Brooklyn

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he expects to announce a realignment of New York’s cluster zones later this week, touting the effectiveness thus far of his acutely targeted approach that stamps out hotspots on a “block-by-block” level. Any shift in mapping would likely affect restrictions in certain areas, the highest risk of which have seen schools move all-remote and...

Health officials in New York delivered a ban days before a scheduled wedding after receiving reports that “upwards of 10,000 individuals” were scheduled to attend the ceremony in Brooklyn, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. At his briefing Saturday, the governor explained that state officials received word of a the wedding after the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning against attending…

New York state and city wildlife officials say it’s too soon to know the local impact of exotic eels dumped into a Brooklyn lake last month

Three Rockland County Jewish congregations are suing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying he engaged in a “streak of anti-Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state’s coronavirus infection rate. The Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed late Wednesday accused the Democrat of making negative, false, and discriminatory statements about the Jewish Orthodox...

A leader of the Brooklyn COVID protest last week that turned into a violent attack on a well-known local journalist was charged with of inciting violence and unlawful imprisonment, and was ordered by the judge to stay away from the reporter. Harold “Heshy” Tischler was arraigned Monday evening in the Oct. 7 attack on reporter Jacob Kornbluh, who alleged he…

New York City will start handing out hefty fines Friday as the city and state step up enforcement of new COVID restrictions amid months-long highs in total hospitalizations that have followed soaring infection rates in some areas. Penalties of up to $15,000 a day apply for violations on mass gathering rules; in red cluster areas, those are banned entirely. Twenty-five…

After months of grappling with a pandemic that has walloped New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities, prompting changes to holidays, mourning and prayers, new limits on worship and other activity in some areas are pushing tensions in some neighborhoods of Brooklyn to the boiling point. New restrictions in places where coronavirus cases are rising, including several Orthodox areas, led to street...

A prominent Orthodox Jewish organization based out of Queens and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced separate lawsuits to halt restrictions on religious gatherings put in place by the state of New York, just as a third day of protests over the new lockdown orders got underway in Brooklyn. Agudath Israel of America on Thursday asked for a temporary…

UPDATE: ‘Significant Problem’ – Cuomo Threatens to Fine Local Governments Over Hotspots as Numbers Rise, NYC Reports Highest New Cases in Month-Plus Twenty-one ZIP codes considered to be “areas of concern” in New York state given alarming increases in COVID cases now are averaging a 6.5 percent positivity rate, a full percentage point increase overnight, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday….

Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to impose fines on local governments over lacking compliance Friday, saying New York’s hotspots are a “significant problem” and a product of failed enforcement of COVID safety protocols and regulations. “The numbers are continuing to go up in many of these ZIP codes,” Cuomo said on a telebriefing with reporters shortly after New York City...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his harshest rebuke yet of local governments in New York City, Rockland County and Orange County Wednesday, blaming their “incompetence” for burgeoning COVID clusters and warning, “Either you do the job or people will die.” “We know how to contain the infection rate. We’re just not doing it with these clusters,” the governor said in...

BREAKING UPDATE: Cuomo to Local Gov’ts as New York Clusters Worsen: ‘Either You Do the Job or People Will Die’ Alarmed by soaring infection rates in nearly a dozen New York ZIP codes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo felt compelled to hold a second conference call in two hours Monday to discuss the clusters and warned drastic measures may come next....

A man was seen dumping eels into the Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn by a witness who tried to confront him.

The overall number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York City is ticking up, as officials fight to combat soaring infection rates in certain neighborhoods in recent weeks that threaten to evolve into more widespread transmission. Outbreaks in Rockland and Orange counties are also fueling heightened concern — to a degree Gov. Andrew Cuomo said makes it the “largest cluster” the…

Even as New York City officials combat a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases in multiple neighborhoods, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday it was already time to start looking to and planning for the future. “I don’t want for a moment to forget what we experienced. It’s unforgettable, very sadly, March, April, one of the worst times in the...

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that “urgent action” is needed to try to contain a significant uptick in COVID-19 cases, which he says is affecting “multiple neighborhoods simultaneously” and could spiral to others. Six neighborhoods are experiencing COVID case increases, though four have accounted for one in five new ones citywide since the weekend — and those have been…

In an area the city’s Health Department is calling the ‘Ocean Parkway Cluster,’ the positivity rate has climbed to nearly 5 percent — and when combined with three other neighborhoods, the area is responsible for 1 in 5 COVID cases citywide

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life is being celebrated in her native New York City with plans for a statue, landmarks lit in blue and impromptu memorials at her childhood home in Brooklyn and the high school she attended. Ginsburg died Friday of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer at age 87. A legal trailblazer and champion of women’s...

A former FDNY EMT — and son of a high-ranking FDNY official — who allegedly impersonated an NYPD officer over the years was arrested for robbing an alleged drug dealer of nearly 200 oxycodone pills, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of New York. Robert Gala, 28 and of Sheepshead Bay, was arrested…

An off-duty New York City firefighter watched flames engulf his own home on Sunday but that didn’t stop him from doing his duty and rescuing his neighbors — all without any fire protective gear. The blaze broke out shortly before midnight inside Peter Orlowski’s home in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, authorities said. More than 200 firefighters responded to…