Tag: Metro

Lee Zeldin ditches campaign treasurer he shared with lying George Santos

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin announced on Monday that he is starting a new political action committee without Nancy Marks, the longtime treasurer he shared with disgraced Rep. George Santos. 

“We will be announcing a new federal PAC that is being stood up right now utilizing a different treasurer,” Zeldin (R-NY) said at the New York State Conservative Party Political Action Conference in Albany, New York. 

Marks notified the Federal Election Commission last week that she had resigned from Santos’ (R-NY) campaign and his affiliated political committees. Her announcement came a week after the Santos campaign named a replacement who claims he didn’t agree to take the job amid the discovery of numerous campaign finance irregularities that appear to have caught the eye of federal investigators. 

“The treasurer has something like close to 200 different accounts,” Zeldin said, according to Politico, distancing himself from Marks.

“Our interaction has been through Marks’ daughters,” Zeldin added, acknowledging that his children attend the same Long Island school as Marks. 


George Santos admitted to The Post in December that his resume was mostly lies.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Marks has served as Zeldin’s campaign treasurer since his 2010 election to represent parts of Suffolk County in the New York state Senate. She was recently listed as the treasurer for his failed 2022 campaign for governor of New York.

Marks did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment. 

Santos’ campaign finance disclosures have come under scrutiny since he admitted to The Post in December that he lied about almost his entire resume while on the campaign trail. 

One watchdog group called the campaign’s numerous expenditures recorded as costing $199.99 — a penny below the $200 threshold for FEC itemization — “statistically implausible” and a sign of “deliberately falsified” reporting.

A Queens-based relative of the Long Island Republican was “dumbfounded” when told by Mother Jones last week that they were listed as having made two $2,900 donations to the Santos campaign, denying they had made the donations. 

Santos’ team amended several campaign finance documents last month to show that a $500,000 loan he made to his 2022 congressional campaign didn’t come from “personal funds of the candidate.” It is unknown where those funds he lent his campaign came from. 

The flurry of activity by the campaign came as a lawyer for Thomas Datwyler, the man whom the Santos campaign listed as its new treasurer last month, said that Santos’ team named him treasurer without his authorization. 

The Justice Department has reportedly asked the FEC not to pursue enforcement action against Santos as it continues its criminal investigation into the disgraced lawmaker.

The guidance sent by the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section signals that federal prosecutors may be centering their probe into Santos on his campaign finances. 

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Mayor Adams makes a parting shot at Kyrie Irving after trade to Mavericks

Mayor Eric Adams had a bit of trash talk for Kyrie Irving Monday morning following news that the talented but oft-troubled player will be traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks.

During an interview with morning host Pat Kiernan on NY1, Adams was asked to envision City Hall as a professional sports team and Irving as a staffer.

“If City Hall was a professional sports team, and you had an employee who gave you as much drama as Kyrie Irving is giving to the Brooklyn Nets, what would you do if that employee said could you trade me – would you do the trade?” Kiernan asked, prompting a chuckle from Adams.

The mayor replied, “I will find the team that beats us the most and send him to that team, because then we’ll start beating that team.”


Mayor Adams laughed when asked to envision City Hall as a professional sports team before appearing to slight Kyrie Irving after it was announced the Brooklyn Net would be traded.
Spectrum News NY1

“It’s about synergy in energy. No matter how much talent you have, your ability to interact with your colleagues is more important,” Adams continued.

“One player can bring down the synergy of the team – and so I would send him to the team that beats us the most so we can start winning better.”

The Nets traded Irving and veteran forward Markieff Morris to the Mavericks in exchange for guard Spencer Dinwiddie, forward Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round selection and 2027 and 2029 second-rounders. 


The talented but troubled player joined the Nets in 2019 but played very few games after refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
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Irving came to Brooklyn in 2019 but played a measly 143 out of a possible 278 games due to his refusal to adhere to New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Even after missing nearly two-thirds of the season, Irving ripped Adam’s move to end New York City’s private employer vaccine mandate – a policy he kept in place for city workers.

Irving took to social media in September to blast the policy, writing: “If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired.”

He continued: “This enforced Vaccine/Pandemic is one the biggest violations of HUMAN RIGHTS in history.”


Irving has made prior comments about Adams and his COVID-19 policies.
Spectrum News NY1

His criticisms came even after Adams lifted the private sector vaccination mandate for professional athletes and performers in local venues, allowing Irving to play home games at the Barclays Center.

