

But the 760 staffers have been far more reluctant: About 36% have gotten at least one shot, though that’s up from 20% when the vaccine was first offered last month.

“It’s a challenge,” CEO Stuart B. Almer said. “People are hesitant, and we understand the hesitancy. This has come very fast.”

To try to turn the tide, Gurwin’s lobby screens are playing videos of staffers talking about their own experiences and reasons for getting vaccinated. Almer jumped on the public-address system the other day to encourage it and emphasize that he felt fine after his own shot.

The New Jewish Home in Manhattan, meanwhile, has held staff town hall meetings and encouraged workers to talk with medical staff about any concerns.

“We were telling them, ‘This is a gift, and we have to see it as a gift, that we’re able to get this, when we’ve seen what we’ve seen on the frontline … what this virus can do,’” administrator Sandra Mundy said.

Nurse Delores Newton was among the staff at the home who passed up an initial opportunity to take the vaccine, but ultimately took it when it was offered again Monday.

“I’m all for vaccinations,” says Newton, 49, who said she gets a flu shot every year. “I’m just leery about anything that’s new.”

She said seeing residents and co-workers get the shots without any major reactions were among the things that gave her more confidence, along with encouragement from her sister and a conversation with the home’s medical director.

“Everything, combined, and reading up on the vaccine a little bit, that’s what changed my mind,” Newton said.

The union that represents many New York nursing home staffers, 1199SEIU, is encouraging members to get inoculated, saying in a December statement that it understands some people’s apprehensions, but “after what we have seen over the last nine months, the risks of doing nothing are more dangerous.”

NY Sends Out First Set of Community Vaccination Kits to NYCHA Housing Developments

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:27:37 GMT

What to Know

The first five community vaccination kits have been sent to NYCHA housing developments across New York City.
This marks the latest move to equitably distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to communities that are underserved by traditional healthcare systems, according to the governor.
These vaccinations sites are strictly limited to eligible NYCHA residents. Residents can make appointments by contacting Somos, the state’s partner organization, by calling 1-833-SOMOSNY.

The first five community vaccination kits have been sent to NYCHA housing developments across New York City, marking the latest move to equitably distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to communities that are underserved by traditional healthcare systems, governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

These vaccinations sites are strictly limited to eligible NYCHA residents. Residents can make appointments by contacting Somos, the state’s partner organization, by calling 1-833-SOMOSNY.

“We have one priority and one priority alone – getting shots into arms – and as we continue our work to expand the network of vaccination sites, it’s critical to make sure the vaccine is distributed fairly and equitably,” Cuomo said. “Getting the vaccine to New Yorkers who are underserved by traditional health care institutions or living in health care deserts is a top priority, and these sites in NYCHA housing bring us a step closer to that goal.”

However, New Yorkers are urged to be patient when making appointments to be vaccinated since the vaccine supply is limited. The state’s vaccine supply is determined by the federal government. With over 7 million New Yorkers now eligible for the COVID vaccine, the state only receives 300,000 doses per week.

“New York doing its part in getting the vaccine distributed quickly and fairly, but we need the federal government to step up and increase the supply. We have come too far and been through too much to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, only to be stymied by a slow federal distribution process,” the governor went on to say.

The five sites for eligible NYCHA residents with appointments are located at:

Bronx – West Tremont Avenue-Sedgwick Avenue Area, 200 West Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10453
Brooklyn – Stuyvesant Gardens II, 150 Malcolm X Blvd. Brooklyn, NY 11221
East Harlem – 307 East 116 St., New York, NY 10029
Queens – International Tower 90-20 170 St., Queens, NY 11432
Staten Island – 230 Broad St., Staten Island, NY 10304

“We have worked from day one of this pandemic to bring equitable and culturally responsive care to underserved New Yorkers, and we will keep working until everyone is vaccinated—that means essential workers and vulnerable New Yorkers including seniors, who live here at the Corsi Houses,” SOMOS Community Care President Dr. Henry Chen said.

The news comes on the same day that the mayor revealed New York City has moved closer to a cutoff point in its vaccination rollout as multiple hospitals told patients who booked appointments for their first dose that there were no more vaccines, for now. Mayor Bill de Blasio had warned days ago the city would run out of doses at some point next week without a “major” new infusion.

De Blasio doubled down on those comments Friday on WNYC, when he said in no uncertain terms the city would run out of vaccine in a week at this rate.

