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Yonkers Issues Curfew for Halloween, Urges Compliance with State COVID Guidelines

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:22:49 GMT

Yonkers has announced a citywide curfew for children 16 years and younger during Halloween night.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano revealed Thursday that the Yonkers Police Department have issued the Halloween night curfew with safety cited as the main reason behind the curfew.

Spano also said that residents should follow New York State’s guidance for Halloween this year, avoiding traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating and adopting COVID-19 safe practices starting with social distancing and wearing a face covering.

“Halloween is a spooky holiday meant to be enjoyed by all, which is why we are taking a proactive approach in providing a safe fun-filled night for our communities,” the mayor said in a statement. “While COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the region, we can still make Halloween a fun event, but we need to be smart about it. The City will impose its traditional late-night curfew on young people, but will not impose any other mandatory measures other than to urge adherence to the State’s guidelines.”

As part of the curfew:

Children ages 11 and younger must be home by 10 p.m.;
Children ages 12 to 13 must be home by 10:30 p.m.;
Children ages 14 to 16 must be home by 11 p.m.

However, there are certain exceptions:

If a child is accompanied by parent or guardian;
If a child is on an errand with parental permission, with prior notice to YPD Community Affairs Division – 914-377-7375
If it is half an hour after the end of school, religious and volunteer public entertainment and it is no later than 12:30 a.m. unless police are notified by host organization 24 hours in advance;
If it is half hour after work and the child has proof from employer;
All youngsters 16 and under not subject to curfew if on or immediately next to their home (and if neighbors do not object)

Violators of the curfew will be taken to the nearest Yonkers Police Precinct, and parent/guardian will be notified. For more information about the Halloween curfew, contact the Yonkers Police Department at 914-377-7375.

NY Lawmaker Steps Down as Caucus' Majority Leader Following Drug-for-Sex Charges

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 19:55:36 GMT

A New York lawmaker who made fighting substance abuse one of this top priorities, but has since been accused of trading opioids for sex, has stepped down from his position as Majority Leader of the Suffolk County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus.

Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Rob Calarco made the announcement Thursday, releasing a statement regarding Dr. William “Doc” Spencer.

“Legislator Spencer has stepped down from his position as Majority Leader of the Legislature’s Democratic caucus. He is also being removed from his post as chair of the Legislature’s Health Committee which subsequently removes him from any assignments linked to that chairmanship, including serving on the Legislature’s Heroin and Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel,” Calarco’s statement said.

Spencer, a legislator for Suffolk County’s 18th District and a well-regarded physician, appeared in court Wednesday after two senior law enforcement sources told NBC New York that he was arrested Tuesday night as a result of a sting operation that stemmed from a previous major drug investigation on Long Island.

Spencer, 53 and of Centerport, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Both charges are felonies.

The father of three was released on his own recognizance and walked out of the sheriff’s custody wearing his scrubs and a mask alongside his attorney. Neither of them said anything but when asked if he felt like he was targeted, Spencer nodded.

Spencer was ordered to surrender his passport and any firearms in his possession and is due back in court on Feb. 26, 2021. If convicted of the top count, Spencer faces up to nine years in prison.

A task force led by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, along with Suffolk and Nassau County police, the sheriff’s office and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration was tipped off onto Spencer’s alleged behavior, so officials set up a meeting with the Centerport lawmaker Tuesday.

Officials said Spencer faces drug-related charges after his arrest in a parking lot behind a Goodwill store in Elwood Tuesday afternoon.

According to prosecutors, Spencer sent a text to a woman, who he believed to be a prostitute, and who he thought he was meeting up with to swap Oxycodone pills for sex. Authorities believed the woman to be a prostitute and she was recruited to help them with the sting.

Authorities found him in his state vehicle parked behind a strip mall in Elwood, according to officials. Inside the car was lubricant, condoms and a loaded pistol for which he has a permit.

“Obviously, it’s extremely disturbing for an individual to be engaging in this type of behavior who is a sitting county legislator as well as a medical doctor — someone who has spoken about drug prevention and substance abuse disorders. Obviously, that is very troubling,” Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said outside the court.

According to authorities, the larger-scope drug investigation remains active and ongoing. Sini hinted that the investigation was far from over saying that authorities are in the process of executing search warrants and uncovering additional possible crimes allegedly committed by Spencer.

Besides his work as a legislator, Spencer is also an ear, nose and throat specialist and a member of an opioid task force. He has also been an ordained minister since 1986.

He was elected to serve in the legislature since 2011 and has been part of an opioid task force during his time in government. He has focused on drug abuse and opioid addiction, keeping things like tobacco, energy drinks and powdered caffeine (a stimulant) away from minors, according to his website. Since 2012, nearly a third of the legislator’s sponsored resolutions have been focused on health and drug abuse.

The Suffolk County Democratic Committee said in a statement Wednesday: “These are very serious, troubling charges and he should be afforded the same courtesy we give everyone…the opportunity to present a defense and answer the allegations.”

After graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, he worked at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York City. For the past 20 years, Spencer has had his own private practice in Huntington, the Long Island Otolaryngology Airway, P.C. He is also Chief of Otolaryngology at Huntington Hospital and an associate clinical professor at Stony Brook University Hospital. However, Spencer’s privileges at Huntington Hospital have been temporarily suspended pending the investigation and he no longer serves as the Chief of Otolaryngology, according to the district attorney’s office.

Although Calarco went on to say that the allegations are troubling, there is no law that requires a legislator to resign while charges are still pending.

“There is nothing in the law that requires a legislator to resign while charges are pending, and while the allegations against Legislator Spencer are serious, he is entitled to his day in court,” Calarco said in his statement before adding: “My colleagues and I remain focused on continuing the business of the people. The Democratic caucus will convene in the future to select a new Majority Leader, and a new health committee chair will be chosen in due time.”