This season, Irving was suspended without pay for eight games after he promoted an anti-Semitic movie and has had several contentious contract negotiations — the last one being the final breaking point.



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Woman pronounced dead discovered breathing in Long Island funeral home

A woman seemingly rose from the dead on Long Island over the weekend.

The bizarre case unfolded when the 82-year-old woman was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson.

But after being transported to the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, the woman was found to be breathing shortly after 2 p.m., police said.

Funeral home staffers made the shocking discovery and the octogenarian was then brought to an area hospital, Suffolk County police said. Her current condition is unknown.

It’s unclear if the woman was declared dead in error or if she experienced a medical episode that could have contributed to her apparent resurrection.

The case has been referred to the New York State Attorney’s Office.

The Long Island funeral home didn’t immediately return a message.

Last week, an Iowa nursing home was fined $10,000 for similarly pronouncing a hospice patient dead and shipping her to a nursing home when she was actually alive.

A funeral home worker unzipped the body bag the 66-year-old woman was inside and found her “gasping for air.”

The staffer called 911 and the woman was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was confirmed to be breathing, but unresponsive.

The woman was returned to hospice and died two days later surrounded by family members.

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MTA unveils new NYC subway cars for A/C line riders

Bet this beats the subway car you rode to work.

The top Metropolitan Transportation Authority brass on Friday showed off some gleaming new, high-tech subway cars they hope to roll into service before the end of the year.

So far, the MTA has ordered nearly 1,200 new R211 subway cars — worth an estimated $3.2 billion — that will feature wider doors for speedier boarding, digital displays with more information, more room for handicapped passengers and security cameras in every car for improved security.

The MTA says A/C line straphangers will get the first crack at the shiny new rides, as well as a look at what the MTA hopes is the future: Subway cars linked together by an open passageway, allowing riders to easily move around and find seats during the rush hours.

The MTA has ordered just two of these open-gangway trains as part of a pilot program so far, but Chairman Janno Lieber and his chief of New York City Transit, Richard Davey, played up the advantages when they invited reporters out for a demonstration Friday.

The MTA unveiled new subway cars it hopes to roll into service before the end of the year.
Paul Martinka
The MTA says A/C line straphangers will get the first crack at the shiny new rides.
Paul Martinka


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There will be security cameras on all the new subway cars.
Paul Martinka


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“We have to test these, we have to try them out and see how they work, see if they fit into the New York environment — there’s a lot of complexity,” Lieber told reporters on the new train car. “But it’s always a milestone when you see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“We wouldn’t have the press on if we weren’t satisfied” with the trains, Davey added. “So far, so good.”

The two open-gangway trains and their traditional closed-car brethren will allow the MTA to finally replace the problem-plagued R46 trains, which date back to the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.

The open-gangway trains link together the first five cars and the last five cars of the train, allowing passengers to more easily move between the front half or back half, a setup that is common on major European subways like London and Paris.

The new cars will be compatible with the MTA’s new computerized signaling system that currently powers both the 7 and L trains and can dispatch trains as frequently as every two minutes, allowing officials to dramatically boost capacity.


Each car will be connected with open compartments, allowing for easy transfer.
Paul Martinka

The agency is currently spending hundreds of millions to bring the system to the 8th Avenue and Fulton Street subways to improve the speed and reliability of the A and C trains.

It give transit agencies more space inside for seats and standing room and it allows passengers to quickly move to emptier parts of the train if they choose.

Some New Yorkers mocked the MTA’s apparent embrace of the design on Twitter after the rollout, complaining that foul smells could now pollute several cars instead of one.

Officials said late Friday that if the open gangway pilot is successful, they could convert an option they currently hold with Kawasaki for another 437 R211 cars to the configuration — enough for roughly more 40 trains.

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Teen clinging to life after being stabbed in stomach in NYC

A 16-year-old boy was clinging to life after he was stabbed in the stomach in the Bronx on Tuesday afternoon, cops said.

The teenager’s stomach was punctured with an unknown object at West 195th Street and Jerome Avenue around 2:30 p.m., cops said. 

Police were looking for five males who fled on foot south on Jerome Avenue.

A 16-year-old boy was stabbed in the stomach.
Peter Gerber
The teen was stabbed with an unknown object.
Peter Gerber


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Police are looking for the suspect.
Peter Gerber
The victim is in critical condition.
Peter Gerber


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The victim was taken to Jacobi Hospital in critical condition, according to police.

