NEW YORK (AP) — Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been indicted on charges they took bribes from sports bettors to throw certain types of pitches, including tossing balls in the dirt instead of strikes, to ensure successful bets.
According to the indictment unsealed Sunday in federal court in Brooklyn, the highly paid hurlers took several thousand dollars in payoffs to help two unnamed gamblers from their native Dominican Republic win at least $460,000 on in-game prop bets on the speed and outcome of certain pitches.
Ortiz, 26, was arrested Sunday by the FBI at Boston Logan International Airport. He is expected to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday. Clase, 27, was not in custody, officials said.
Ortiz and Clase “betrayed America’s pastime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us.”
Ortiz’s lawyer, Chris Georgalis, said in a statement that his client was innocent and “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game — not for anyone and not for anything.”
Georgalis said Ortiz’s defense team had previously documented for prosecutors that the payments and money transfers between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for lawful activities.
“There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court,” Georgalis said.
A lawyer for Clase, Michael J. Ferrara, said his client “has devoted his life to baseball and doing everything in his power to help his team win. Emmanuel is innocent of all charges and looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
The Major League Baseball Players Association had no comment.
Unusual betting activity prompted investigation
MLB said it contacted federal law enforcement when it began investigating unusual betting activity and has fully cooperated with authorities. “We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing,” a league statement said.
In a statement, the Guardians said: “We are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.”
Clase and Ortiz are both charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The top charges carry a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
In one example cited in the indictment, Clase allegedly invited a bettor to a game against the Boston Red Sox in April and spoke with him by phone just before taking the mound. Four minutes later, the indictment said, the bettor and his associates won $11,000 on a wager that Clase would toss a certain pitch slower than 97.95 mph (157.63 kph).
In May, the indictment said, Clase agreed to throw a ball at a certain point in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the batter swung, resulting in a strike, costing the bettors $4,000 in wagers. After the game, which the Guardians won, one of the bettors sent Clase a text message with an image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper, the indictment said. Clase responded with an image of a sad puppy dog face, according to the indictment.
Clase, a three-time All-Star and two-time American League Reliever of the Year, had a $4.5 million salary in 2025, the fourth season of a $20 million, five-year contract. The three-time AL save leader began providing the bettors with information about his pitches in 2023 but didn’t ask for payoffs until this year, prosecutors said.
The indictment cited specific pitches Clase allegedly rigged — all of them first pitches when he entered to start an inning: a 98.5 mph (158.5 kph) cutter low and inside to the New York Mets’ Starling Marte on May 19, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers that bounced well short of home plate on June 3, 2023; an 89.4 mph (143.8 kph) slider to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. that bounced on April 12; a 99.1 mph (159.5 kph) cutter in the dirt to Philadelphia’s Max Kepler on May 11; a bounced 89.1 mph (143.4) slider to Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers on May 13; and a bounced 87.5 mph (140.8 kph) slider to Cincinnati’s Santiago Espinal on May 17.
Prosecutors said Ortiz, who had a $782,600 salary this year, got in on the scheme in June and is accused of rigging pitches in games against the Seattle Mariners and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ortiz was cited for bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to Seattle’s Randy Arozarena starting the second inning on June 15 and bouncing a first-pitch 86.7 mph (139.5 kph) slider to St. Louis’ Pedro Pagés that went to the backstop opening the third inning on June 27.
Dozens of pro athletes have been charged in gambling sweeps
The charges are the latest bombshell developments in a federal crackdown on betting in professional sports.
Last month, more than 30 people, including prominent basketball figures such as Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, were arrested in a gambling sweep that rocked the NBA.
Sports betting scandals have long been a concern, but a May 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a wave of gambling incidents involving athletes and officials. The ruling struck down a federal ban on sports betting in most states and opened the doors for online sportsbooks to take a prominent space in the sports ecosystem.