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Man Rescued After Harrowing LIRR Platform Fall, Getting Wedged Between Rails

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:56:36 GMT

A crew of LIRR workers completed a harrowing rescue Wednesday when a man standing on a platform at the East New York station in Brooklyn suddenly fell onto the tracks and got wedged between the rails, unable to move, MTA officials said Thursday.

The track workers just happened to be in the area after a morning briefing when the man fell from the eastbound platform around 7:30 a.m. and raced to stop trains from coming through the area.

After hearing the loud sound from the man’s fall, they raced over to calm him down as they made sure it was safe for them to go onto the tracks. That’s when his shoe got stuck between the rails, causing him to lose his footing. They managed to extricate his trapped foot by loosening his shoelaces, avoiding contact between him and the electrified third rail.

It wasn’t clear what prompted the man to fall, but he became disoriented after he did, officials said. He apparently managed to escape serious injury and refused medical attention at the scene. His name has not been released.

The five employees — Gregory Hartley, Kevin Rattigan, Larry Woods, Stacy Augustine and Shelwyn Hendy — were honored by Long Island Rail Road President Phil Eng on Thursday for their actions.

“Not exactly verbatim from a well-known superhero, but in this case, it fits: Faster than a speeding locomotive! We cannot thank them enough,” said Eng.

Each of the employees has worked for the transit agency for more than a decade, and some have been with the LIRR for more than 20 years.

“We tried to keep the man calm and all of us as a team, we saved this man’s life and he’s able to go home to his family because of us,” said Hendy.

“This couldn’t have gone any better if we had practiced it,” said Woods. “I did what I could to help, the man was very disoriented and I was nervous that he was going to touch that rail. I’m just glad we were all able to get out of there safely.”

2.1 Million New Jerseyans Have Already Returned Their Mail-In Ballots, Governor Says

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:22:35 GMT

What to Know

With less than two weeks left until Election Day, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that more than 2 million voters New Jersey have already cast their mail-in ballots for this year’s elections — a number equivalent to 55% of the voter turnout in 2016.
A total of 2,155,011 ballots have been returned at the time of Murphy’s announcement.

With less than two weeks left until Election Day, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that more than 2 million voters New Jersey have already cast their mail-in ballots for this year’s elections — a number equivalent to 55% of the voter turnout in 2016.

“With still 12 days to go until the Nov. 3 election day, we are already at nearly 55% of the total voter turnout for 2016,” Murphy said during his Thursday coronavirus press briefing. “That was a number of about 3.9 million, which is an extraordinary achievement so far.”

A total of 2,155,011 ballots have been returned at the time of Murphy’s announcement.

Voters have until Election Day to vote by mail. Ballots can be returned through mailboxes specifically designated for voting, in person or by mail if postmarked by Nov. 3.

The news comes a week after Murphy announced that more than one million New Jerseyans have already cast their mail-in ballots for this year’s elections.

The COVID-19 outbreak has upended the presidential election in New Jersey. Murphy, a Democrat, ordered a nearly all-mail election, with registered voters automatically getting a ballot in the mail.

Voters can return the ballot in the mail, drop it in one of at least 10 drop boxes in each county, or bring it on Election Day in person to their polling place. Traditional machine voting won’t be an option for voters, except for those with disabilities who require it.

At the top of the ballot is president. Voters are also picking a U.S. senator and all Houses districts are up for re-election.

There are three ballot questions as well: legalizing recreational marijuana, delaying the legislative redistricting if the Census is delayed, and a property tax break of veterans who served during peacetime.

Officials Look Into Possible PPP Fraud in Mt. Vernon, Parts of Westchester: Sources

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 17:47:06 GMT

The Mayor of Mt. Vernon has ordered an investigation into whether any employees improperly tried to profit off the federal Paycheck Protection Program, a city spokesman said.

The city review is underway after some area residents report being questioned by FBI agents about a possible Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud scheme that could involve dozens of people in Mt. Vernon and other areas of Westchester County, city sources tell News 4. A handful of city employees may be facing scrutiny for possible involvement, one source added.

Mt. Vernon city spokesman Daniel Terry said the mayor decided to launch the “internal investigation” amid “rumors” of an ongoing federal investigation focusing of nearly 100 city employees. Spokesmen for the FBI and US Attorney’s office declined to comment.

People familiar with the matter say investigators want to know if local ringleaders were running a scheme that asked residents to falsely file PPP claims to improperly obtain a $10,000 taxpayer-funded loan. The money would then be split between organizers and the resident, the sources said.

Terry said the city has not been told of any formal investigation by the US Attorney and FBI. However, several residents have said they have been approached by FBI agents, according to sources. News of the investigation was first reported by News 12 Westchester.

In a Facebook video, Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said “rumors” that up to 100 employees could be charged are “innuendos” and there “is nothing to report or to respond to” at this time because the city has not been contacted by the FBI or other federal or state agencies. The mayor added no criminal charges have been filed or made public to date.

NYPD Continues Search for Prisoner Who Escaped Near Harlem Hospital

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:56:28 GMT

Authorities continue their search for a prisoner who escaped near Harlem Hospital Thursday morning, according to a senior law enforcement official.

The man had restraints around his ankles and was wearing sweatpants at the time he escaped from custody.

The law enforcement official tell News 4 New York, 25-year-old Mason Burwell, an alleged gang member who had 22 prior arrests, was charged Wednesday with resisting arrest related to a domestic violence incident and criminal contempt for violating court order.

He was allegedly being transported to the hospital when he escaped.

Santa Claus Won't Be Coming to Macy's This Year

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:47:26 GMT

Macy’s said Santa Claus won’t be greeting kids at its flagship New York store this year due to the coronavirus, interrupting a holiday tradition started nearly 160 years ago.

More than a quarter of a million people come to see Santa at Macy’s in New York each year, the company said, making it hard to create a safe environment during a pandemic. Before taking a picture with the jolly old man, crowds walk in tight quarters through a maze-like Santaland that’s filled with Christmas trees, running toy trains and elves in green costumes.

