Tag: new york

NY Teacher Who ‘Prefers’ Underage Girls Hid Disturbing Content in Secret Application on Phone

A New York educator has been apprehended for his alleged involvement in child exploitation.

Kostas Fekkas, 34, was employed at a Manhattan charter school at the time of his arrest on September 14. His teaching career also spans several other schools in the Bronx and neighboring Westchester County.

Court documents reveal that Fekkas communicated with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl. During this interaction, Fekkas allegedly stated his preference for underage girls and even claimed to have had sexual relations with a 10th grader.

“Cool. I usually cut off at 9th grade but you’re insanely gorgeous,” Fekkas allegedly told the undercover agent, who identified herself as an 8th grader. Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was unequivocal in his condemnation.

“Kostas Fekkas’s alleged conduct is despicable,” Williams said. “As a teacher, Fekkas was entrusted with the care and well-being of children, who he in turn allegedly sought to victimize.”

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Outraged protesters block bus carrying migrants on Staten Island: ‘You’re not welcome!’

Outraged Staten Island residents took to the street Tuesday night to physically block the arrival of an MTA bus carrying asylum seekers to a newly converted shelter — a move that Mayor Eric Adams called “ugly,” even as over 100,000 migrants have been shipped to the Big Apple since last year.

The group of unruly protesters, captured on video wailing and banging on the sides of the bus, halted traffic just before 10 p.m. after intercepting the bus, which was headed to the former Island Shores senior assisted living facility.

Police said 10 people were taken into custody, with nine being issued summonses for disorderly conduct.

A 48-year-old man, identified as Vadim Belyakov, was charged for allegedly assaulting an officer who was trying to make an arrest.

One video taken of some of the protesters outside the facility at Father Capodanno Boulevard and Midland Avenue showed people whistling and screaming, “You’re not welcome!” and “You are illegal!”

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How Columbia University ignored women, undermined prosecutors, and allowed one of its OB/GYNs to abuse hundreds of patients

Columbia University — where Robert Hadden spent his entire medical career — has never fully accounted for its role in allowing a predator to operate unchecked for decades. To date, more than 245 patients have alleged that Hadden abused them, which by itself could make him one of the most prolific sexual assailants in New York history. But the total number of victims may be far higher. On any given day during his two decades of practice at Columbia, Hadden saw 25 to 40 patients. Tens of thousands came under his care. A baby girl he delivered grew up to be a teenager he allegedly assaulted.

Hadden, 65, was sentenced in July to 20 years in federal prison — the result of a long, arduous process that Columbia often undermined. One of the country’s most acclaimed private universities was deeply involved in containing, deflecting, and distancing itself from the scandal at every step.

In agreeing to pay $236.5 million to resolve lawsuits brought by 226 of Hadden’s victims, Columbia admitted no fault, which is in keeping with public statements over the years placing the blame for what happened solely on Hadden. But the university’s own records show that women repeatedly tried to warn doctors and staff about Hadden. At least twice, the fact that Hadden’s bosses in the OB/GYN department knew of the women’s concerns was acknowledged in writing. They allowed him to continue practicing.

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‘Hard Knocks’ finale recap: Rodgers’ UFO story and more

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the star of this summer’s series, gave viewers a UFO story. Yes, right in the middle of the usual end-of-training-camp storylines — roster cuts, welcome-to-the-team moments, fiery speeches, etc. — was his story about the time he saw “an incredibly large object” flying over New Jersey.

An old college teammate from Cal, Steve Levy, visited training camp one day, prompting Rodgers — in a sitdown interview — to talk about the time they witnessed what he believes was a UFO.

“It was definitely unidentified, it was definitely flying and it was definitely a large object,” Rodgers said.

It happened in 2005, when he was in New York for the NFL Draft. He stayed at Levy’s house in New Jersey and, in the middle of the night, he heard an alarm in the distance and walked outside with Levy and his brother to check it out.

“Up in the clouds we heard this sound and we saw this tremendously large object moving through the sky,” Rodgers said. “It was like a scene out of ‘Independence Day,’ when the ships are coming into the atmosphere, creating this kind of like explosion-type fire in the sky.”

Rodgers said they froze.

“About 30 seconds later, we heard the real recognizable sound of fighter jets going zoom, zoom, zoom. They seemed to be chasing this object. … We just stood there in disbelief for another few minutes. Nobody said a word. Then we all looked at each other like, ‘Did we just see what we thought we just saw?'”