Major League Baseball suspended five players in June 2024, including a lifetime ban for San Diego infielder Tucupita Marcano for allegedly placing 387 baseball bets with a legal sportsbook totaling more than $150,000.
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This story was first published on Nov. 9. It was updated on Nov. 11 to correct that, according to an indictment, a bettor sent Clase an image of a man hanging himself with toilet paper. Clase didn’t send that image to the bettor.
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Associated Press reporters Eric Tucker in Washington and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report.
Poest from Kaos Inc. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
Beneath the hum of passing traffic, the sharp scent of aerosol, and the rhythmic hiss of spray cans, Atlanta’s graffiti culture came alive this weekend for the ATL StyleWriters Jam, a three-day exhibition uniting generations of artists who shaped the city’s visual identity.
First launched in 2022, the Jam transformed sections of the Atlanta Beltline into open-air galleries painted by the hands of writers from across the county, the same hands that pioneered Atlanta’s “style writing” scene in the 1980s and ’90s. The event remains free to the public to preserve accessibility for all.
Giving credit to the architects
Naomi Perry, who organizes the Jam through the Atlanta StyleWriters Association, coordinates the writers with the city to honor the city’s original graffiti community and the artists who, while defining Atlanta’s visual rhythm, rarely receive their recognition.
“I realized the people who are best with spray paint weren’t the ones getting opportunities in the public-art space,” Perry said. “Part of graffiti’s anonymous culture made that difficult. So I wanted to help bridge that gap, to make sure the artists who built this have representation.”
Each year, the BeltLine partners with the StyleWriters Association to fund and equip local artists. Longtime writer Mr. Totem, who has painted Atlanta walls since the early 1990s, and who has participated in Jams of the past, helped coordinate & curate this year’s exhibition to ensure the murals represented the highest level of craft.
“This tunnel is known as the Burn Unit,” Totem said. “Every artist here can do what any muralist can do, but we come from hip-hop, where the letter is the heartbeat.”
Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
Why names stay hidden
For many of the participating artists, anonymity remains sacred. Many artists keep their “government names” separate to preserve creative freedom and protect themselves from the criminalization that once shadowed their work.
Names like Save1, Poest, and WebONE serve as both alter egos and shields, remnants of graffiti’s complicated relationship with the law.
“Graffiti was always labeled with a bad name,” said Save1, an Atlanta native who grew up near Bankhead. Within the culture, “graffiti” refers to how the public sees it, but “writing” speaks to how artists see themselves, craftsmen shaping letters, not criminals defacing walls.
“We call ourselves writers because we’re writing our names, mastering calligraphy with aerosol. The media gave it the word ‘graffiti,’ but to us it’s letter design, it’s expression, it’s identity.”
Writers still feel the weight of taboo. For decades, public perception framed graffiti as vandalism rather than art, forcing early creators to work under the cover of night.
“There’s a purpose behind every piece. It’s not destruction, it’s communication,” Save1 said
From Bronx roots to Southern rhythm
Poest, who began writing in Brooklyn in 1987, said the art’s migration south gave Atlanta its own creative dialect. “Through migration, you had styles coming down here, and people gave them their own spin,” he said. “That difference, that remix, is what makes Atlanta’s scene so cool.”
For WebONE, a Bronx-born artist who relocated to Atlanta more than two decades ago, graffiti’s evolution mirrors that of hip-hop. “I started tagging trains in New York around 1980,” he said. “Now you see it on the Beltline, in London, everywhere. There’s money in it now because it connects with younger audiences; it became part of mainstream culture.”
Yet despite that mainstream acceptance, Poest said the roots of the art remain firmly planted in Black creativity and innovation. “We don’t do enough of this because it gets whitewashed,” he said. “People forget the architects. We have to keep showing what it really looks like when we lead, to represent tomorrow.”
The Atlanta Beltline provided equipment for the writer’s artist. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
A living canvas
This year’s ATL StyleWriters Jam stretched across multiple Beltline sites, from the Northeast segment of the trail down to the Eastside and Ralph McGill Boulevard. Each piece, Perry said, “proves that graffiti artists can do everything traditional muralists do, and often at a higher level.”