Santa also won’t be showing up at its Chicago and San Francisco stores, which have similar Santalands. But he will still appear at the end of the televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, the company said.

With the coronavirus still raging, stores and malls are having to rework their typical holiday strategy, which had been to pack as many people through its doors as possible. Walmart, for example, is holding its Black Friday deals over four weeks, instead of one day.

But the decision by Macy’s differs from big mall owners, which will still go ahead with in-person Santa visits by banning kids from sitting on his lap and making sure they stay six feet away from him.

Macy’s has been using Santa Claus to draw crowds to its New York store since the early 1860s, calling itself “The Home of Santa Claus” for decades. And Macy’s had a starring role in the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street,” where a girl discovers the real Santa inside the store.

Macy’s will be offering a free online experience on its website at the end of November, where families can play games, get a virtual tour of Santa’s workshop and take a selfie with Santa.

“Moving to a virtual engagement will safely bring the magic of Santa Claus to children of all ages this year,” Macy’s said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The pandemic has forced Macy’s to tweak other holiday traditions.

In order to deter crowds, its annual Thanksgiving Day parade won’t go through its usual route through Manhattan. Instead, floats, performers and giant cartoon balloons and will be filmed for TV in front of the Herald Square store in New York.

Macy’s also ditched a one-night firework spectacle on the Fourth of July, and held smaller unannounced firework shows to stop people from gathering to watch.

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Follow Joseph Pisani at http://twitter.com/josephpisani

Sandra Oh Celebrates Asian Culture in Film ‘Over the Moon'

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:19:32 GMT

Sandra Oh’s role in the new animated feature “Over the Moon” may not be her largest, but it has deep meaning.

The story is set in China and Oh voices the stepmother of a girl named Fei Fei, grieving after the loss of her mother. So she builds a rocket to fly to the moon to search for the truth about a goddess who lives there.

The Golden Globe-winning actor says she was drawn to the role because Fei Fei is a smart, intrepid female in a complex family situation, in a story that celebrates Asian culture.

“Over the Moon” was written by her friend, Audrey Wells, who also wrote “The Hate U Give” and “Under the Tuscan Sun.” Wells had directed Oh in her directorial debut, 1999’s “Guinevere” and Oh wanted to be a part of her last project. Wells died of cancer before the movie was finished.

Voiced by an all-Asian cast, including Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, and newcomer Cathy Ang, the musical will stream on Netflix on Friday.

In a recent Associated Press interview, Oh discussed the significance of her character, the importance of media inclusion, and when her hit show “Killing Eve” might return.

AP: This modern story rejects many animated feature tropes, including your character, a stepmother called Mrs. Zhong who is not evil.

Oh: The storytelling is changing. It’s widening and it’s changing. Mrs. Zhong fulfills a couple of different roles. One being in some ways the foil or the obstacle for the main character of Fei Fei because she doesn’t want her life to change. That’s one of the lessons of the film. And the second part is, is the normalization — and particularly in the Asian community — of blended family. We don’t really talk about it that much and we don’t really see it… I was really happy with that. It’s not an evil stepmother trope. It’s actually, the reality of a blended family in different cultures exists, so let’s see it.

AP: Growing up, you likely didn’t see yourself represented in film and media. Does that make this film more meaningful to you?

Oh: It’s so important for me, I can’t tell you. For my nieces, having animated characters — like, Mulan was so key for them, so key for them! But I did not necessarily have that: Having just a variety of characters that you can see yourself in, particularly when you’re a young person. For example, like how important it is to have diversity in dolls, you know? Who you want to take care of, who’s worth taking care of? And for many of us who aren’t white and never had a doll for ourselves, to take care of that does something. So, yes, that’s a big part of why I’m doing this.

AP: Can you talk about working on screenwriter Audrey Wells’ last project?

OH: You have and know a working relationship for over 20 years, of someone who’s been in and out of your life for 20 years. And you’ve seen them go through a lot. You were there at the beginning of their first film….Doing “Under the Tuscan Sun” with her and seeing all the stuff that she went through to do that, and her successes and then her health issues. And then this being her final project… I don’t really have the right words yet…. It was my primary drive to do the film because it’s like she wants me to say these words. How can I not? These are the words that she left us, you know? And so, I’m just really grateful to be a part of the film.

AP: Are you able to shoot “Killing Eve” yet or is the travel not possible in a pandemic?

Oh: Not in the foreseeable future. We’ve definitely pushed an entire year. You know, our shooting schedule would have been… from July to December. So hopefully we’ll start up next year in that timeframe. We just don’t know because the integrity of the show, which is an international film, we don’t want to give that up, because then that would not be the show. There’s something very heightened about our show. It has its own world and all its own rules. So we need to at least keep that tone and flavor.

NYC Announces New Initiative to Address Students' Mental Health

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:08:38 GMT

A day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that mental health has become a serious problem due to the ongoing pandemic, New York City announced steps it is taking to tackle the mental wellbeing of the youth.

Deputy Chancellor for School Climate and Wellness LaShawn Robinson, who leads the city’s DOE efforts to provide student support services, joined Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray in touching upon the “tremendous challenge our children have faced over the last seven to eight months.”

“Our children dealt with abrupt separation from their teachers and counselors, distance from their friends, various forms of loss in their families and more,” Robinson said. “Now that our children have returned to school, we have an opportunity to make them heal emotionally.”

According to Robinson, New York City Schools will provide students with “love, care and support” when it comes to helping them navigate through these unprecedented times with “easily accessible” and “high quality” mental health care thanks to a new initiative that increases the level of direct support.

The initiative Helping Our Children will provide support to children within the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID-19 by providing trained health professionals focusing on trauma-informed group work for students in 350 schools.

Additionally, each mental health specialist will cover up to five schools each.

The initiative also calls for 26 schools to be able to give direct referral of students with mental health needs to Health+Hospitals mental health clinics.

“By bringing the incredible mental health and educational resources our city has to offer, we can continue to help our young people heal and thrive,” Robinson said.