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NYC 13-year-old charged with murdering teen after school

A 13-year-old boy has been charged with murdering an older Brooklyn teen during an after-school fight over a girl, cops said Monday. 

Two other boys, ages 14 and 15 — and both with previous felony arrests — were busted in the heinous crime as well, charged with assault and gang-assault raps, police said.

The three young accused hoods turned themselves in to police Sunday night in the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old high-school senior Nyheem Wright, who was killed in front of his twin brother in a parking lot in Coney Island on the afternoon of Jan. 20.

The suspects’ names were not released by the NYPD because of their ages.

The oldest suspect has been busted in the past for assault, grand larceny and criminal possession of a loaded firearm, cops said. 


Nyheem Wright was stabbed to death in front of his brother, Raheem.
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The 14-year-old has been arrested for two previous robberies, police said. 

The busts come as the NYPD grapples with what city Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has called a “deficient” juvenile criminal-justice system hampered by the state’s “Raise the Age” statute.

The statute, signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, took effect in October 2019, upping the age for a teen to face adult charges to 18, from the previous 16- and 17-year-old threshold.

Since then, police statistics show drastically fewer arrests in the seven major crimes and gun cases for under-18 suspects.

Cops said Nyheem’s senseless slaying stemmed from a dispute over a girl, and the teen’s mother, Simone Brooks, has told The Post that his stricken sibling, Raheem, “stayed with his twin brother the whole time,” trying to help him and then watching him die.

“I was on the phone with [Raheem] … and when the ambulance came, they kept saying, ‘[Nyheem’s] losing a lot of blood, he’s losing a lot of blood!’ ” Brooks said.


Two of the arrested teens have prior felony arrests, cops said.
Peter Gerber

Brooks said Nyheem’s wound severed a major artery.

“There was nothing anyone could have done because the blood would just drain right out,” she said.

The principal of Nyheem’s school, K728 Liberation Diploma Plus High School, spent the night at the hospital with the family trying to help comfort them before his death, Brooks said.

After the teen’s death, city schools Chancellor David Banks tweeted, “I spoke with the young man’s principal this evening, who described him as a joyful leader.

“He was on the verge of graduation, and was a hard worker who took an active role in leading other young people at his school,” Banks wrote of Nyheem.


Nyheem Wright was remembered by his principal as a “joyful leader.”
Gregory P. Mango

Brooks told The Post before the arrests that she wanted the “little punks” who killed her son to pay. 

“These ones nowadays, they all want to pull weapons,” Brooks, 50, said at the time. “They don’t want to fight it out because they’re just little punks.”

“We want justice for my son Nyheem because he did not deserve this, and we are not OK.”

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NYPD officers identify 3 protesters arrested in Times Square during Tyre Nichols demonstrations

Police on Saturday identified three Manhattan residents arrested in connection with violent Tyre Nichols demonstrations in Times Square.

Candy Nicole, 25, was charged with assault, hate crime assault, and two counts of obstruction of governmental administration for punching a cop in the nose and another in the head in the Friday night fracas, the NYPD said.


Argenis Rivera, 33, was charged with criminal mischief for smashing the windshield with his foot, police said.
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Argenis Rivera, 33, was charged with criminal mischief for jumping on a marked NYPD cruiser and smashing the windshield with his foot, police said.

Katherine Stone, 34, was issued a desk appearance ticket for criminal mischief and possessing graffiti tools after she defaced the cop car, authorities said.

Read more of the Post’s coverage of Tyre Nichols’ beating death

The trio was handcuffed in the Crossroads of the World after protests of the police-beating death of Nichols turned violent.

The Times Square protest was one of several that erupted in the Big Apple as the sun went down. Others originated in Union Square and Grand Central Terminal. 


The Times Square protest was one of several that erupted in the city as the sun went down.
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Nichols died earlier this month after he was pulled over by Memphis police. The five cops involved in the traffic stop were charged with murder Thursday. Nichols and the five cops were black.

The 29-year-old Fed Ex driver’s death has sparked condemnation from leaders across the country as they urge peaceful demonstrations following the release of the graphic footage that shows Nichols pummeled and tased.

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Grand Central’s LIRR terminal to finally open Wednesday

The long-delayed Long Island Railroad terminal beneath Grand Central will finally open Wednesday – albeit as part of a soft-launch with limited service.

After 15 years of construction on the $11.6 billion transit hub, the MTA will offer some shuttle service between Jamaica, Queens and the new LIRR terminal as the agency slowly rolls out the commuter line, the agency announced Monday.