What began in the late 1960s as a form of street-level expression in New York, where writers tagged subway carts has since evolved into a global art movement. Graffiti and style writing helped shape the visual language of hip-hop. Once dismissed as vandalism, the form now appears in museums, galleries, and city-sponsored projects worldwide.
As Poest put it, “What they see when they see us all together, they see us representing what we would love things to look like. They see us representing tomorrow.”
Police arrested a man suspected in the rape of a 12-year-old girl inside a Brooklyn apartment building, an attack that shook the community.
The young girl had just walked back into her NYCHA building at the Cooper Park Houses in East Williamsburg around 5:45 p.m. Thursday, police said, when a complete stranger attacked. The man allegedly grabbed the girl, shoved her to the ground and sexually assaulted her before running off.
Investigators left evidence markers inside the lobby of the building for hours later in the night, collecting any evidence left behind. Police later released a picture of the suspect (below) wearing a gray sweatshirt and black sweatpants with a dark-colored backpack.
Neighbors said they didn’t recognize the man, but were horrified the girl was attacked inside the place she calls home.
A day later, just after 3:30 p.m. Friday, police received a tip and arrested Eric McMichael in connection with the disturbing attack on the girl. The 27-year-old was charged with two counts of rape and sexual abuse, along with burglary and child endangerment.
McMichael has four prior convictions, according to police, including a rape in 2019. He was also convicted of burglary that same year, plus grand larceny and robbery in 2023.
Attorney information for McMichael was not immediately clear.
A former inmate who lived alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs at MDC Brooklyn is speaking out- revealing what really happened behind bars, including the shocking knife incident and an unlikely story of redemption
In his first interview since leaving federal custody, Raymond Castillo, a former inmate at Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn, says hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was nothing like the media headlines suggested. Castillo not only lived with him at the MDC, but he was also a “student” of Combs’. Castillo, who spent 46 months at the facility on drug-related offenses and served as Combs’ teacher’s assistant in a self-created business and leadership course, described the former music star as “a humbled man” who united rival gangs, preached faith, and helped him change his life.
“Before I met him, I was ready to go right back to crime,” Castillo told Los Angeles contributor Lauren Conlin on a podcast. “He told me if I did, I’d end up dead or back in jail. Every plan, he said, needs God in it.”
According to Castillo (and this was discussed at length during Combs’ sentencing), Combs founded an entrepreneurship and personal development program that became one of the most unlikely success stories inside a federal lockup. The class was held once a week for two hours. It shockingly drew Bloods, Crips, MS-13 members, and inmates of every race into the same room for lessons on discipline, faith, and self-improvement.
“It’s something that has never been done in the prison system,” Castillo said. “Black sticks with Black, White sticks with White, Spanish sticks with Spanish…especially gang members. But Diddy was able to unify everybody. For those two hours, there were no fights, no gangs-just people focused on change.”
He said the program impressed even correctional officers, who initially thought a brawl was breaking out when they saw thirty men gathered in one room. “When they realized it was class, they were speechless,” Castillo recalled. “They saw all races, all cultures, together…and it was Diddy up there teaching everyone.”
Castillo also clarified months of tabloid speculation that Combs had survived an attempted “shank attack” behind bars. “He didn’t ‘wake up’ to no knife to his neck,” Castillo said. “And I was the one who intervened.”
He recounted that the confrontation began over a chair, not a planned attack. A West Coast gang member serving a 30-year sentence tried to take a seat Combs was already using while watching television – “Basketball Wives,” to be exact.
“The guy got hostile.. maybe looking for clout,” Castillo said. “Diddy didn’t flinch. He stayed calm, told him, ‘Why you coming at me like that over a chair that don’t belong to none of us?’ When the inmate retrieved a handmade knife from a hiding spot, Castillo said he grabbed the man’s arm before he could strike. “Diddy just got up and told him, ‘You might need to pray,’” Castillo said. “He tried to calm the guy down and even offered to pray with him. I’ve never seen anyone handle it like that.”