De Blasio said that reopening schools has been a benefit for students, particularly those who need support.

“If you wanted another reason why it was so important to reopen the largest school system in the country, you just heard it,” the mayor said. “For so many of our kids, they need that support. They need that love and compassion. They need trained educators and mental health experts to be there for them…so having our schools open is opening the doors to kids getting the help they need.”

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Toll Collectors to Return to GWB and Lincoln Tunnel Booths Temporarily

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:33:38 GMT

It will surely be a strange sight for many drivers, especially during these unprecedented times when social distancing and in-person interactions are limited.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Thursday that cash toll collection will be temporarily restored for the next 18 months at the Lincoln Tunnel and at the upper level of the George Washington Bridge beginning Monday.

About 100 toll collectors will return to toll booths for more than a year while construction continues to transition the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge from older tolling systems to more modern, all-electronic tolling technology.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the PANY also announced that the booths interiors and common areas used by the toll collectors will receive frequent cleanings in order to ensure their safety. Additionally, employees will receive PPE and disinfectants to use while in their booths.

Meanwhile, discount programs that require in-person administration by toll attendants, like the carpool discount program, will be reinstated at the upper level of the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel while those toll booths are staffed.

Overall, cash toll collection at the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge will officially come to an end by mid-2022. It is around that time when the construction and installation of new tolling technology is expected to be completed. However, the nearby Holland Tunnel ceased cash toll collection on March 22. That tunnel will remain cashless as the installation of this modern technology will be completed in the next two months.

The Port Authority has already upgraded to an all-electronic tolling system, which uses overhead gantries in place of toll lanes and booths, at the Bayonne Bridge in 2017, at the Outerbridge Crossing in 2019, and at the Goethals Bridge in September 2019.

NYC Sues Trump Administration Over $12 Billion ‘Anarchist' Funding Threat

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 14:40:10 GMT

New York City took legal action Thursday to stop the Trump Administration from withholding funding for cities that the Justice Department designated as “anarchist jurisdictions.”

The designation, applied in late September to NYC, Portland and Seattle, imperils billions of dollars in federal funding for the cash-strapped city.

“We’re bringing this action because they have taken concrete steps – they have actually taken this ‘anarchist’ designation and started to include it in applications for federal grants,” NYC Corporation Counsel James Johnson said at a Thursday morning news conference.

The lawsuit pulls no punches from the very first word.

“In an act offensive to both the Constitution and common sense, President Trump has called on the Attorney General to formally identify certain American cities as ‘anarchist jurisdictions’—an oxymoronic designation without precedent in American jurisprudence—and has activated the entire federal bureaucracy to preclude such jurisdictions from receiving federal funds,” the 51-page complaint filed in Seattle reads.

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He said the administration’s move overstepped its authority, was arbitrary and capricious and violated cities’ rights to police their streets and allocate their budgets.

Johnson said up to $12 billion in funds were possibly at risk.

President Trump issued an order Sept. 2 giving the director of the Office of Management and Budget 30 days to issue guidance to federal agencies on restricting eligibility for federal grants for the cities on a prospective DOJ list.

Such grants make up a huge portion of NYC’s already strapped annual budget.

In justifying its decision, the DOJ cited New York City’s rising gun violence, cuts to the NYPD’s budget, and moves by various district attorneys not to prosecute charges related to protests earlier this summer.

Read the lawsuit below or click here to open in a new window.

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NJ Eyes Betting on College Playoff Games Here and Elsewhere

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:01:17 GMT

What to Know

New Jersey Sen. Paul Sarlo wants to allow betting on college playoff or championship games, and hopes to ask voters to amend the state Constitution next year to permit it.
Sarlo has introduced a bill calling for the question to be placed on next year’s general election ballot. It would allow betting on college playoff or championship games held in New Jersey, along with such games played in other states in which New Jersey teams are involved.
If voters approve a referendum, it would remove a significant part of New Jersey’s current ban on betting on college sports.

A New Jersey lawmaker wants to allow betting on college playoff or championship games, and hopes to ask voters to amend the state Constitution next year to permit it.

If voters approve a referendum that could be on the November 2021 ballot, it would remove a significant part of New Jersey’s current ban on college sports betting.

Sen. Paul Sarlo, a Democrat who represents the area including MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where the NFL’s Jets and Giants play, has introduced a bill calling for the question to be placed on next year’s general election ballot.

It would allow betting on college playoff or championship games held in New Jersey, along with such games played in other states in which New Jersey teams are involved.

“These are games that are nationally televised, with a lot of interest all around the country, and a lot of people coming into the state from all over the country to witness these games,” said Sarlo. “Many of them would want to make a wager on these games, but they can’t do it in New Jersey. Why should we lose out on that money?”

State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a fellow Democrat, said he will cosponsor the bill, but wants to make sure it would not jeopardize the likelihood of New Jersey being awarded future college tournaments.

“I fully support what Sen. Sarlo is doing,” Sweeney said. “I just want to make sure we’re not costing ourselves anything.”

New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in 2018 clearing the way for all 50 states to offer legal sports betting should they so choose.

The state Constitution bans betting on college sports held in New Jersey, or out-of-state games involving New Jersey teams.

But even with the college ban in place, there was widespread sentiment that the state would wait a few years to demonstrate that it can effectively regulate betting on pro games while maintaining the integrity of the contests, and then revisit the question of betting on college games.

That’s what is happening now.

“We have proven to date that we can so this safely and responsibly,” Sarlo said.

The change would only apply to postseason games; it would maintain the ban on betting on regular season games.

It is aimed primarily at events like the NCAA basketball championship tournament, which was last held in New Jersey at Newark’s Prudential Center in 2011. The arena will host one of the tournament’s regional competitions in 20205.

Officials also hope MetLife Stadium will be chosen to host college football bowl games.

US Jobless Claims Drop to 787,000, But Layoffs Remain High

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:53:25 GMT

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000, a sign that job losses may have eased slightly but are still running at historically high levels.

