New York will require all state employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by Labor Day or undergo weekly tests for COVID-19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. “It’s smart, it’s fair and it’s in everyone’s interest,” Cuomo said in a Zoom call with the nonprofit Association for a Better New York. In mandating either the shots, or frequent testing for government workers, Cuomo is following on the heels of California and New York City, which announced similar policies for employees earlier this week. New York, like other states, has seen a rising number of coronavirus cases linked to the Delta variant. New infections have climbed more than 400% since the end of June. Cuomo said vaccines would be mandatory for “front-line” workers at state-owned hospitals.

Some legislators want to change New York’s campaign finance rules after Gov. Andrew Cuomo used $285,000 in political donations to pay lawyers representing him in harassment and misconduct investigations. New York politicians have used millions of dollars in campaign funds in recent years to pay lawyers defending them against allegations of wrongdoing, according to tallies kept by the New York Public Interest Research Group. The list includes former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, former state Senate leader Dean Skelos, former state Senate leader Joseph Bruno and former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. That kind of campaign spending is allowed under certain conditions but many still find it distasteful.

The conviction of a New Yorker charged with providing material support to Hezbollah by seeking targets in New York City for terrorist attacks was upheld Tuesday by an appeals court, though one of three judges questioned the 40-year prison sentence, saying it was too long because nobody was harmed directly by the crimes. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled on Ali Kourani’s appeal challenging the conviction and the sentence. Prosecutors said the Lebanon-born Kourani spent years conducting surveillance at federal buildings, airports and day care centers after he was recruited, trained and deployed by Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization. In a majority opinion written by Circuit Judge Jose A.

Mandating either COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for the virus should give vaccine-hesitant New York City employees a strong incentive to get inoculated, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. “I want to emphasize that that either-or really creates a positive pressure for vaccination because it will be the responsibility of the employee to get tested on a regular basis, and that comes with its own challenges,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” De Blasio, a Democrat, announced Monday that every city employee will have to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested weekly starting in mid-September. Officials in California announced a similar mandate for state employees.

Officials seized over 175 dirt bikes and ATVs over the weekend in addition to arresting dozens of riders and issuing hundreds of summonses, according to police. “ATV’s & dirt bikes are illegal & dangerous to use in NYC. Your local NYPD cops have been out there, stopping those who refuse to heed warnings & continue to put NYers at risk,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea wrote on Twitter. “Use it & lose it,” he added. According to Shea, the ATVs and dirt bikes were seized on July 24 and 25. Authorities also arrested 30 riders and wrote summonses for 374 operators. (AP)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo projected confidence Monday that he’ll ultimately be exonerated of allegations of harassment, but he also questioned the neutrality of the lawyers hired to investigate his behavior. Speaking at his first news conference in nearly two weeks, Cuomo said he had “concerns as to the independence of the reviewers,” hired by state Attorney General Letitia James. James appointed Joon Kim, the former acting U.S. attorney for Manhattan, and the employment discrimination attorney Anne Clark to conduct the probe. The lawyers have spent months now speaking to women who say Cuomo subjected them to inappropriate behavior. “Do a little history. Go to Google,” Cuomo told reporters at a press conference at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The past week saw a tremendous jump in emergency transports around the United States by Hatzolah Air. On Monday alone, Hatzolah Air had two planes making three flights. On Monday morning, a Hatzolah Air plane flew a critical patient from Toronto to NY. Shortly after landing in NY, the plane was dispatched to Florida to pick up a post-op patient and bring them back to NY. Meanwhile, a second Hatzolah Air plane was being flown down to Florida, to bring the body of Estelle Hedaya A”H back to NY for Kevura. Hedeya was the last Jewish victim who was killed in the Surfside condo collapse. Her body was identified on Monday morning.

The United States will keep existing COVID-19 travel restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variant, according to a White House official. President Joe Biden earlier this month said that his administration was “in the process” of considering how soon the U.S. could lift the ban on European travel bound for the U.S. after the issue was raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the White House. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said while the administration understands the importance of international travel, cases are rising in the U.S.

A tractor-trailer crashed on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway early Monday morning, spilling vegetables everywhere. It happened on the eastbound BQE at Flushing Avenue. A mess of vegetables, believed to be peppers, were all over the expressway. Fortunately, no one was injured. However, only the left lane was open and the Flushing Avenue exit was closed while crews cleaned up the spill. The cause of the crash is under investigation. From @wcbs880 #Chopper880 and @PIX11News #Air11: Vegetable delivery truck overturns, splits open, closes most of the NB BQE at Flushing Ave; updates #Every10Minutes #OnThe8s; 07.26.21; #NYC; #Brooklyn; @wcbs880traffic; @PIX11Traffic pic.twitter.com/B5Sa3Hig2S — Tom Kaminski (@TomKaminskiWCBS) July 26, 2021 Don't cry over spilled…peppers?

Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to announce as soon as Monday an expansion of New York City’s current vaccine mandate to include all city workers, NBC is reporting. The mandate is expected to begin with city employees who work in congregate settings first. The plan will be phased in, with the full city workforce expected to follow it by mid-September. Unvaccinated city workers are expected to be required to wear masks in the workplace under the new plan, which will require them to be tested weekly if they aren’t receiving the vaccine. DEVELOPING STORY