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Castillo added that Combs later spoke up for the would-be attacker, asking guards not to remove him from the unit.
Combs, Castillo said, lived like an ordinary inmate- no special treatment. Same meals, same cold trays, same lockdowns. But when he wasn’t teaching, he often paced in slow circles around the unit, murmuring prayers.“We thought he was going crazy,” Castillo said with a laugh. “I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was having long conversations with God. He said if God put him there, it was for a purpose… to help people who’d lost hope.”
The former inmate described conditions inside MDC as “hellish,” citing rampant violence, corruption, and overcrowding. “People’s really dying in there,” he said. “It’s a war zone. I’ve seen people get stabbed and have their lungs collapse. Diddy lived through all of that… no special treatment.”
Castillo says Combs’ teachings pushed him to convert to Islam, finish his sentence with purpose, and reject the criminal lifestyle that landed him there. “He believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself,” Castillo said. “I thank God for putting Diddy in my life. That was a blessing in disguise.”
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Our reporter Larry Buchanan collects data on the B41 bus in Brooklyn to find out why New York City buses are the slowest in the nation and whether Zohran Mamdani’s campaign pledge to make buses free would speed them up.
By Larry Buchanan, Sutton Raphael, Laura Bult and Joey Sendaydiego
October 30, 2025
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Larry Buchanan, Sutton Raphael, Laura Bult and Joey Sendaydiego
WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) — Kate Bulkeley’s pledge to stay off social media in high school worked at first. She watched the benefits pile up: She was getting excellent grades. She read lots of books. The family had lively conversations around the dinner table and gathered for movie nights on weekends.
Then, as sophomore year got underway, the unexpected problems surfaced. She missed a student government meeting arranged on Snapchat. Her Model U.N. team communicates on social media, too, causing her scheduling problems. Even the Bible Study club at her Connecticut high school uses Instagram to communicate with members.
Gabriela Durham, a high school senior in Brooklyn, says navigating high school without social media has made her who she is today. She is a focused, organized, straight-A student with a string of college acceptances — and an accomplished dancer who recently made her Broadway debut. Not having social media has made her an “outsider,” in some ways. That used to hurt; now, she says, it feels like a badge of honor.
With the damaging consequences of social media increasingly well documented, some parents are trying to raise their children with restrictions or blanket bans. Teenagers themselves are aware that too much social media is bad for them, and some are initiating social media “cleanses” because of the toll it takes on mental health and grades.
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
But it is hard to be a teenager today without social media. For those trying to stay off social platforms while most of their peers are immersed, the path can be challenging, isolating and at times liberating. It can also be life-changing.
This is a tale of two families, social media and the ever-present challenge of navigating high school. It’s about what kids do when they can’t extend their Snapstreaks or shut their bedroom doors and scroll through TikTok past midnight. It’s about what families discuss when they’re not having screen-time battles. It’s also about persistent social ramifications.
AP AUDIO: Life as a teen without social media isn’t easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline
AP correspondent Jocelyn Gecker reports on the social ramifications some families saw for their teenagers after cutting out social media.
The journeys of both families show the rewards and pitfalls of trying to avoid social media in a world that is saturated by it.
A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE
Concerns about children and phone use are not new. But there is a growing realization among experts that the COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed adolescence. As youth coped with isolation and spent excessive time online, the pandemic effectively carved out a much larger space for social media in the lives of American kids.
No longer just a distraction or a way to connect with friends, social media has matured into a physical space and a community that almost all U.S. teenagers belong to. Up to 95% of teenagers say they use social media, with more than one-third saying they are on it “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center.