With confirmed infections having neared 60,000 in the past week, the highest level since July, many consumers have been unable or reluctant to shop, travel, dine out or congregate in crowds — a trend that has led some employers to keep cutting jobs. Several states, such as Ohio and Idaho, are reporting a record number of hospitalizations from the virus.

Thursday’s report from the Labor Department said the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits tumbled by 1 million to 8.4 million. The decline shows that some of the unemployed are being recalled to their old jobs or are finding new ones. But it also indicates that many jobless Americans have used up their state unemployment aid — which typically expires after six months — and have transitioned to a federal extended benefits program that lasts an additional three months.

Many jobless recipients are now receiving only regular state unemployment payments because a federal weekly supplement of $300 has ended in nearly all states. And a $600-a-week federal benefit expired over the summer.

The still-elevated number of jobless claims underscores that a full recovery from the pandemic recession remains far off. Job growth has slowed for three straight months, leaving the economy still 10.7 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate remains high at 7.9%.

And major companies keep announcing layoffs. Aramark, a food services contractor that provides concessions at sports stadiums, said Wednesday that it would lay off 975 workers in Denver, most of whom worked at Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. The company is also cutting 550 jobs in Kansas City. Most major league baseball games this season were played with limited or no crowds, thereby reducing the need for concession workers

Amtrak said at a congressional hearing Wednesday that it would have to cut 2,400 jobs unless Congress approves emergency aid as part of another stimulus bill.

Yet negotiations in Congress over another round of financial aid have largely stalled, with little prospect for a deal before Election Day. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are continuing to negotiate. But Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned the White House against agreeing to a large package that would be opposed by most Senate Republicans

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is below:

The government will provide its latest picture Thursday of the pace of job cuts in the United States, which remain elevated with the viral pandemic still impeding the economy seven months after it first erupted.

The still-high number of people seeking jobless benefits reflects an economy that has recovered only slightly more than half the 22 million jobs that were lost to the pandemic. Many Americans are enduring unemployment with vastly diminished aid since a $600-a-week federal benefit expired this summer.

The latest weekly report on jobless claims coincides with fading prospects for a new federal rescue aid package that economists say is urgently needed for unemployed workers and struggling businesses, states and cities. Congress remains at an impasse.

At the same time, economists say they have grown more skeptical about the government’s figures for unemployment claims, even though there is little doubt that hiring has slowed and many employers are still cutting jobs.

Businesses Reopen in NYC's Improved Cluster Zones Thursday; Other Spots See Rules Tighten

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:56:42 GMT

What to Know

Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled new benchmarks Wednesday for reopening cluster zones; they focus on positivity rates, sources of new cases, hospitalization and new case trends and enforcement
Based on those new benchmarks, he eased restrictions in some Queens hotspots and intensified them in Brooklyn’s red zone; there are no changes to the maps in Orange, Rockland or Broome counties
Cuomo also said he’s concerning about new micro-clusters breaking out on the New York/Pennsylvania border; those appear at least in part tied to community spread, he said, and will amp up testing

It’s a tale of two cities in New York, two weeks after Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented new restrictions in highly specific hotspot areas in Brooklyn and Queens. Nonessential businesse s , including indoor dining, can reopen Thursday in parts of Queens, where Cuomo eased the rules a day earlier.

In Brooklyn’s highest-risk area, its red zone, strict virus control measures will be extended, with Cuomo citing ongoing issues as far as COVID positivity rates and community compliance. He didn’t change the maps for Orange or Rockland counties either. While he noted improvement, he said it wasn’t enough.

The realigned cluster maps will likely spark confusion, as their initial reveal did two weeks ago. One of the maps was quietly adjusted after that initial rollout, leaving a school — and parents — confused about whether it was closed or not.

A number of schools in Queens will be allowed to reopen in-person Monday; ones in both orange and red zones had to switch all-remote for two weeks. A city Department of Education spokesperson said Wednesday that it was still working to develop a tally of the number of schools that could resume in-person learning.

The cluster zone saga may be the new way of life for parts of New York — at least for now. Cuomo said he would reassess the metrics — including positivity rates, hospitalization and new case trends, local enforcement and community compliance — on a moving 10-day period. He said he’d make adjustments as progress warrants. And he has the flexibility to do the same if new issues emerge

For his part, Mayor Bill de Blasio has touted improved compliance on behalf of New Yorkers during this initial cluster zone time. He acknowledged — and did so even before the governor’s announcement Wednesday — that parts of Brooklyn still had more work to do but said he was pleased by the turnaround in Queens.

“I think it’s been a wake-up call and a lot of folks will act differently from this point on,” de Blasio said.

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. For the latest county-level results statewide, click here

Source: ny.gov

Where Do We Go From Here?

While the clusters have driven an increase in state- and citywide hospitalizations, they haven’t dramatically affected either rolling positivity rate. New York state’s ticked up to a recent high without the hotspots (1.42 percent) Wednesday, but that is still an exceptionally low number compared with the rest of the country.

“Don’t get unduly alarmed by a micro-cluster. The infection rate in our micro-clusters is lower than the infection rate of most states. We talk about four or five percent in a micro-cluster,” Cuomo said. “Many states would love to have the infection rate that we have in our micro-clusters as their statewide rate.”

According to Wednesday data from Johns Hopkins, New York has the third-lowest infection rate in the nation (1.16 percent), based on a seven-day rolling period. Only Massachusetts (1.13 percent) and Maine (0.52 percent) have lower positivity rates on a weekly basis. The state with the highest, Nevada, has a rolling positivity average more than 50 times higher than New York’s (58.84 percent).

Tracking Coronavirus in Tri-State

COVID-19 Mar 9

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

COVID-19 Mar 5

Timeline: Tracking the Spread of COVID-19 in Tri-State

New Jersey and Connecticut are among the 15 lowest-transmission rate states — 2.71 percent and 1.92 percent, respectively — even as they battle new case spikes. New Jersey’s daily case totals have doubled over the last month, with officials pointing to small household gatherings and parties as a primary source.