“We’re speeding up the process and getting them the vaccine, but we’re not going to have enough vaccine by the end of next week,” de Blasio said Friday.

He said the feds need to send hundreds of thousands more doses above the allotment to keep the process moving at this week’s expedited pace. One hundred twenty-five thousand New Yorkers got dosed between Monday and Thursday, de Blasio said, well on the way to the city’s goal of 150,000 shots a week.

“If there’s no supply, we’re going to have to freeze the appointment system,” the mayor warned. “That would be insane. We should get the supply commensurate to our ability to give the vaccine. It makes no sense we’re being starved of the vaccine when we’re vaccinating at this high level. As soon as we get it in now, it’s going right into people’s arms.”

Cuomo raised some questions on that last point Friday as he shared data on vaccine administration performance across the state’s regions and by provider within those regions. Ultimately, he agreed with de Blasio that federal supply is a severe — and mounting — problem.

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New York Man Seen Smoking Cigar During Capitol Riot Charged for Breaking Window: FBI

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 21:25:05 GMT

A man seen on video using a clear police shield to break a window at the U.S. Capitol before storming inside was arrested Friday after being identified as a Rochester resident with apparent ties to the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, according to a criminal complaint.

Dominic Pezzola, 43, was charged in the federal complaint with destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding and illegally entering a restricted building.

Pezzola is believed to be the bearded man seen in widely shared video shattering an exterior Capitol window, which he and others then climbed through. Another video taken inside the building shows the man smoking a cigar in what he calls a “victory smoke,” according to the FBI.

Authorities identified Pezzola with the help of two witnesses, as well as photographs from a Dec. 12 pro-Trump rally in Washington, during which Pezzola appears to be wearing a Proud Boys T-shirt, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. In an online biography, the man nicknamed “Spaz” describes himself as “Marine vet/ boxer/ patriot/ Proud Boy 2nd.”

One witness said Pezzola bragged about using a Capitol Police shield to break the window Jan. 6 and was with a group whose members said they would have killed “anyone they got their hands on,” including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The witness “further stated that members of this group, which included ‘Spaz,’ said that they would have killed (Vice President) Mike Pence if given the chance,” the affidavit said.

A telephone listing for Pezzola had been disconnected Friday. It was unknown if he has an attorney.

Pezzola is among several New York residents and dozens nationwide to be charged as law enforcement identifies and rounds up participants in the deadly attack of the Capitol by Trump loyalists.

More state troopers are being deployed around the New York state Capitol and the National Guard will be on standby as law enforcement braces for more potential violence leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, officials said Friday.

The FBI warned this week that armed protests by violent Trump supporters were being planned in all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to the inauguration Wednesday.

State Police Maj. Christopher West said security is being increased even though there was no credible threat to Albany.

“Anyone who comes to the Capitol with the intention of causing violence or damage to public property will be arrested,” West said at a law enforcement news conference. “We have zero tolerance for anyone who incites what causes any violence.”

CDC Model Suggests UK COVID Strain Will Dominate in U.S. Shortly – With Spike in Cases

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 18:00:12 GMT

The UK variant of the virus behind COVID-19 could be the dominant strain in the United States by March, and because it transmits more easily, daily case totals could spike again in the spring.

That was the CDC’s warning in a new report Friday on the emergence of the variant known as B.1.1.7.

“Variant B.1.1.7 has the potential to increase the U.S. pandemic trajectory in the coming months,” the CDC said, explaining that it modeled the course of the virus’s spread based on currently known factors.

“In this model, B.1.1.7 prevalence is initially low, yet because it is more transmissible than are current variants, it exhibits rapid growth in early 2021, becoming the predominant variant in March,” the report added.

The CDC model looked at daily reported cases through May of both the current variants of the virus and B.1.1.7, in scenarios where the reproduction rate right now was either just above or just below 1, and in scenarios where a community was or was not vaccinated.

In the worst-case scenario — with a reproduction rate above 1 and no vaccination — there could be as many as 80 new cases per 100,000 people by May, or more than a quarter-million new cases every single day.

Even in a more optimistic scenario, with a declining rate of infection and with community vaccination, the CDC’s model still projected that the new variant could drive more than 30,000 new daily cases nationwide by May.