More than ever, teenagers live in a seamless digital and non-digital world in ways that most adults don’t recognize or understand, says Michael Rich, a pediatrics professor at Harvard Medical School and head of the nonprofit Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13 , left, holds her phone as she has dinner with her sister Gabriela Durham, 17 years old, unseen, on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“Social media is now the air kids breathe,” says Rich, who runs the hospital’s Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders.
For better or worse, social media has become a home-base for socializing. It’s where many kids turn to forge their emerging identities, to seek advice, to unwind and relieve stress. It impacts how kids dress and talk. In this era of parental control apps and location tracking, social media is where this generation is finding freedom.
It is also increasingly clear that the more time youth spend online, the higher the risk of mental health problems.
Kids who use social media for more than three hours a day face double the risk of depression and anxiety, according to studies cited by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who issued an extraordinary public warning last spring about the risks of social media to young people.
Those were the concerns of the Bulkeleys and Gabriela’s mother, Elena Romero. Both set strict rules starting when their kids were young and still in elementary school. They delayed giving phones until middle school and made social media off limits until 18. They educated the girls, and their younger siblings, on the impact of social media on young brains, on online privacy concerns, on the dangers of posting photos or comments that can come back to haunt you.
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Cell phones charge on a ledge between the living room and kitchen as Steph Bulkeley helps Kate select school courses, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Elena Romero, second from left, and her daughters Gabriela Durham, 17, left, Gionna Durham, 13 second from right, and Grace Durham, 11, have dinner together on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
In the absence of social media, at least in these two homes, there is a noticeable absence of screen time battles. But the kids and parents agree: It’s not always easy.
WHEN IT’S EVERYWHERE, IT’S HARD TO AVOID
At school, on the subway and at dance classes around New York City, Gabriela is surrounded by reminders that social media is everywhere — except on her phone.
Growing up without it has meant missing out on things. Everyone but you gets the same jokes, practices the same TikTok dances, is up on the latest viral trends. When Gabriela was younger, that felt isolating; at times, it still does. But now, she sees not having social media as freeing.
“From my perspective, as an outsider,” she says, “it seems like a lot of kids use social media to promote a facade. And it’s really sad. Because social media is telling them how they should be and how they should look. It’s gotten to a point where everyone wants to look the same instead of being themselves.”
There is also friend drama on social media and a lack of honesty, humility and kindness that she feels lucky to be removed from.
Gabriela is a dance major at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and dances outside of school seven days a week. Senior year got especially intense, with college and scholarship applications capped by an unexpected highlight of getting to perform at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre in March as part of a city showcase of high school musicals.
After a recent Saturday afternoon dance class in a Bronx church basement, the diverging paths between Gabriela and her peers is on full display. The other dancers, aged 11 to 16, sit cross-legged on the linoleum floor talking about social media.
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gabriela Durham, 17, arranges items on her dresser inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I am addicted,” says 15-year-old Arielle Williams, who stays up late scrolling through TikTok. “When I feel like I’m getting tired I say, ‘One more video.’ And then I keep saying, ‘One more video.’ And I stay up sometimes until 5 a.m.”
The other dancers gasp. One suggests they all check their phones’ weekly screen time.
“OH. MY,” says Arielle, staring at her screen. “My total was 68 hours last week.” That included 21 hours on TikTok.
Gabriela sits on the sidelines of the conversation, listening silently. But on the No. 2 subway home to Brooklyn, she shares her thoughts. “Those screen-time hours, it’s insane.”
As the train rumbles from the elevated tracks in the Bronx into the underground subway tunnels in Manhattan, Gabriela is on her phone. She texts with friends, listens to music and consults a subway app to count down the stops to her station in Brooklyn. The phone for her is a distraction limited to idle time, which has been strategically limited by Romero.
“My kids’ schedules will make your head spin,” Romero says as the family reconvenes Saturday night in their three-bedroom walkup in Bushwick. On school days, they’re up at 5:30 a.m. and out the door by 7. Romero drives the girls to their three schools scattered around Brooklyn, then takes the subway into Manhattan, where she teaches mass communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Grace, 11, is a sixth grade cheerleader active in Girl Scouts, along with Gionna, 13, who sings, does debate team and has daily rehearsals for her middle school theater production.