Gov. Phil Murphy says there’s evidence of the problem virtually everywhere in the state and he can’t regulate what happens within people’s private homes. Instead, he urges people to be smart. The governor had to pull himself “off the field” abruptly Wednesday after learning two senior staff members with whom he had been in contact had tested positive for COVID-19. Murphy and his wife were retested Wednesday, the second time in 72 hours, and their tests came back negative. Both said they would isolate through the weekend as a precaution.

It wasn’t clear if Murphy’s lieutenant governor would stand in for him at his scheduled Thursday COVID briefing or if it would be canceled.

Cuomo has said he would work with Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont to help get their numbers down, though his micro-cluster strategy may be less effective in areas less dense than New York City, where he can literally attack flare-ups on a targeted block-by-block level. He has said he plans to use that same strategy to address expected viral flare-ups in New York through the fall.

The New York governor hopes winter will be the season of the vaccine, though delivering and administering that to 20 million (or as many as 40 million) people will be another challenge entirely. Cuomo indicated Wednesday he doubted one would even be deliverable on a large scale by December.

“Winter is going to be the season of the vaccine. That may very well be the most challenging operation government has had to perform all through COVID. You think testing was hard? It pales in comparison to administering vaccines,” Cuomo said. “Just to put the numbers, we did 12 million COVID tests over seven months, moving heaven and earth. We have to do 40 million vaccinations.”

Earlier in the day, de Blasio said New York City was working with the state on a vaccine implementation plan for the five boroughs. He called an effective vaccine “the gateway” to the city’s post-COVID rebirth. Until one comes, and it is proven to be safe, the mayor is focused on maintaining progress in hotspots and citywide. More than 23,000 COVID tests have been done in cluster zones since Sept. 30.

The national outlook, meanwhile, has turned increasingly concerning. The government’s top public health officials warned that the number of COVID-19 cases is rising across a majority of the country in a rare briefing Wednesday.

Dr. Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency has noted a “distressing trend” in which coronavirus case numbers are “increasing in nearly 75 percent of the country.”

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In Video Classes Teachers Parse Clues to Student Wellbeing

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:59:48 GMT

Christi Brouder had finally gotten her 10-year-old daughter settled on the hallway floor with a laptop and signed into a video class on Google Meet when the girl’s 6-year-old brother leaped over computer the screen “in his birthday suit” to get a juice box.

To Brouder’s surprise, a social worker from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families called her later that day; someone had reported an adult male exposing himself during the class. That was followed by a visit from a police detective sent by the school to do an in-person wellness check.

Brouder explained that her son has epilepsy and autism and sometimes takes his clothes off to feel more comfortable and the inquiry ended there.

But the experience left the mother in the city of Haverhill incensed, and underscores the challenge on educators to make judgments based on fleeting scenes or sounds from a webcam.

“The teachers never asked to speak to me. Nobody said anything” during the class, Brouder said.

Child protection laws require school personnel, along with health care workers and other professionals, to report any suspicions of neglect or abuse. The coronavirus pandemic and virtual instruction have only raised the stakes; in the absence of daily in-person school and extracurriculars, a teacher’s video contact may offer the only window to spot potential problems in students’ lives.

Many school districts that are still providing classes online have asked teachers to be on the lookout in students’ backdrops for objects such as drug paraphernalia, caregivers who appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and children with injuries or poor hygiene or who are being demeaned regularly by adults.

It can be a difficult call.

“Do I look at that child and say, `Oh, he looks underfed?’” Jennifer Ryan, a middle school teacher in the Connetquot Central School district in New York, said. “Do I look at that child and say, `You know, that room looks much more sparse than a kid should really live in?’”

“I’m making an assumption based on the tiny square that I have in view,” said Ryan, who teaches half her students in person while the other half tune in remotely.

Ryan said her colleagues have encountered loud, profane arguments in students’ homes that are audible not only to teachers, but classmates. Some of the children attending school only remotely already were on the radar of child protection agencies, she said.

“We are mandated reporters, but observing anything at this distance is nearly impossible,” she said.

Advocates worried about a sharp drop in reported cases of possible child endangerment when the coronavirus shut down schools in the spring. Teachers and other professionals who came into contact with a child through their jobs made about two-thirds of the 4.3 million reports that U.S. child protection agencies received in 2018, federal data shows.

“We can view this as a real negative while kids aren’t in school, and that is true, but we can also look at it from the perspective of, we’ve never had this much inside access into a student’s home life,” said Chris Newlin, executive director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center.

The NCAC and others have issued guidelines to help teachers identify warning signs in unfamiliar settings, advising them to be alert for students who appear to be unsupervised and to pay attention to how students interact with others in the home.

“There’s an opportunity for teachers to still see their kids and see if they have any injuries, very obvious things,” Newlin said, “but also what’s in the background.”

In some cases, it’s what teachers don’t see that is alarming, particularly when students repeatedly miss virtual school.

The school system in Tulsa, Oklahoma asked local police to check on two girls, ages 5 and 8, who were given laptops but not logging in at class time. Officers found the sisters home alone and were there when the mother returned home intoxicated, police said. She was charged with child neglect.

Elsewhere, including in New York City and Massachusetts, parents have pushed back at educational neglect allegations reported against them because students have missed class too many times.

Educators should be reasonable but not shy away from reporting things that make them uneasy, said Wendy Rock, a former school counselor who now teaches at Southeastern Louisiana University.

“A parent yelling at a child is not abuse….This is a stressful time,” Rock said. “But if a teacher sees something that gives them the feeling that the child is in danger, at the very least they need to consult with the school counselor.”

An elementary school teacher in Warwick County, Florida didn’t have time to sound a warning on the first day of school in August. Behind a 10-year-old girl attending class online, the teacher and other students heard a commotion unnerving enough that the teacher muted the girl’s audio.

