Two dead after mass shooting at party in Rochester, New York

Male and female are killed and 14 are injured in shooting in upstate New York

Two people have died and 14 others have been wounded in a mass shooting at a party in Rochester, New York, police said.

A male and a female died in the shooting on Saturday, the interim police chief Mark Simmons told reporters. The wounded people were taken to two different hospitals. Simmons said none of them were reported to have life-threatening injuries.

Continue reading...

Paul Rudd urges ‘fellow millennials’ to mask up in coronavirus safety video

The Hollywood actor’s much-viewed public service announcement in character urges young New Yorkers to heed Covid-19 dangers

While Paul Rudd could just about pass as millennial, at 51 the Hollywood actor is really a few years off.

Related: Living With Yourself review – are two Paul Rudds better than one?

Continue reading...

Teacher, 28, dies of Covid-19 as US schools prepare for return to classrooms

  • Demetria Bannister taught elementary school in South Carolina
  • New York City to resume in-person classes in 11 days

A 28-year-old elementary school teacher in Columbia, South Carolina, died this week from complications due to Covid-19, authorities have said.

Demetria “Demi” Bannister, who taught third grade at Windsor elementary school, died on Monday.

Continue reading...

Daniel Prude: police officers suspended after death of Black man in spit hood

Prude died seven days after officers in upstate New York put a hood over his head then pressed his face into the pavement

The Rochester mayor has suspended seven officers involved in the suffocation death of a Black man earlier this year.

Daniel Prude died on 30 March after he was taken off life support, seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester.

Continue reading...

New York’s not dead, but pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems

Jerry Seinfeld got into a spat about the Big Apple with a fellow millionaire but for others racial and class inequalities give debate about the city’s health a very different look

Shabazz Stuart was one year old when the TV sitcom Seinfeld first went on air, and seven when the much-loved show about nothing broadcast its final episode. He’s only ever known it as one of those late-night repeats that are fun to watch when you’re at a loose end.

But this week there was no avoiding Seinfeld, or at least its creator and lead actor Jerry Seinfeld who roared back into the public eye with an opinion piece headlined “So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’”. The comedian was responding to a provocative post on LinkedIn by James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager who owns an Upper West Side standup comedy club where Seinfeld occasionally appears.

Continue reading...

Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to fraud after arrest on luxury yacht

Trump’s ex-adviser was arrested on Thursday for allegedly defrauding donors to ‘We Build the Wall’ campaign

Former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty on Thursday hours after being arrested on a luxury yacht for allegedly skimming donations from an online fundraising campaign for the president’s controversial border wall with Mexico.

Related: Steve Bannon indicted by federal prosecutors, charged with defrauding ‘We Build the Wall’ donors – live

Continue reading...

Trump’s bid to block release of his tax returns rejected by federal judge

Move clears way for Manhattan’s district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, to get president’s tax returns

A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for Manhattan’s top prosecutor to get Donald Trump’s tax returns, rejecting a last-ditch attempt by his lawyers to block a subpoena issued to his accounting firm.

US district judge Victor Marrero’s ruling echoes his prior decision in the case, which was upheld by the US supreme court last month. The high court returned the case to Marrero so Trump’s lawyers could get another chance to challenge the subpoena issued by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr.

Continue reading...

Florida’s coronavirus death toll hits 10,000

Florida’s coronavirus death toll hit 10,000 on Wednesday as the state continues to struggle to get the ongoing pandemic under control.

Almost six months since Florida’s first case was identified, the state reported 174 deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 10,067.

Continue reading...

‘I don’t trust them any more’: how the NRA became its own worst enemy

The most powerful gun lobby in the world has strayed from its core purpose and shot itself in the foot

Oliver North cut a lonely figure as he walked through the Indianapolis airport, quietly slipping out of the city midway through the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) convention which was still in progress. A day later, North announced from afar that he was not seeking a traditional second term as its president, while it also emerged that the New York attorney general was investigating the NRA’s tax-exempt status.

That was April 2019. More than a year later, the turmoil that heralded North’s departure has culminated in the New York attorney general, Letitia James, suing to put the NRA out of business, alleging that senior leaders used charitable donations for family trips to the Bahamas, private jets and lavish meals that shaved $64m off the organisation’s balance sheet in three years, turning a surplus into a financial crisis.

Continue reading...

New York attorney general sues to shut down NRA, alleging ‘brazen illegality’

  • Letitia James alleges leaders used NRA as ‘personal piggy bank’
  • Lawsuit claims money helped to pay for trips and private jets

New York’s attorney general has sued to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA), alleging that senior leaders used the powerful gun lobby group as their “personal piggy bank” and illegally diverted millions of dollars from its charitable work.

Related: New York attorney general files lawsuit to dissolve NRA – live

Continue reading...

New York unveils landmark antitrust bill that makes it easier to sue tech giants

The legislation comes as a federal panel is investigating the market power of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google

New York state is introducing a bill that would make it easier to sue big tech companies for alleged abuses of their monopoly powers.

New York is America’s financial center and one of its most important tech hubs. If successfully passed, the law could serve as a model for future legislation across the country. It also comes as a federal committee is conducting an anti-trust investigation into tech giants amid concerns that their unmatched market power is suppressing competition.