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Grace Durham, 11, checks her wardrobe inside her room on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Gionna Durham, 13, reads a book on the sofa on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
“I’m so booked my free time is to sleep,” says Gabriela, who tries to be in bed by 10:30 p.m.
In New York City, it’s common for kids to get phones early in elementary school, but Romero waited until each daughter reached middle school and started taking public transportation home alone. Years ago, she sat them down to watch “The Social Dilemma,” a documentary that Gabriela says made her realize how tech companies manipulate their users.
Her mom’s rules are simple: No social media on phones until 18. The girls are allowed to use YouTube on their computers but not post videos. Romero doesn’t set screen-time limits or restrict phone use in bedrooms.
“It’s a struggle, don’t get me wrong,” Romero says. Last year, the two younger girls “slipped.” They secretly downloaded TikTok for a few weeks before getting caught and sternly lectured.
Romero is considering whether to bend her rule for Gionna, an avid reader interested in becoming a Young Adult “Bookstagrammer” — a book reviewer on Instagram. Gionna wants to be a writer when she grows up and loves the idea that reviewers get books for free.
Her mother is torn. Romero’s main concern was social media during middle school, a critical age where kids are forming their identity. She supports the idea of using social media responsibly as a tool to pursue passions.
“When you’re a little older,” she tells her girls, “you’ll realize Mom was not as crazy as you thought.”
STRUGGLING NOT TO MISS OUT
In the upscale suburb of Westport, Connecticut, the Bulkeleys have faced similar questions about bending their rules. But not for the reason they had anticipated.
Kate was perfectly content to not have social media. Her parents had figured at some point she might resist their ban because of peer pressure or fear of missing out. But the 15-year-old sees it as a waste of time. She describes herself as academic, introverted and focused on building up extracurricular activities.
That’s why she needed Instagram.
“I needed it to be co-president of my Bible Study Club,” Kate explains, seated with her family in the living room of their two-story home.
As Kate’s sophomore year started, she told her parents that she was excited to be leading a variety of clubs but needed social media to do her job. They agreed to let her have Instagram for her afterschool activities, which they found ironic and frustrating. “It was the school that really drove the fact that we had to reconsider our rule about no social media,” says Steph Bulkeley, Kate’s mother.
Schools talk the talk about limiting screen time and the dangers of social media, says Kate’s dad, Russ Bulkeley. But technology is rapidly becoming part of the school day. Kate’s high school and their 13-year-old daughter Sutton’s middle school have cell phone bans that aren’t enforced. Teachers will ask students to take out their phones to photograph material during class time.
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Kate and Sutton Bulkeley talk in the living room, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Westport, Conn. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The Bulkeleys aren’t on board with that, but feel powerless to change it. When their girls were still in elementary school, the Bulkeleys were inspired by the “Wait Until 8th” pledge, which encourages parents to wait to give children smartphones, and access to social media, until at least 8th grade or about age 13. Some experts say waiting until 16 is better. Others feel banning social media isn’t the answer, and that kids need to learn to live with the technology because it’s not going anywhere.
Ultimately they gave in to Kate’s plea because they trust her, and because she’s too busy to devote much time to social media.
Both Kate and Sutton wrap up afterschool activities that include theater and dance classes at 8:30 p.m. most weeknights. They get home, finish homework and try to be in bed by 11.
Kate spends an average of two hours a week on her phone. That is significantly less than most, according to a 2023 Gallup poll that found over half of U.S. teens spend an average of five hours each day on social media. She uses her phone mainly to make calls, text friends, check grades and take photos. She doesn’t post or share pictures, one of her parents’ rules. Others: No phones allowed in bedrooms. All devices stay on a ledge between the kitchen and living room. TV isn’t allowed on school nights.