The teacher saw the girl cover her ears before the child’s video window went blank. Investigators would later explain that a bullet had struck the student’s computer when her mother was fatally shot in front of the girl, her three siblings and her two cousins. The mother’s ex-boyfriend was charged with murder.

In Louisiana, it was a BB gun that caught the attention of fourth grader Ka Mauri Harrison’s teacher. He was suspended him for six days after a report that he was holding “what appeared to be a full-sized rifle.” Ka Mauri had picked up the BB gun after his younger brother tripped on it, his parents said.He was suspended for violating an in-class instruction policy.

“They are treating it as if he brought a weapon to school,” Nyron Harrison, one of Ka Mauri’s parents, said.

The Beau Biden Foundation in Delaware developed new training to help educators adjust to the two-dimensional, thumbnail view, emphasizing “the totality of the observations or circumstances,” program director Claudine Wiant said.

“There may be a resonable explanation or there may be something that’s easy to dismiss” on its own, she said, but merits a call in the context of behavioral clues or comments.

She pointed to the case of a first- or second-grade student who was in the dark during video classes.

“The teacher just asked, `Can you turn on the lights?’ And the student’s response was `well, my parents are working and we have to keep the lights off while we’re home alone,'” she said, “and so that was a referral to services.”

Edith Pride, an elementary school teacher in Boca Raton, Florida vented her frustration with the changing landscape during a recent school board meeting, drawing laughs even as she delivered a serious message.

“Parents, please make sure that you have on proper clothing when you are walking behind your child’s computer, because we’ve seen them in their drawers, their bras and everything else,” Pride said at the meeting. “Parents, when you are helping your children at their computer, please do not appear with big joints in your hands and cigarettes. Those joints be as big as cigars. Oh yeah, we’ve seen it all.”

“Teachers are feeling overwhelmed,” Pride said later by phone. “They’re feeling pressure. They’re feeling stressed out of their mind because you have so many different components to look at.”

Some parents say that even though their children never were in harm’s way, there were repercussions from teachers misinterpreting what they thought they had seen. (do we know of anyone else besides Brouder? even if we haven’t interviewed them, could be good to give a sense of the kinds of things teachers have reported/maybe misunderstood.)

Brouder said she is working on her young son’s behavior as she raises four children with special needs, but the police detective’s visit left her daughter unwilling to sign back in for online school out of fear someone in the family would get in trouble.

“There has to be open communication, where if a teacher has a concern or if they think something or they think they saw something that they normally wouldn’t have seen because they’re not in a parent’s home, talk to the parents,” she said. “Don’t just assume the worst.”

The Haverhill school district did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Asian American New Yorkers Experienced Highest Surge in Unemployment During Pandemic

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:41:53 GMT

A Bangladeshi American New Yorker says she was laid off from her steady job at a Hudson News newsstand during the coronavirus pandemic, NBC News reports. Her husband, who’s undocumented and spent years working in restaurant kitchens, is also unable to work because of several serious medical issues but can’t receive unemployment benefits because of his immigration status.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, has been left to care for her family of four with her unemployment checks while confronting medical problems of her own and applying for job after job, she said.

The pandemic has had severe economic consequences in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in New York City, recent research finds.

The Asian American Federation, a social services nonprofit, recently released a report looking into the impact the virus has had on unemployment in the community. It found that at the beginning of the pandemic in February, Asian Americans in New York City had a jobless rate of 3.4 percent. By May, the rate had surged to 25.6 percent, the largest increase among all major racial groups.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

At Least 6 People Shot, One Fatally, in Drive-by Near Brooklyn Park: Police

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:33:43 GMT

A man was killed and at leave five other people were injured in the latest incident of gun violence in New York City late Wednesday.

The NYPD says a white sedan pulled up close to the group of victims who were outside at 285 Hawthorne Street, just a few blocks from Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, before 10:30 p.m. and someone inside opened fire, striking six people.

One man, 23, was shot in the chest and died after he was transported to the hospital. Three others, a 26-year-old man and a 29-year-old man and woman, were shot in the leg. A 28-year-old man was grazed by a bullet in his back, and a 27-year-old man was shot in the groin, according to police.

No arrests have been made and police did not provide other details.

An investigation is ongoing.

Lawyer Representing Group Trying to Oust Homeless From Hotels Has UES Home Vandalized

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:20:09 GMT

The Upper East Side home of former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro was hit by vandals who threw paint across the front door and wrote expletives on the sidewalk — and he believes it was a targeted attack.

The home was hit some time between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, and investigators were looking at surveillance video of the suspect or suspects involved in the vandalism. Police were working on tracking down those responsible, and no arrests have yet been made. Crews were working Wednesday to scrub away some of the vulgar messages left stenciled in paint.

Mastro, who served as deputy mayor of the city under Rudy Giuliani, said he thinks the vandalism is tied to his work in trying to move homeless people out of an Upper West Side hotel.

“These are serious issues that require serious discussion. This kind of vandalism has no place in that discussion,” Mastro said.

That discussion involved hundreds of people experiencing homelessness who have been kept by the city at the Lucerne Hotel amid the pandemic. Mastro, working on behalf of a group called the Upper West Side Community Organization, is trying to get the city to move the population from the hotel to a facility downtown.

“Getting them into proper shelters that provide all of the social services that they need, not leaving them in SRO hotels,” Mastro said.

homelessness Oct 19

Plan to Move Shelter Residents in NYC Hotel Put on Hold After Last Minute Court Order

homelessness Sep 28

Neighborhood Groups Decry NYC Plan to Move Shelter Residents to Wall Street-Area

Another group of neighbors who call themselves the Upper West Side Open Hearts Initiative have urged compassion for the temporary residents, while also condemning what happened to the lawyer’s home, saying “our fight is for human dignity for all.”

On Monday, a judge put a stop to the move after three men sued, saying it would cause them harm and that they wouldn’t feel safe moving downtown.

It wasn’t hard to Mastro to connect the dots regarding who may be responsible and what their motive was: some of the graffitied messages include phrases like “house everyone” and “Randy Mastro can’t displace us.”