The first train will leave Jamaica at 10:45 a.m. and is scheduled to arrive at the “Grand Central Madison” LIRR terminal at 11:07 a.m., the MTA said.

The limited shuttle runs will continue for “at least three weeks,” the agency said. After which, the LIRR will run full service from Long Island to the new 700,000-square-foot terminal named for its location running underground on Madison Avenue.

The state agency said the three-week soft launch will allow customers to “acquaint themselves with the new terminal as existing schedules continue.”

The MTA plans to add the new train line schedules to its website and in the TrainTime app ahead of launching full service.


The terminal will open 15 years construction was started.
Stephen Yang

MTA CEO Janno Lieber announced the project would not be completed by the end of 2022 at a monthly board meeting.
Stephen Yang

The express ride from Jamaica to Grand Central Madison will continue as the “Grand Central Direct” line once full service begins.

Trains on the direct line will run between 6:15 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weekends.

The MTA will honor Penn Station tickets for those traveling to Grand Central Madison during the initial service period, the agency said.

MTA officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul had hoped the extensive project — also referred to as East Side Access — would have been completed before the end of the year, but the opening was pushed back to this month due to a faulty fan.


Construction on the project began in the 1960s but was abandoned due to financial restraints.
Stephen Yang

The new station will feature four new LIRR platforms.
Stephen Yang

The most recent delay is just a minor blip in the project’s long-winding history of setbacks and rising costs.

The historically-late terminal was first proposed over 50 years ago.

Workers began building a tunnel under the East River to serve the station in the 1960s, but by the next decade, the city abandoned its plans as it stared down increasing financial issues.

The MTA picked the plans back up in the 1990s, setting an estimated completion date of 2009 and a price tag of $4.3 billion — less than half of the current cost.


The project was picked back up in the 1990s when officials set an estimated completion date to 2009.
Daniel Shapiro

The project’s final price tag of $11.6 billion is more than double its initial cost estimate.
Daniel Shapiro

The MTA estimates that the new train lines — once in effect — will increase overall LIRR service by 41%. Before the pandemic, officials estimated the new stop would serve 150,000 daily riders.

The new terminal will include four new LIRR platforms as well as a concourse with 25 retail shops and a floor-to-ceiling mosaic by the famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

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Rikers guard punched inmate in face; fellow officers covered it up: indictment

Three city correction officers have been accused of covering up the assault of a Rikers Island inmate by one of their own, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Carl Williams, 31, Roy Dewar, 58, and Jatan Das, 64, were indicted on charges of official misconduct and multiple counts of falsifying business records, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a release.

Williams was also slapped with one count of assault for allegedly striking an inmate in the face on Oct. 14, 2021, inside Otis Bantum Correctional Center, the DA’s office said.

Dewar and Das watched the unprovoked attack on surveillance video — but submitted bogus reports that said the inmate was being aggressive to justify the use of force, prosecutors alleged.

“We must hold Correction Officers to a high standard,” Clark said. “Just as the alleged violence will not be tolerated, neither will the coverup, especially in this turbulent time in Rikers Island.”

The DOC did not respond immediately for comment.

The correction officers could not be reached. It was also unclear if the officers had retained legal counsel.

They are due back in court on April 13.

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New Yorkers waged $16B on mobile sports betting last year

New York gamblers used their phones to wager around $16 billion on sports in the first year of the state’s legal mobile gaming — netting Albany $709 million in taxes.

The state also got some $200 million in licensing fees since betting began on Jan. 8, 2022, making its windfall from the new gambling law the highest in the nation, according to the governor’s office.

Officials said $5 million of the winnings would be used to fund sports programs for kids in need, and $6 million would be spent on gambling addiction treatment — with the rest of the state’s jackpot allocated to fund education.

More than 3.8 million unique player accounts made over 1.2 billion bets in New York — meaning about one in four adult New Yorkers tried their luck online during the last year, according to the state’s statistics.

Gov. Hochul touted the staggering new betting figures Friday.
AP

“In just one year, New York has become a national leader in providing responsible entertainment for millions while bringing in record-shattering revenue for education, youth sports, and problem gambling prevention,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement Friday.

 “I look forward to another year of delivering top tier mobile sports wagering experiences that generate revenue to enrich the lives of New Yorkers across the state.”

Nine mobile sports book operators are currently licensed with the state and required to post weekly betting reports.

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