Without a system in place to track their cases, and without the resources to hire lawyers, many inmates were left to languish in jail for months. Public defenders, already overworked and underpaid, were also displaced by the storm, and many of them were forced to relocate. All but four of the city’s public defenders were laid off because the program’s source of revenue—traffic tickets—no longer existed. The system was in such a state of disarray that judges said the court’s backlog couldn’t move forward until the Orleans Indigent Defender Program was overhauled, and in mid-April a nine-member board was appointed to oversee the changes....

“Shark bites dropped drastically in 2020 due to the pandemic. This past year was much more typical, with average bite numbers from an assortment of species and fatalities from white sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks,” said ISAF manager Tyler Bowling. Fatal encounters happened mostly in the South Pacific, peaking in 2021. In Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand, there were six confirmed fatalities, but similar attacks happened in Brazil, South Africa and the United States....

It was a great time for dinosaurs. Almost as good as today–save for the inconvenience of being extinct. A mere 150 years after English anatomist Richard Owen named them (from the Greek words deinos, or terrible, and sauros, lizard), these ancient reptiles are finally getting some respect. From mute bones and enigmatic footprints, paleontologists are inferring dinosaurs’ family life and social structure, their mating rituals and their wanderlust. “We’re like coroners,” says paleontologist Michael Brett-Surman of the Smithsonian Institution, “except with us the crime occurred more than 65 million years ago, all the witnesses are dead and all the evidence has been left out in the rain....

So where he chooses to give his loot is important. It matters on its own terms–a billion a year isn’t chopped liver–but even more so because of Gates’s place in the firmament of the new economy. After Andrew Carnegie started endowing public libraries a century ago, the local rich guys kicked in, too. Americans became better educated; the country changed. That was a more important kind of leadership than anything Carnegie did in the steel industry....

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has detected poliovirus in wastewater samples collected in four counties in the state of New York, including Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and Nassau, as well as in the New York metro area and in the city itself. The sample of poliovirus that was collected from Nassau County in August is genetically connected to the case of paralytic polio that occurred in an unvaccinated man in his 20s in Rockland County in July, according to a release from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)....

On Monday, Daniel Nigro, commissioner of the New York City Fire Department, reported that two malfunctioning doors likely contributed to the severity of the event, according to the Associated Press. The front door of the apartment where the blaze originated and another on the 15th floor failed to close fully, a mechanism that usually helps stem the spread of smoke. It is not clear at this time if this safety feature was disabled on these doors or if they simply failed to function properly....

Boylan served as Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Special Advisor in the Cuomo administration from March 2015 until October 2018. She then unsuccessfully challenged New York Representative Jerrold Nadler in the 2020 Democratic primary. Last Saturday, Boylan posted a series of tweets alleging that the work environment in Cuomo’s administration was “toxic.” Then on Sunday, she alleged that she’d been sexually harassed by the governor. “Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years....

Cuomo said the state and federal government are dealing with a “common challenge” as they seek to find what the governor described as the “number one” necessary piece of equipment: ventilators. Ventilators, which are machines used to move breathable air in and out of a patients’ lungs who could not otherwise do so, have been sold out nationwide, Cuomo said. In response, both the governor and the White House have been in talks to fast-track the manufacturing of ventilators among private companies or to purchase them outside the U....

The suspect walked into a Planet Fitness at 777 Broadway in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York City, on September 21, the New York Police Department said. He approached the front desk at around 8.30 p.m. and threw bleach in the 20-year-old employee’s face, the NYPD said. Surveillance footage of the incident shows the suspect approach the front desk wearing a red cap, white T-shirt and black pants and carrying a black bag with the the white bottle of bleach hidden inside....

According to The New York Times, this is the first time Mayor Bill de Blasio is mandating vaccines without providing a “test-out” option for those city workers. Educators who receive the vaccine after Monday are allowed to return and teach, but those who do not “will be barred from entering schools and placed on unpaid leave, with health insurance, for a year.” As of Friday, “about 500 employees had been granted religious or medical exemptions....

There were 1,005 positive COVID-19 cases counted on September 25, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday. Nearly 100,000 tests were conducted statewide, keeping the positivity rate at 1 percent. While New York is faring better than other states—Florida, for instance, reported 2,791 new cases—the uptick is concerning. Four areas in New York City remain under scrutiny among health officials as they accounted for 20 percent of the city’s new coronavirus cases in a period of just four days....

“I don’t want to project beyond that period. That’s about one month. One month is a long time,” Cuomo said. “What happens after then, I don’t know. We will see depending on what the data shows.” Cuomo put New York on PAUSE, an acronym used to describe the state’s social distancing policy, on March 22. The 10-point plan–which closed non-essential businesses and banned gatherings–has worked, according to the governor, but must continue as New York isn’t out of the woods yet....

Barbara Chandler was working on the 77th floor of 1 World Trade Center when the first plane struck the upper floors of her building. “It was a combination of sound and the building rocking. I saw flying glass and papers just showering down in front of my windows. Then our suite began to fill with toxic fumes and smoke. We grabbed paper towels and water to put over our faces, and walked down all 77 flights-there was better air in the stairwell, and it was very organized....

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York announced that Michael Masecchia, 53, of Williamsville is charged with intent to distribute, and distribution of, marijuana, maintaining a drug-involved premises, and possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes. If convicted, Masecchia, who is married and has two children, faces between five years and life in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to WKBW, Masecchia is an English teacher at Grover Cleveland High School....

Restrictions going into place on Monday require all bars and restaurants to stop serving people inside the establishment indefinitely. The goal is to limit the number of human interactions, thereby reducing exposure to the new coronavirus and curbing the outbreak. “However, there is a silver lining for these establishments, because we’re also very aware of the economic consequences for these establishments,” Cuomo said Monday. Normally, bars and restaurants are able to sell alcohol on premises only during specific hours, according to State Liquor Authority rules....

Ariel Viera, who describes himself as an urban explorer, shared a clip to his TikTok page, @arielviera, on Saturday, as he headed to the subway. Viera shared a glimpse of the deserted City Hall station, near the modern-day Brooklyn Bridge / City Hall stop, in Manhattan, at the end of the number 6 line. In the clip, Viera said: “This is how you see the ghost station in the New York city subway system....

Peters was speaking at a campaign event at Tauranga, on Wednesday, when a man with a clear American accent tried to question the existence of the coronavirus. The man stood up and said: “Where is your evidence that there is a virus that causes the disease?” He was then interrupted by the deputy PM in an exchange that has gained attention online. Peters told the man to sit down and then said: “We’ve got someone who obviously got an education in America—220,000 people have died in the United States, there are eight million cases to date, we’ve got 79,000 cases [per day] in India, and here is someone who gets up and says ’the Earth is flat....

Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park to Tottenham marked the start of their return to the Premier League after they won the Championship last season. Newcastle 3/1 to be relegated Jenas played 110 times in the Premier League for Newcastle during his three-year spell at the club and he admits to being worried that the Magpies will lose their manager at some point this season. “I am 100 per cent with Rafa [on needing new players],” BT Sport pundit Jenas told Goal....