New York City’s police commissioner has tested positive for the coronavirus, the department’s top spokesperson said Friday. Commissioner Dermot Shea is feeling well and running the department remotely from home, said Richard Esposito, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for public information. He has remained in regular contact with the department’s senior staff, Esposito said. Shea, 51, is among thousands of NYPD personnel to test positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic hit New York in March. Six detectives, a police officer and 40 civilian employees have died of the virus. Former Transportation Chief William Morris died of COVID-19 in June.

A woman who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone and tackled him while being filmed at a New York City hotel apologized but defended her actions in a television interview conducted before she was arrested in California. “I consider myself to be super sweet,” Miya Ponsetto, 22, said in a “CBS This Morning” interview that aired Friday. “I don’t feel that that is who I am as a person. I don’t feel like this one mistake does define me,” she said. “But I do sincerely from the bottom of my heart apologize that if I made the son feel as if I assaulted him or if I hurt his feelings or the father’s feelings.” The interview was conducted Thursday afternoon, hours before Ponsetto was jailed in Ventura County.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered competing strategies Tuesday for ramping up New York’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts, with de Blasio saying vaccine eligibility should be widened and Cuomo countering that hospitals need to do a better job of vaccinating the health care workers who are eligible now. “Move it quickly. We’re serious,” said Cuomo, who on Monday threatened to fine hospitals that don’t administer their vaccine allotments quickly enough. “If you don’t want to be fined, just don’t participate in the program. It’s not a mandatory program.” Only health care workers and nursing home residents and staff members are currently being vaccinated in New York.

A self-described American nationalist suspected of leaving a hoax explosive device in a car at a New York City mall is facing criminal charges after turning himself in to police, authorities said Tuesday. Louis Shenker, 22, will be charged with placing a false bomb, criminal possession of stolen property and abandonment of a disabled animal in connection with the episode Monday at the Queens Place Mall in Elmhurst, said detective Denise Moroney, a police spokesperson. The mall was evacuated around 7:30 a.m. Monday after a device that was made to look like an explosive was found in a black Tesla parked on a ramp in a parking garage. A dog — a husky — was also found in the vehicle, which had a Nevada license plate and had been reported stolen in that state.

New York’s governor is threatening to fine hospitals that don’t use their allotment of COVID-19 vaccine fast enough. His South Carolina counterpart says health care workers have until Jan. 15 to get a shot or move to the back of the line. California’s governor wants to use dentists to vaccinate people. With frustration rising over the slow rollout of the vaccine, state leaders and other politicians around the U.S. are turning up the pressure, improvising and seeking to bend the rules to get shots in arms more quickly. “Move it quickly. We’re serious,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned hospitals on Tuesday. “If you don’t want to be fined, just don’t participate in the program. It’s not a mandatory program.” As of Wednesday morning, just 4.8 million people in the U.S.

New York drivers who can’t afford to pay the entirety of a traffic fine will be able to do so via installments and will no longer face the risk of their licenses being suspended for that debt, thanks to legislation signed by the governor. The Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act ends the practice of suspending the licenses of people who haven’t been able to pay their fines in full, and will allow people who currently have suspended licenses because of traffic debt to get them back. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation into law last week. State Sen.

In an effort to speed up what has been a sluggish rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, New York’s governor threatened Monday to fine hospitals up to $100,000 if they don’t finish their first round of inoculations by the end of the week. Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the threat hours before announcing the discovery of the state’s first known case of a new, more contagious variant of the virus. A man in his 60s who works at a jewelry store in Saratoga Springs tested positive for the variant, the governor said. The man has COVID-19 symptoms but is “on the mend,” Cuomo said. The discovery underscored the need for more urgency in a vaccination campaign that has, so far, moved at a snail’s pace.

ShopRite announced Monday that 39 of its New Jersey stores with pharmacies will begin to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines to eligible recipients. The market chain said its pharmacies will start vaccinating healthcare professionals, focusing on individuals at the highest risk of exposure. The company will then expand access to the general public as additional groups become eligible for vaccination. “We are excited to be part of the initial stages of this unprecedented public health campaign as we begin vaccinating healthcare workers who are on the front lines in the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jeffrey Mondelli, RPh, Vice President of Pharmacy, Health & Beauty at Wakefern Food Corp., the logistics, distribution and merchandising arm for ShopRite stores.

A collision between two ambulances latte Monday in Brooklyn left four EMTs injured, according to the FDNY. The crash occurred just before 11 p.m. near the intersection of Midwood Street and Brooklyn Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, officials said. FDNY officials said one EMT was transported to a nearby hospital. The other three were treated at the scene for their injuries. (AP)
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The Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots continue to grow after no one has won the grand prizes in several weeks. Now, both of the games are boasting top prizes of more than $400 million each. The Powerball game is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 44 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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