Continue reading...

Outcry in New York after police force protester into unmarked van

Video shows plain-clothes officers carrying the protester away while uniformed police stand guard, actions criticised as ‘abusive and indefensible’

Police officers in New York have been filmed arresting a female protester by forcing her into an unmarked minivan in east Manhattan.

Footage of Tuesday’s arrest drew sharp criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the arrest “dangerous, abusive, and indefensible,” in a post on Twitter.

Continue reading...

‘Egregious’ distancing violations at Hamptons charity concert – Cuomo

New York governor says event featuring Goldman Sachs CEO and Chainsmokers breached Covid-19 rules

  • Coronavirus – latest updates
  • See all our coronavirus coverage
  • New York health authorities are to investigate a charity concert in the Hamptons, which included performances by the Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and DJ duo the Chainsmokers, over “egregious” social distancing violations.

    The drive-in event, Safe & Sound, had space for about 600 cars and was held in Southampton village on Saturday. It was the first in a series of such concerts planned for the US, according to the organisers’ website.

    Continue reading...

    Niagara Falls tour boats highlight US and Canada’s stark Covid-19 divide

    New York state boats have ferried many more tourists than their Ontarian counterparts, where distancing has been far stricter

    Every day, Mory DiMaurizio looks out his window at Niagara Falls and sighs in frustration.

    Not at the sight of the falls – one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world – but rather at the prospect of US tour boats with blue-ponchoed Americans.

    Continue reading...

    New Yorkers vote in special contest to reimagine famous Brooklyn Bridge

    Six finalists chosen after city launched plan to rethink bridge that currently carries cars, trains, cyclists and pedestrians

    The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted much of New York City’s normal rhythms of travel, with many people now hopping on to bicycles rather than the subway. A design competition could now solidify these changes by offering up a revamped version of the famous Brooklyn Bridge.

    Related: If McDonald's is reopening, why not schools? It's complicated | Emma Brockes

    Continue reading...

    DoJ to investigate federal forces’ tactics in US cities as mayors condemn Trump

    Watchdog to look at use-of-force allegations in Portland and Washington as other mayors say: we don’t need your deployments

    The justice department inspector general said on Thursday it would conduct a review of the conduct of federal agents who responded to unrest in Portland and Washington DC, following concerns from members of Congress and the public.

    Related: DoJ watchdog opens investigation into federal agents' actions in Portland – live

    Continue reading...

    Ghislaine Maxwell case: ‘extremely personal’ documents to be unsealed

    New York judge orders documents unsealed after Maxwell’s lawyers had tried to keep them secret

    An extensive collection of “extremely personal” documents in civil litigation against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell can be unsealed, a Manhattan federal court judge ruled on Thursday.

    The documents relate to Maxwell’s deposition in this litigation, as well as her early 2015 correspondence with her longterm associate, the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

    Continue reading...

    ‘It’s chaotic’: New York street partying fuels fears of coronavirus resurgence

    Cases of Covid-19 among the young are on the rise as outdoor drinking draws crowds in neighbourhoods across the city

    Motorcycles revved, waiters served drinks, and food in busy outdoor street seating areas and, on the pavement, people gathered to sip to-go drinks.

    On Saturday night in Astoria, in Queens, it was almost as if coronavirus had never hit New York City.

    Continue reading...

    Jamaal Bowman wins New York primary in major victory for progressives

    The former teacher, who earned the support of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, ousted 16-term Eliot Engel

    Jamaal Bowman, a former teacher endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren, has ousted the 16-term Democratic congressman Eliot Engel in the race for New York’s 16th district, marking a major win for the party’s progressive wing.

    Bowman had been leading Engel and candidate Christopher Fink since the 6 July primary but the race had not been called by the Associated Press until Friday. In the end Bowman defeated Engel with 55% of the vote, a margin of roughly 12,000 votes, when the race was called. Bowman had declared victory earlier in the month when in-person voting had concluded.

    Continue reading...

    The power of touch: when my son visited in lockdown, we couldn’t hug. It was a reminder of the saddest truth

    My son’s 14th birthday was the first he and I had spent apart – then he called to say his mother had Covid-19. We were faced with a reality I had hoped to forestall for ever

    Welcome to the Guardian’s Power of Touch series

    We Jacksons are not effusive types. There ain’t a helluva lot of hugging and touching at family gatherings. However, one of the few exceptions is my son, who’s been unfettered with his affections since he was toddling around his mother’s New Jersey home – he and I have never lived together full-time. My son’s been a boy who, unprompted, says, “Dad, I love you” and wraps me in the tightest of hugs. Who, when he’s seen his sister after a long absence, almost tackles her with glee. Who’s still apt to let a deluge go on account of hurt feelings. In plenty of explicit ways, he’s my emotional opposite, a boy who showed me how to embrace; who, along with his sister, softened parts of me that my own boyhood had hardened; a kid who’s been instrumental in ushering me as close to comfortable with physical expressions of love as I have been in all my almost 45 years of life.

    What kind of father was I that I was scared to receive my flesh and blood?

    Continue reading...