Record-breaking rainfall brought by the remnants of Storm Ida has swept through the New York area leaving parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey affected by rare flooding
Continue reading...Category Archives: New York
State of emergency in New York amid ‘historic’ flooding caused by remnants of Hurricane Ida
Extreme weather promoted the first ever flash flood emergency warning for New York City from the National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued its first ever flash flood warning for the city of New York, as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought heavy rain that flooded subway lines and streets in the Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey.
Amid the downpour, the service said on Twitter, “this particular warning for NYC is the second time we’ve ever issued a Flash Flood Emergency (It’s the first one for NYC). The first time we’ve issued a Flash Flood Emergency was for Northeast New Jersey an hour ago.”
Continue reading...A garden at Ground Zero: what I learned growing an oasis in the shadow of 9/11
Soon after 9/11, I moved into an old building by Ground Zero. First step? Plant an unlikely patch of green
If you listen, I mean really listen, you will hear your garden speaking to you. Mine, which sits on a 10th-floor Manhattan terrace, a stone’s throw from where the World Trade Center stood, first spoke to me on a crisp September morning 20 years ago. I had jury duty that day and decided to walk the two miles south from my home in Greenwich Village down to the courthouse in the financial district.
But when I turned south on to 6th Avenue, I looked up to see see an orange hole flaming at the centre of the tower ahead of me. A woman nearby fell to the pavement, screaming something about a plane. It didn’t seem like a good day to go downtown; yet something compelled me to continue south. When I arrived at a gas station on Canal Street, a boom sounded and a puff of smoke issued from just behind the tower. “What was that?” I asked a taxi driver, filling his tank nearby. “Well, see those two buildings are connected with pipes,” he said with the unquestionable authority endemic to New York cabbies. “When you get a fire in one it spreads and you get a fire in the other.” Makes sense, I thought, and pushed southwards.
Continue reading...Starbucks workers in New York are organizing to form first US union
The company has vigorously opposed unions in the past and says its ‘partners’ in Buffalo don’t need one now
Fifty Starbucks workers in New York are trying to form a union, which would be the first in the US for the coffee chain if successful.
Last week, the group of workers in the Buffalo area publicly announced their union organizing drive and the formation of their organizing committee, Starbucks Workers United, in a letter to the Starbucks CEO, Kevin Johnson.
Continue reading...Henri drenches US north-east as 140,000 lose power in slow-moving storm
National Hurricane Center says storm to slow down further and likely stall near Connecticut-New York line
The slow-rolling storm Henri was taking its time drenching the US north-east on Monday.
Henri, which made landfall as a tropical storm on Sunday afternoon in Rhode Island, had moved north-west through Connecticut. It hurled rain westward far before its arrival, flooding areas as far south-west as New Jersey before pelting north-east Pennsylvania, even as it dropped to tropical depression status.
Continue reading...Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island, packing high winds and heavy rain
- Biden says storm has ‘potential for widespread consequences’
- Inland rainfall seen as major threat in north-east states
Tropical Storm Henri made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday, packing high winds and heavy rains that were projected to leave devastation from New Jersey and New York up to Massachusetts.
Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city’s Covid comeback
Continue reading...Henri becomes hurricane as it heads for Long Island and New England
- Forecasters predict landfall in New York or Connecticut
- New England has not been hit by hurricane since 1991
Preparations for a monster storm forecast to hit parts of the US north-east were stepped up on Saturday after Henri was promoted to a hurricane as it moved closer to land.
In New York, Andrew Cuomo used his last hours as governor to direct the state response, declaring a state of emergency in some areas and telling residents: “If you have to get to higher ground, it has to be today.”
Continue reading...Springsteen and LL Cool J to play New York comeback concert – as Covid surges
Thousands will show proof of vaccination to attend star-studded Central Park extravaganza as city averages nearly 1,900 cases a day
As coronavirus cases continued to rise across the US, thousands were expected nonetheless to attend a concert in Central Park on Saturday night, staged to celebrate New York City’s recovery amid the pandemic.
Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli were included in the lineup for We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert. Most tickets distributed by the city were free, with attendees required to show proof of vaccination.
Continue reading...R Kelly sex-trafficking trial: manager used bribe to get Aaliyah fake ID
- Demetrius Smith details moves to let singer marry 15-year-old
- R Kelly denies charges in New York trial
A former tour manager for R Kelly testified on Friday that he paid a $500 bribe to a government worker to get the singer Aaliyah a fake identification card so Kelly could secretly marry her when she was 15 years old.
Related: Aaliyah: ‘Her sound is the R&B blueprint’
Continue reading...From the archive: Cuomo’s demise – Politics Weekly Extra
A week after Andrew Cuomo resigned as the governor of the state of New York, Jonathan Freedland revisits a conversation he had with Alexis Grenell back in March. The pair discuss how Cuomo rose to the top, and then fell spectacularly from grace.
Continue reading...R Kelly accuser describes physical abuse from singer when she was 16
Jerhonda Pace, first witness at the R Kelly sex-trafficking trial, says the singer ‘slapped me and he choked me until I passed out’
A key accuser at the R Kelly sex-trafficking trial returned to the witness stand on Thursday, saying he often videotaped their sexual encounters and demanded she dress like a Girl Scout during a relationship that began when she was a minor.