“Efforts to prepare the health care system for further surges in cases are warranted. Increased transmissibility also means that higher than anticipated vaccination coverage must be attained to achieve the same level of disease control to protect the public compared with less transmissible variants,” the CDC said.

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Possible Discipline for NYPD Cop in Shooting Death of Delrawn Small Coming Next Week: Mayor

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:53:38 GMT

A “formal answer” on disciplinary action is expected next week against the NYPD officer previously acquitted of murder and manslaughter for the killing of an unarmed man more than four years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed Friday.

In 2017, a Brooklyn jury returned the verdict at the trial of Wayne Isaacs, who was off duty on July 4, 2016, when he and Delrawn Small got into a traffic dispute that authorities said continued for several blocks. Isaacs was acquitted of charges.

Small was killed on July 4 after, according to his girlfriend, he thought he was cut off on a Brooklyn street by Isaacs, who was off duty. When he got out of his car and walked up to Isaacs’ vehicle at a stoplight, the officer shot him from behind the wheel.

Isaacs was on the road in civilian clothes but still carrying a handgun following a shift that ended at midnight. A passenger in Small’s car told police Small grew angry because he thought Isaacs had cut him off and got out his car at a stoplight to confront the officer.

Based on preliminary evidence, including Isaacs’ statements, police initially said they believed the officer opened fire after Small reached through an open driver’s side window and punched the officer while he sat behind the wheel of his car.

But a short black-and-white video, which surfaced on the internet, appeared to show Small getting struck by gunfire the moment he walks up to the car window, with no clear indication that he first assaulted the officer.

In addition to his acquittal, Isaacs was cleared from an internal NYPD investigation and returned to active duty status, The Gothamist reports.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board, NYPD’s oversight board, said in October 2020 it would be recommending disciplinary action following a review of the 2016 shooting.

During his weekly call into WYNC with Brian Lehrer, de Blasio promised an imminent update when asked by a listener for follow up to the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s announcement in the fall.

“I had an initial conversation with the chair of the CCRB. I need to finish that conversation and we will have a formal answer next week,” the mayor said.

Largest NYC Restaurant Week Ever Will Feature Take-Out Only Menu

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 17:43:18 GMT

What to Know

Restaurant Week is set to return to the Big Apple as a take-out only event with more than 500 participating restaurants across the five boroughs — making it the largest NYC Restaurant Week ever.
“NYC Restaurant Week To Go” was created with the goal to stimulate the local restaurant industry at a time when the hospitality industry has taken a massive blow due to the ongoing pandemic.
“NYC Restaurant Week To Go” will kick off Jan. 25 and run through Jan. 31. Participating restaurants will provide an entrée and at least one side for lunch and/or dinner for the price of $20.21.

Restaurant Week is set to return to the Big Apple as a take-out only event with more than 500 participating restaurants across the five boroughs — making it the largest NYC Restaurant Week ever.

This upcoming NYC & Company’s NYC Restaurant Week will host a special iteration of the gastronomic event. “NYC Restaurant Week To Go” was created with the goal to stimulate the local restaurant industry at a time when the hospitality industry has taken a massive blow due to the ongoing pandemic.

“NYC Restaurant Week To Go” will kick off Jan. 25 and run through Jan. 31, at more than 500 eateries across all five boroughs, including from fine dining to casual eateries.

Participating restaurants will provide an entrée and at least one side for lunch and/or dinner for the price of $20.21.

Some of the restaurants that have already signed up to participate include:

Red Rooster
Sylvias
Mercado Little Spain
Bar Boulud
RedFarm
Sweet Chili
Union Square Café
Blue Smoke
Gramercy Tavern

The full list of participating restaurants will be released next week.

3 Wanted in Food Delivery Turned Armed Home Invasion: NYPD

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:00:34 GMT

Police in New York City released information Friday morning on three suspects wanted in connection with a home invasion robbery where at least two armed men tied up the victims and got away with thousands in cash and electronics.

The frightening Brooklyn robbery occurred shortly before 5 p.m on Jan. 8 after an unidentified woman dropped food off at the Prospect Park South building on East 18th Street, police said.

The apartment building’s surveillance video captured the woman enter the building trailed by two other people, now believed to be the armed assailants.

Police say the two men then knocked on the sixth-floor apartment door and used their guns to threaten a 38-year-old man when he answered the door. That’s when the suspects allegedly tied up the man and a second male victim in the apartment, according to police.