According to Rodgers, an alarm from a nearby nuclear power plant went off that night. “And if you know anything about UFOs, there are a lot of sightings around nuclear energy, around volcanoes, around power plants,” he said, citing research he says he did.

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The End of Airbnb in New York

THOUSANDS OF AIRBNBS and short-term rentals are about to be wiped off the map in New York City.

Local Law 18, which came into force Tuesday, is so strict it doesn’t just limit how Airbnb operates in the city—it almost bans it entirely for many guests and hosts. From now on, all short-term rental hosts in New York must register with the city, and only those who live in the place they’re renting—and are present when someone is staying—can qualify. And people can only have two guests.

Gone are the days of sleek downtown apartments outfitted for bachelorette parties, cozy two- and three-bedroom apartments near museums for families, and even the option for people to rent out their apartment on weekends when they’re away. While Airbnb, Vrbo, and others can continue to operate in New York, the new rules are so tight that Airbnb sees it as a “de facto ban” on its business.

Short-term rentals can bring noise, trash, and danger, and they can price local residents out of their own neighborhoods. Some landlords in New York are prolific and have hundreds of Airbnb listings. But other New Yorkers who have listings on Airbnb are trying to make ends meet, either leasing their place while they’re out of town or renting half of a duplex to help cover their mortgage costs.

Airbnb is also popular with some of the 66 million visitors a year looking for accommodations that are cheaper and sometimes larger than hotels. In 2022 alone, short-term rental listings made $85 million in New York. The city might be a relatively small slice of Airbnb’s global market, but the new rules show how local governments can effectively stamp out short-term rentals overnight and lessen their impact on dense residential areas. And New York is just one of many cities around the world trying to calm the short-term rental gold-rush.

And everyone is taking a different approach. Dallas has limited short-term rentals to specific neighborhoods to avoid disruptive and dangerous parties. Elsewhere, the Canadian province of Quebec and Memphis, Tennessee, among others, now require licenses for short-term rentals. In San Francisco, the amount of time someone can list their entire residence for rent on Airbnb is limited to 90 days each year; Amsterdam puts that limit at 30 nights per year, Paris at 120 days. Berlin previously banned nearly all Airbnbs but walked the decision back in 2018.

Airbnb’s attempts to fight back against the new law have, to date, been unsuccessful. The company sued New York City in June, but a judge dismissed the case in August, ruling that the restrictions were “entirely rational.” Airbnb did not comment on whether it would appeal the decision. Hosts are also fighting for the right to list their apartments as short-term stays by meeting with city officials to try to change the law.

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NYC migrants living in temporary shelters don’t need vaccinations to initially enroll in public school

Migrants living in temporary shelters in New York City don’t need vaccinations to initially enroll in the city’s public school system.

Officials said during a press conference on Wednesday that migrants living in temporary shelters have a certain timeframe that the vaccinations need to be obtained by once they are in school, according to FOX 5.

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks said that since July 2022, around 19,000 students living in temporary housing have enrolled in city schools.

Banks said that “We have room for the students,” referring to the migrant children who arrived in the city.

Typically, all students aged 2 months to 18 years old who will attend public school, child care, or private school must be vaccinated  for a list of diseases before attending, according to the New York City Department of Education. There are some situations where a child can attend school if they have received the first dose of a school-required vaccine which requires multiple doses.

According to the city’s department of education, religious exemptions for mandated vaccines are no longer allowed.

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New York Police to Use Drones to Monitor Backyard Labor Day Parties

New York police will use drones to monitor backyard Labor Day parties this weekend.

Kaz Daughtry, the assistant NYPD Commissioner made the announcement during a security briefing on J’ouvert, an annual Caribbean festival.

Daughtry’s plan to use police drones to monitor backyard barbecues got immediate backlash from civil liberties groups.

Why a Veteran-Owned Freeze-Dried Beef Company Unabashedly Embraces an America First Worldview

“It’s a troubling announcement and it flies in the face of the POST Act,” said Daniel Schwarz, a privacy and technology strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to a 2020 city law that requires the NYPD to disclose its surveillance tactics, according to AP. “Deploying drones in this way is a sci-fi inspired scenario.”

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Is There a Serial Killer Stalking the Brooklyn Mirage?

Or maybe this EDM club is just too big and messy.