Jerhonda Pace resumed her testimony in Brooklyn federal court a day after telling jurors she was a 16-year-old virgin and a member of Kelly’s fan club when he invited her to his mansion in 2009.
Continue reading...Former model Carré Sutton sues Gérald Marie over rape accusation
Lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, says Sutton was ‘trafficked’ by ex-Elite Model boss to ‘wealthy men across Europe’
Ex-model Carré Sutton has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gérald Marie, the French former modeling agency boss, repeatedly raped her at his Paris apartment when she was just 17 years old.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, also maintains that Sutton was “trafficked by Marie to other wealthy men around Europe”.
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo resigns in wake of damning report on sexual harassment
New York governor announced that he was stepping aside and said his resignation will be effective in 14 days
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned following an investigation by the state attorney general that found he sexually harassed multiple women, most of whom worked for him, and also retaliated after some made complaints.
The governor made a public announcement on Tuesday morning that he was stepping aside and said his resignation will be effective in 14 days.
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo resigns after sexual harassment allegations – video
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has resigned after an investigation by the state attorney general that found he sexually harassed multiple women, most of whom worked for him, and also retaliated after some made complaints. The Democratic governor had lost the support of the party establishment, with Joe Biden calling on Cuomo to resign and similar demands issued by House speaker Nancy Pelosi
- Andrew Cuomo resigns in wake of damning report on sexual harassment
- Cuomo: how governor went from Covid hero to furious fall from grace
Time’s Up leader resigns after criticism for aiding Cuomo administration on sexual harassment allegations
Roberta Kaplan is latest prominent figure to quit in wake of scandal engulfing Cuomo
Roberta Kaplan has resigned as chairwoman of Time’s Up after facing widespread criticism for allegedly advising New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration on sexual harassment allegations against him.
Kaplan, a prominent lawyer who founded Time’s Up legal defense fund and represents the writer E Jean Carroll in a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, resigned on Monday, becoming the latest prominent figure to quit in the wake of the scandal engulfing Cuomo.
Continue reading...Aide who accused Cuomo of groping says: ‘What he did to me was a crime’
Brittany Commisso, a former aide, identified herself publicly and is one of 11 women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment
A former executive assistant who filed a criminal complaint against New York governor Andrew Cuomo last week for allegedly groping her has said he “needs to be held accountable”.
Brittany Commisso is one of 11 women Cuomo is accused of sexually harassing, according to a devastating investigative report released by the state attorney general’s office last week.
Continue reading...How Cuomo went from #MeToo ally to a one-man battle to discredit women
The New York governor’s self-defense follows the playbook of powerful men accused of sexual misconduct – but it’s shocking given his history of advocacy
On 12 August, 2019 Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, held a glitzy bill ceremony in his executive mansion in Albany to mark the signing into law of new legislation designed to beef up sexual harassment protections for women in the workplace.
With a flourish of a pen, Cuomo sought to seal his reputation within the Democratic party as a champion of gender-based rights.
Continue reading...Majority of NY assembly members support impeaching Cuomo if he doesn’t resign – live
- Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett calls for New York governor’s ouster
- Biden says Cuomo should ‘do the right thing’ and quit – spokeswoman
- Nearly six in 10 New Yorkers say Cuomo should resign, poll finds
- Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment: the key testimony from the report
The Mexican government has launched legal action against US gunmakers in an unprecedented attempt to halt the flow of guns across the border, where US-made weapons are routinely used in cartel gun-battles, terror attacks on civilians – and increasingly to challenge the state itself.
The Mexican government is suing six gunmakers in a Massachusetts court, alleging negligence in their failure to control their distributors and that the illegal market in Mexico “has been their economic lifeblood”.
Related: Mexico sues US gunmakers in unprecedented bid to stop weapons crossing border
AP in Washington:
The state department has said that it is looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.
In a notice filed in the federal register, the department said it could find no trace of the bottle’s whereabouts and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened to the booze. The department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given to senior US officials by foreign governments and leaders.
Related: $5,800 whisky bottle given to Pompeo as gift missing, state department says
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo tries to battle on as demands pour in for him to quit
- New York governor found to have sexually harassed 11 women
- Support crumbles as state impeachment cogs begin to turn
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York who was found by the state’s top prosecutor to have violated the law by sexually harassing 11 women, continued to brave the storm on Wednesday while political support crumbled around him and moves for impeachment gathered pace.
The third-term Democratic governor – the longest-serving chief executive of any state in the nation – showed no sign of capitulating in the face of almost universal calls for his resignation from the Democratic establishment after the state’s top prosecutor released the results of the five-month investigation this week. Demands for him to stand aside poured in from individuals and institutions that had formed the bedrock of his empire.
Continue reading...Andrew Cuomo teeters on the edge of a spectacular fall from grace
Months ago Cuomo was depicted by the media as ‘America’s governor’ – now another side to him that was an open secret in Albany has been officially recognized
In 2018, as Andrew Cuomo was in the thick of a re-election battle against the Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, he vowed that he would complete a third term as governor of New York state unless “God strikes me dead”.
It may take less than the creator to put an end to the political career of the pugnacious Democrat. With the sexual harassment accusations of 11 women corroborated by an official inquiry from New York’s top prosecutor, and with potential impeachment proceedings looming, Cuomo is teetering on the edge of a spectacular fall from grace.
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