Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, announced Tuesday he is seeking the Republican nomination for governor of New York, potentially setting up a battle with third-term incumbent Democrat Andrew Cuomo. “Giuliani vs. Cuomo. Holy smokes. It’s Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier,” the 35-year-old said in an interview with the New York Post. He also posted a video on Twitter that assailed Cuomo for, among other things, barring gatherings and closing businesses and schools as the coronavirus began killing thousands of New Yorkers last March. “At the first sign of a problem, they chose to shut us down. They take away our freedoms. They quarantine healthy people,” Giuliani said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo disclosed Monday that he was paid a $3.1 million advance to write his COVID-19 leadership book last year and under his publishing contract will make another $2 million on the memoir over the next two years. That total windfall of more than $5.1 million further inflamed critics who have said it was inappropriate for Cuomo to personally enrich himself with a self-congratulatory book, published just as the state was seeing a deadly resurgence in infections last October. At least 52,987 people have died of COVID-19 in New York, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

As Flatbush Shomrim continues working to keep our community safe, we are proud to announce that our marked official vehicles will be patrolling the neighborhood throughout Yom Tov to ensure the safety and peace of mind of all in the community. Our patrol car will be manned by retired NYPD officers, and working closely with the NYPD. Those who are able to to help Shomrim with the cost of these patrols, can click here to donate, The Flatbush Shomrim 24 hour emergency hotline number is 718-338-9797. The FJCC has recently received many inquiries from concerned Flatbush residents about reports of activity last week on Coney Island Ave., including drag racing, as well as supposed violence with a video circulating WhatsApp about danger in our midst.

Four people have been arrested in connection with subway slashings and assaults early Friday — a series of crimes that’s sharpened the ongoing debate over safety and policing in New York City’s transit system. At least four men were wounded in the overnight attacks, all but one of which happened within a 12-minute span on the same No. 4 train in lower Manhattan, police said. Another man was punched in the face, police said. The victims were taken to hospitals in stable condition. Officers armed with surveillance video and descriptions of the suspects intercepted them as they exited a northbound No. 1 train at the 79th Street station in Manhattan, Chief Jason Wilcox said. The men, whose names have not been made public, was taken into custody without incident, Wilcox said.

A Shabbos afternoon accident on Main Street in Bloomingburg has sent a mother to Orange Regional Medical Center with minor injuries and her 3-year-old daughter was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center with a head injury. MidHudsonNews reports that at approximately 3:00PM, a car operated by a male allegedly swerved to avoid a squirrel in the roadway, drove onto the sidewalk where he struck a mother and her young daughter at the time. Catskills Hatzolah was assisted by Mobile Medics on the scene. The child was airlifted to Westchester Trauma Center. Her name for Tehillim is Toiva Raizel bas Malka Devorah Nechama [טויבא רייזל בת מלכה דבורה נחמה]. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The man suspected of shooting and wounding three people in New York’s Times Square, including a 4-year-old girl, said in a television interview that he did not know anything about it and had been in New Jersey at the time. Farrakhan Muhammad spoke to WCJB -TV at a county jail in Florida, where he was in custody after being arrested Wednesday. “I left New York a few days ago … I was in (New) Jersey in a hotel,” Muhammad said. He said he went to Florida to live with his girlfriend’s relatives after being evicted. Muhammad, 31, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Starke, Florida. In New York, investigators say he wounded three people with stray bullets during some type of dispute involving his brother and others.

A Brooklyn man who prosecutors say twice pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and encouraged deadly “lone-wolf” attacks in New York City’s subways and elsewhere was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison. Zachary Clark’s penalty was announced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald. The judge said she wanted to send the message that “provide or attempt to provide materials or support to a foreign terrorist organization and you will spend a very long time in jail.” The bearded Clark, in an orange prison jumpsuit and black glasses, tried along with his lawyer to persuade Buchwald that he had reformed himself behind bars since his November 2019 arrest, in part by attending drug and anger-management programs. But the judge remained unconvinced.

A man suspected of shooting three bystanders in New York’s Times Square was arrested Wednesday in Florida, four days after the gunfire wounded people including a 4-year-old girl out toy shopping in the tourist haven known as “the “Crossroads of the World.” Farrakhan Muhammad was taken into custody while eating lunch in a McDonald’s parking lot near Jacksonville, police said. “While there is no joy today, there is justice,” New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said. Muhammad, 31, was listed Wednesday in an inmate database for the sheriff’s office in Bradford County, Florida. Information on a lawyer who could speak on his behalf was not immediately available. Muhammad is suspected of wounding the three victims with stray bullets during a dispute at about 5 p.m.

A New York City police officer was shot three times in a gun battle with a man suspected in a fatal shooting minutes earlier, officials said Thursday. The wounded officer was expected to recover and the suspected gunman was under arrest, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a briefing at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. “The officer, thank God, is here, he is well and he is expected to make a full recovery,” Shea said. Shea said two police officers and a sergeant, all in uniform, were on patrol in Brooklyn shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday when shots were fired a few blocks away. Minutes after the first shooting, the officers spotted a man walking briskly, Shea said. The two police officers got out of their unmarked patrol car to investigate.

Children between the ages of 12 and 15 can get vaccinated in New York effective immediately, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, after the state’s vaccine advisory task force and state health commissioner reviewed safety data. New York City health officials and national pharmacy chain CVS had already said Wednesday that they’re prepared to start vaccinating children ages 12 to 15 as early as Thursday, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee formally recommend the Pfizer vaccine for that age group in a Wednesday meeting. Cuomo had said the state’s task force had to review the data and make a recommendation to him before that could happen.