The pair got away with $2,075 in cash and electronics, authorities say. All three suspects the building in opposite directions and have not yet been identified by police.

The two victims were said to have suffered no injuries from the home invasion.

Police have asked anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

New Jersey Probation Officer Gets Prison for Sex Assault

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:46:15 GMT

What to Know

A probation officer in New Jersey is going to prison for coercing a woman he supervised to have sex with him.
A judge in Monmouth County on Thursday sentenced Henry Cirignano, 48, of Wall Township, to 10 years in prison. He must serve nearly 7 years before he’ll be eligible for parole.
Evidence showed Cirignano “had threatened to create false probation violations resulting in incarceration unless the victim provided sexual favors to him.” Prosecutors also said Cirignano repeatedly lied to the drug court judge handling the woman’s case.

A probation officer in New Jersey is going to prison for coercing a woman he supervised to have sex with him.

A judge in Monmouth County on Thursday sentenced Henry Cirignano, 48, of Wall Township, to 10 years in prison. He must serve nearly 7 years before he’ll be eligible for parole.

The 18-year veteran of the probation department will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law and he’ll forfeit his state benefits.

Cirignano pleaded guilty last year to sexual assault by coercion and official misconduct.

Prosecutors said he engaged in sexual activity with the 23-year-old woman he was supervising between August 2016 and January 2019.

Evidence showed Cirignano “had threatened to create false probation violations resulting in incarceration unless the victim provided sexual favors to him.” Prosecutors also said Cirignano repeatedly lied to the drug court judge handling the woman’s case.

“Cirignano’s actions represent the worst type of predatory behavior,” said Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni. “He trampled upon the oath he took as a public servant, and abused his power by forcing the victim to provide sexual favors, extorting her with threats of incarceration if she refused.”

Man Wanted in Wild Scooter Attack on MTA Bus

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:44:13 GMT

Police are looking for a man seen on camera smashing an MTA bus windshield with his scooter late last month, leaving the driver with eye injuries from flying debris, authorities said.

It’s not clear what prompted the Dec. 18 late-morning attack on the bus, which was on Lafayette Avenue at the time. Surveillance footage shows the man walk in front of the bus, wind up his arm and smash the window with his scooter.

The injuries to the 56-year-old driver were considered minor.

Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Man Toting Black Assault Rifle on NYC Sidewalk Stroll Terrifies Onlookers: Cops

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:30:29 GMT

Police are looking for a man seen walking calmly down a Bronx sidewalk, a black assault rifle with a high capacity magazine attached swinging by his arm, authorities said Friday.

The sighting came a day earlier around 3:30 p.m. on Webster Avenue. The man didn’t appear to point the gun at anyone, but the presence of the rifle alone terrified anyone who happened to witness him walking by, police said.

The man was last seen walking toward East Gun Hill Road; cops released surveillance video of him (above). No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information on the man is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

Man Arrested on Murder Charge in Bizarre Queens Case

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 12:49:50 GMT

A 30-year-old man has been arrested on murder and weapons charges in the death of a 72-year-old man who shares his last name — and was found dead in a Queens bathroom with possible stab wounds early Thursday. Three other people were found unconscious in the living room after possibly being poisoned.

Jaimie Walker was taken into custody at the scene on Hempstead Avenue in Queens Village. Officers found him acting erratically when they responded to a 911 call around 6:30 a.m. from a man saying he had killed his father.

That man, identified as Loandows Walker, was the victim found in the bathroom. Three unconscious people– a 70-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman — in the living room with no visible injuries, police said.

All three of the unresponsive people were taken to a hospital in critical condition. Sources familiar with the investigation say all the victims are related. Detectives are waiting on toxicology reports to determine what may have sickened them.

Video posted to the Citizen app showed an extensive response of fire trucks and ambulances. Police say their investigation is ongoing.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Jaimie Walker had an attorney.

NYC Hospitals Cancel Vaccine Appointments Over Shortage; Rumor Wreaks Havoc in Brooklyn

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 12:04:20 GMT

What to Know

New York and New Jersey continue to shore up vast vaccination networks amid what officials describe as critical limits on supply; in the Empire State, wait times have stretched into mid-April
The rollout has seen other hiccups as well, from scheduling links accidentally opening up to the public to hospitals reporting they have to cancel appointments over dose shortages and more
7 million NYers are now eligible for the vaccine, with 5 million earning eligibility this week; at the current weekly allocation rate, Gov. Cuomo says it’ll take half a year to just vaccinate people who are eligible

New York City has moved closer to a cutoff point in its vaccination rollout as multiple hospitals told patients who booked appointments for their first dose that there were no more vaccines, for now. The mayor had warned days ago the city would run out of doses at some point next week without a “major” new infusion.