Before I set off for a Saturday night at the Brooklyn Mirage, the teeming oasis of dance-till-sunrise, every-night’s-an-EDM-festival culture that sprang up a few years back on the site of a former lumberyard on Stewart Avenue in East Williamsburg, all my friends cautioned me to “stay safe.” They didn’t just mean “Hydrate” or “Don’t take drugs from strangers.” They were warning of something more sinister that those who go out late in Brooklyn have become absolutely convinced is happening: that a killer is on the loose, preying on zonked-out party boys. If you listen to alarmed reports confidently circulating on TikTok, X, and Reddit, something terrifying is definitely afoot in this admittedly end-of-days landscape of empty streets, chain-link-fenced-off lots, and graffitied warehouses of the industrial neighborhood the Mirage sits in. After all, it already looks like the set for a true-crime documentary or a zombie movie. So just maybe…

This goes back to June 16, when the police found the first body. Karl Clemente, 27, went missing shortly after he failed to get into a party at the Mirage. Five days later, his body was found a few blocks away in Newtown Creek, “unconscious and unresponsive floating in the water,” according to the cops. His wallet was located nearby, and security footage from the night shows him running down the street.

Amateur social-media sleuths wanted to know: But from what? Or whom? 

Then, on July 29, John Castic, also 27, and a Goldman Sachs analyst, disappeared after leaving the Mirage. His friends said he hadn’t been “feeling well,” and he left alone around 3 a.m. Security footage shows him walking calmly down the street, past a pizza cart in front of the club. Three days later, his shirtless body was found floating a short distance from where Clemente’s was found.

Online, people wanted to know: how could this really be just a coincidence?

Then things got even weirder. A story began circulating on social media about a partygoer who claims they were almost “strangled” by a man near the Mirage, before an Uber driver stopped and its passengers saved them. But it never was substantiated by a legit news source or the cops. Then the tabloids dug up an actual police report from a Connecticut doctor who claimed to have been kidnapped by a man pretending to operate a taxi in front of the Mirage on July 21. (The Mirage, which is outside the patrol-range of most yellow cabs, attracts throngs of unofficial people offering rides for money at the end of the night.) According to the New York Post, the doctor told the police that his captor told him he had “put people in body bags,” before taking him on a $6,000 spending spree and returning him to the hospital he worked for in Norwalk.

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Fleeing Bronx drug suspect dies when cop knocks him off scooter with cooler; sergeant suspended by NYPD

A scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting was killed when an NYPD sergeant smacked him with a cooler grabbed from a local family’s outing, sending the victim tumbling to his death, an eyewitness and police sources said Thursday.

NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, an NYPD Bronx narcotics veteran who joined the force in 2010, was suspended without pay just hours after the lethal encounter, police said.

An eyewitness, a 25-year local resident, was with relatives when the clash began on Aqueduct Ave. near W. 190th St. about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kingsbridge Heights.

The 30-year-old suspect, Eric Duprey, “was on the bike, moving north when the cops started chasing him,” said the 42-year-old witness, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Then he took a U-turn and was riding on the sidewalk… The cop then took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him.”

The victim’s wife Orlyanis Velez said police were providing her with no details of the deadly encounter.

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New York Judge Halts Marijuana Business License Approvals Following Military Veteran-Led Lawsuit

A New York judge has halted new cannabis licenses under a program that favors people with previous drug conviction charges following a legal challenge by a group of veterans.

The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant blocks the Office of Cannabis Management from granting new conditional adult-use recreational dispensary licenses, or processing existing ones, while the legal challenge plays out.

It comes in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of disabled military veterans who argue the system of awarding and issuing licenses to certain social equity applicants violates the state Constitution.

Under the state’s cannabis licensing program, entrepreneurs with past cannabis convictions or immediate family members with past convictions are prioritized for the first dispensary licenses. Nonprofit groups that work with former prisoners are also eligible to apply for cannabis licenses.

But the veterans argue in court filings that regulators are usurping the state legislature’s authority by changing the rules that required “the initial adult-use cannabis retail dispensary license application period shall be opened for all applicants at the same time.”

They say regulators failed to adhere to New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act by not issuing licenses to disabled service veterans and other minority groups, whom they argue should qualify.

“Individuals like service-disabled veterans, who are also social equity applicants, who should be prioritized under the MRTA—the marijuana regulation taxation act—the plaintiffs are arguing that they’ve been harmed by being left out of this first mover’s advantage,” said Fatima Afia, an attorney at Rudick Law Group.

The lawsuit is the latest blow to the state’s rollout of a recreational cannabis market, which has been delayed, in part, by a lawsuit alleging that state regulations illegally gave preference to New York residents for pot licenses.

A ruling by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in May allowed New York to begin issuing operating licenses to qualifying pot businesses in most regions of the state.

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