“I and my family had death threats when I was deputy mayor from La Cosa Nostra. We will get through this, but it’s still so sad and profoundly disappointing,” he said. “Whoever did this are criminals and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Both sides involved in the court battle over the Lucerne move are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 16.

Museum Visitor Finds Painting Missing for Decades in Neighbor's NYC Apartment

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:15:09 GMT

A painting by an esteemed New Jersey artist that hadn’t been seen since 1960 has been reunited with other paintings in its collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all thanks to a museum visitor with keen eyes.

The Met on Wednesday announced the discovery of a Jacob Lawrence painting that belongs to a 30-panel epic called “Struggle: From the History of the American People.” The art that depicts a 1786 uprising of struggling farmers in western Massachusetts led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays was bought at a local art auction by current owners six decades ago, according to the museum.

A museum visitor who saw Lawrence’s other paintings in the Met’s exhibition was able to recognize that the missing paint had been in his neighbor’s collection for years. The New York Times reported that it was hanging in the owners’ Upper West Side apartment. The visitor then informed the owners and asked them to contact the museum.

“It is rare to make a discovery of this significance in modern art, and it is thrilling that a local visitor is responsible,” Director of The Met Max Hollein said in a news release.

Five of the 30 panels painted by Lawrence for the “Struggle” series were missing, and two of them were only known by their titles, including the newly discovered “Shay’s Rebellion.”

“It was our fervent hope that the missing panels would somehow surface during the run of American Struggle in New York, the city where Lawrence spent most of his life and where the series was last seen publicly,” museum curators said.

The painting will now be featured alongside other artworks in Lawrence’s collection until Nov. 1 before the exhibition goes on tour through next fall, the museum said.

Face to Face: Trump and Biden to Meet for Final Debate

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 07:08:03 GMT

President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday, one of the last high-profile opportunities for the trailing incumbent to change the trajectory of an increasingly contentious campaign.

Worried about losing the White House, some advisers are urging Trump to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style that puts Biden more squarely in the spotlight. But it’s unclear whether the president will listen.

Biden, who has stepped off the campaign trail in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distractfrom the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Biden is leading most national polls and has a narrower advantage in the battleground states that could decide the race. More than 42 million people have already cast their ballots. The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, is a final chance for both men to make their case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters.

“The rule is that last debates before the election have a big impact,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who made clear the legacy of the candidates’ first faceoff: “That was the most out-of-control presidential debate we have seen.”

Trump, who staged a remarkable comeback in the closing days of the 2016 campaign, believes he can do it again by using the power of the presidency to attack his rival.

Trump on Tuesday called on Attorney General William Barr to immediately launch an investigation into unverified claims about Biden and his son Hunter, effectively demanding that the Justice Department muddy his political opponent and abandon its historic resistance to getting involved in elections.

The president has promoted an unconfirmed New York Post report published last week that cites an email in which an official from Ukrainian gas company Burisma thanked Hunter Biden, who served on the company’s board, for arranging for him to meet Joe Biden during a 2015 visit to Washington. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and noted that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official.

Some former national security officials and other experts said the episode raised multiple red flags of a possible foreign disinformation effort, especially given the involvement of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and Giuliani’s active role in promoting an anti-Biden narrative on Ukraine.

But John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, dismissed that disinformation theory. And the FBI appeared to endorse Ratcliffe’s position in a letter to a Senate committee that had requested information on a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden.

Trump’s attacks on the Biden family have been relentless, including his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, which led to Trump’s impeachment. It’s part of a determined, yet so-far-unsuccessful effort to drive up his opponent’s negatives, as he did with Hillary Clinton four years ago.

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said, “Trump is still the political outsider, while Biden is the ultimate insider. We now know that Biden allowed his son to sell access to him while he was vice president.”

While Biden will defend his own record and his son, aides have said, he hopes to focus on making the case that Trump is unfit for office and let the nation down during a confluence of crises.

“He knows that people want to hear about how we’re going to help working families get through the end of the month and pay the rent,” his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, said Wednesday in North Carolina. “That’s what people care about, and one of the things I love about Joe Biden — he doesn’t take on or talk about other people’s kids.”

The one-two punch of the first debate and the president’s three-day hospital stint after contracting COVID-19 rattled his base of support and triggered alarm among Republicans who fear the White House and Senate could be slipping away.

The initial debate was the most tumultuous in modern history, with a belligerent tone that was persistent and somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. Amid heated clashes over the pandemic, the Supreme Court and the integrity of the election itself, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

The two men frequently talked over each other with Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Biden eventually snapped at him, “Will you shut up, man?”

Aides have urged Trump, who has skipped debate prep, to show some restraint this time, allowing Biden to speak more and get himself in trouble with verbal gaffes and lapses. But the president has made no promises.

“Some people think, ‘Let him talk,’ because he loses his train (of thought), he just loses it and he doesn’t speak the train of thought,” Trump said in a town hall discussion taped at the White House Rose Garden and aired by Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday evening. “But we’ll see what happens. I mean, you will have to be there.”

It was two days after the first debate in Cleveland when Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. The White House has refused to reveal when the president had last tested negative before the debate, raising questions as to whether he was already infected when he took the stage.

After the diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential Debates ruled that the second debate, which was to have been held last week, be virtual. Trump balked, leading to the cancellation of the debate and the two men holding dueling town halls instead, speaking at the same time more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) apart.

On the debate stage Wednesday, two large plexiglass shields had been put in place in front of the candidates’ lecterns.

On Thursday night, in an effort to curtail interruptions, Trump and Biden will each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivers an opening two-minute answer to each of the six debate topics, the commission announced. The mute button won’t figure in the open discussion portion of the debate, but has drawn criticism from Trump.

“The mute is very unfair,” he said Wednesday as he left the White House for a campaign rally.

___

Lemire reported from Washington. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Additional reporting by Alexandra Jaffe and Zeke Miller in Washington and Aamer Madhani in Chicago.