With the discovery of a second UK strain cluster in New York fueling a heightened urgency for inoculations, the apparent shortage is a significant hiccup for a city with increasing demand. Across the state, there are currently 7 million people who are eligible to receive the vaccine, including people 65 and over, health care workers and those in certain key professions like police officers and teachers.

About 5 million people alone have become newly eligible for shots since Monday.

Mount Sinai Medical Hospital released a statement Thursday saying it had been forced to cancel existing public vaccination appointments from Friday through Tuesday “due to sudden changes in vaccine supply.”

NYU Langone Medical Center said it wouldn’t book any new appointments because of insufficient doses. Many hospitals throughout the state are feeling the same crunch, even as the race to vaccinate charges on.

There was vaccine confusion of another kind in Brooklyn Thursday evening. A rumor spread from the messaging service WhatsApp that a refrigerator housing vaccines was down at Brooklyn Army Terminal and more than 400 doses were going out on a first-come, first-serve basis to any adult.

Issues plagued other parts of the state as well. Officials said that an unpublished scheduling link was shared earlier in the week, which mistakenly allowed people to make appointments at state-operated sites in Binghamton, Buffalo, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Utica, and more locally, Stony Brook.

Those who made unauthorized appointments via that link so their bookings voided so as to ensure “equity and equal access,” the state said.

As it is, appointment wait times have stretched out to at least mid-April due to limited federal supply, Gov. Andrew Cuomo says. The state only gets 300,000 doses a week. That number hasn’t changed despite the millions of new people who have become eligible since the rollout started. At that rate, it would take at least half a year to vaccinate the currently eligible population alone.

According to CDC data, the state has received 1,872,625 vaccine doses to date but only about 37 percent of those have been administered. Nearly 60,000 of the doses administered thus far are second shots, the federal agency says.

In New York City, 303,671 doses have been administered with nearly 40,000 of those being second shots, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s latest data. That’s only about 38 percent of the total doses delivered to date.

After a slow initial rollout in mid-December, though, data shows daily dose administration is gaining momentum. De Blasio said nearly 36,000 doses were administered on Wednesday alone. The city continues to open new 24/7 mass vaccination sites and now has at least one in all five boroughs.

De Blasio plans to open 250 access points this month in his mission to dose at least 1 million New Yorkers by January’s end, but the mayor has admitted federal supply limitations could hamper his efforts. At this rate, the city would have to administer another nearly 700,000 doses in the next two weeks to hit the mark.

Not sure how the process works? Check here for a list of vaccine sites in the tri-state area and details on how to register if you’re eligible for shots

New York City and New Jersey Vaccine Providers

Click on each provider to find more information on scheduling appointments for the COVID-19 Vaccine.

Data: City of New York, State of New Jersey • Nina Lin / NBC

It wasn’t immediately clear if the apparent shortages affecting some New York City hospitals exist citywide or if some redistribution of supplies may be in order. Earlier this month, Cuomo had threatened to fine hospitals if they did not use their inventories within seven days of receipt. If that were to become an ongoing issue for certain hospitals, he said they could be disqualified for future distribution.

De Blasio had fired back at Cuomo over the apparent finger pointing at hospitals, demanding “the freedom to vaccinate.” He won that battle, and now some hospitals are saying they don’t have the resources.

It’s not clear where the more than 490,000 as-yet unused doses that have been delivered are being stored.

Statewide, Cuomo is shoring up a distribution network that will include about 4,000 vaccine sites. Three new state-run sites open Friday in Queens, Manhattan and the University of Albany, adding to the ever-growing list.

Earlier this week, state-run sites opened at Manhattan’s Javits Center, the Westchester County Center in White Plains, Syracuse’s New York State Fair Expo Center, Washington Heights’ Fort Washington Armory and Nassau County’s Jones Beach, where hundreds of cars lined up. The state expected to vaccinate 700 at the Nassau site Thursday, a far cry from initial estimates of 5,000-10,000 per day.

Another state-run site opens Saturday at SUNY Albany comes online Saturday, with about a dozen others (at least) expected to come online in the coming days.

Daily Percentage of Positive Tests by New York Region

Gov. Andrew Cuomo breaks the state into 10 regions for testing purposes and tracks positivity rates to identify potential hotspots. Here’s the latest tracking data by region and for the five boroughs. For the latest county-level results statewide, click here

Source: ny.gov

Over in New Jersey, there are currently more than 100 vaccination sites and at least one in each of the 21 counties. It also has six mega-vaccination sites, with more planned, as Gov. Phil Murphy opened eligibility this week to people age 65 and older as well as people age 16 to 64 with underlying conditions that increase their risk. Smoking counts as such a condition, which has sparked controversy.

Murphy’s administration has said it hopes to vaccinate at least 70 percent of its adult population within six months. So far, it has administered 40 percent of the doses it has received, CDC data shows, and is vaccinating at a slower pace per 100,000 residents than New York (2,966 vs 3,540).

Despite widely shared concerns about supply, state and city officials are aggressively working to extend their vaccination networks as they find themselves racing against a changeable virus that is still spreading rampantly.

The highest rates of spread — and the highest hospitalization and death numbers – since May – have all come in recent weeks, a consequence of the holiday surge officials had so feared. Both New York and New Jersey have set a number of single-day case records in the last month, though hospitalizations have remained manageable. In New York, new daily case and hospitalization numbers appear to have leveled off a bit this week, but deaths, a lagging indicator, are still rising.

Tracking Coronavirus in Tri-State

COVID-19 Mar 9, 2020

How Many in Tri-State Tested Positive for Coronavirus? See Latest Cases by the Numbers

coronavirus vaccine Dec 29, 2020

Calculate Your Spot in the Coronavirus Vaccine Line

On Thursday, Cuomo reported more than 200 new daily deaths statewide for the first time since May 12, according to The COVID Tracking Project, as New York City surpassed a half-million confirmed virus cases by the state’s count.

New Jersey’s death toll topped 20,000 this week, a grim milestone reflective of a national crisis that has forcefully shaped the beginning of 2021 for the U.S.

January is on pace to be the deadliest month of the pandemic for America, on the heels of a December that held the same tragic distinction. To date, nearly 385,000 U.S. lives have been lost to the coronavirus; case totals have topped 23 million.

NJ Woman's Kidney Donation Kicks Off Chain Reaction That Saved 4 Lives

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:25:59 GMT

A New Jersey woman is being credited with saving four lives after she donated her organ to a complete stranger.

You wouldn’t guess it by looking at her but Gianna Graw just had major surgery to remove one of her kidneys for someone who needed the life-saving transplant. She says the donation was inspired by her love for her father — Jersey City officer Willie Graw who died of cancer in 2016.

“I just wanted to do the right thing for someone. I didn’t have to know them,” Graw told NBC New York.

She said that after her father died, she was determined to honor her father’s life the way he lived it, selflessly.

“We have no pictures together because he was always the one taking the picture,” Graw said of her father. “It was my goal in life to make up for what was lost from him being lost.”

Graw initially was going to donate her kidney to a Jersey City officer, whom she didn’t know personally. However, the officer already had a donor and she still wanted to help. She reached out to Hackensack University Medical Center which helped her start the donation process.

What Graw chose to do is a rare act. Hospitals around the country see such altruistic donations only about 300 times a year.

“I call donors heroes and this kind of donor I call a superhero,” said Dr. David Serur of Hackensack University Medical Center’s Division of Organ Transplantation.

The hospital worked with the National Kidney Registry‘s sophisticated matching system, pairing donors and recipients for the best outcome.

Graw ended up being matched with a 37-year-old man from California. Her selfless act also kicked off a chain of kidney donations helping a total of four people, and she says this is just the beginning.

“If I can inspire one person who is thinking about donating to do to—that’s really what I get out of this,” Graw said.

In a letter to her anonymous kidney recipient, Graw was the one who thanked him.

“It’s a gift to me too. You’ve made my dream come true,” she said.

At a time when we could all use a little positivity, Graw is shining her bright light on kindness.

“I feel like a made an impact. I feel like I lived on my dad’s legacy. I don’t want to get emotional. I didn’t expect any of this. I did it because it was the right thing to do,” she added.