Kate has rejected her parents’ offer to pay her for waiting to use social media. But she is embarking slowly on the apps. She has set a six-minute daily time limit as a reminder not to dawdle on Instagram.
Having the app came in handy earlier this year at a Model UN conference where students from around the world exchanged contact details: “Nobody asked for phone numbers. You gave your Instagram,” Kate says. She is resisting Snapchat, for fear she will find it addictive. She has asked a friend on student government to text her any important student government messages sent on Snapchat.
Sutton feels the weight of not having social media more than her older sister. The eighth grader describes herself as social but not popular.
“There’s a lot of popular girls that do a bunch of TikTok dances. That’s really what determines your popularity: TikTok,” Sutton says.
Kids in her grade are “obsessed with TikTok” and posting videos of themselves that look to her like carbon copies. The girls look the same in short crop tops and jeans and sound the same, speaking with a TikTok dialect that includes a lot of “Hey, guys!” and uptalk, their voices rising in tone at the end of a thought.
She feels left out at times but doesn’t feel the need to have social media, since one of her friends sends her the latest viral videos. She has seen firsthand the problems social media can cause in friend groups. “Two of my friends were having a fight. One thought the other one blocked her on Snapchat.”
There’s a long way to go before these larger questions are resolved, with these two families and across the nation. Schools are trying. Some are banning phones entirely to hold students’ focus and ensure that socializing happens face-to-face. It might, educators say, also help cut back on teen depression and anxiety.
That’s something Sutton can understand at age 13 as she works to navigate the years ahead. From what she has seen, social media has changed in the past few years. It used to be a way for people to connect, to message and to get to know each other.
“It’s kind of just about bragging now,” she says. “People post pictures of their trips to amazing places. Or looking beautiful. And it makes other people feel bad about themself.”
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History and railroad lovers will enjoy the IBX’s next stop on Sutter Avenue. This stop offers a glimpse into the vibrant history of East New York, the neighborhood’s charm and a practical connection to the L train.
As the MTA’s proposed 14-mile light rail line continues its north-south journey from Jackson Heights to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, there is a historic neighborhood along the tracks that is going through a revitalization. That area is industrial East New York, a neighborhood poised to get an IBX stop on Sutter Avenue.
The stop is one of three planned for the IBX, formerly known as the Interborough Express, in the East New York area. It is sandwiched between Atlantic Avenue to the north and Livonia Avenue to the south.
Local residents who were at the Sutter Avenue station on a recent Thursday said they are looking forward to the new rail line coming to their borough.
“This is great for me,” one man said. “I work at the U.S. Open in the summer, and it’ll really cut down on time.”
Another passerby was not familiar with the proposed train, but said it “sounds like a good idea.”
The Sutter Avenue station, home to the L train.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon
East New York is a close-knit community with a deep history. A look back to the 1890s — and later — reveals a vibrant and populous neighborhood that thrived when a train line was built. It was an epicenter of entertainment, theater and housing that lined two of its main thoroughfares, Pitkin and Sutter Avenues. Throngs of New Yorkers were attracted to the area, which rivaled Broadway, with theaters such as the Biltmore, Gotham and Loews.
These establishments are long gone, but their echoes live on in the footprint of East New York.
The neighborhood established its own town hall in 1873. The “sturdy, two-story-plus-basement brick building housed town offices on the ground floor, and the fire department on the upper floor, in a large open room,” an article in Brownstoner, a sister publication of amNewYork, explained.
“In 1878, a new law required towns to house a police force, and the town hall was called into duty again,” the article continued. “Everyone was shuffled around and squeezed into the building. Downstairs became the town meeting room and clerk’s office, the fire headquarters office, and the police receiving desk and muster room.”
When the five boroughs consolidated to form New York City in 1898, the building was no longer needed as a town hall. Since then, it has had many uses, including a police station, hospital and residence.
East New York today
In recent years, East New York has undergone gradual changes, primarily through the addition of new housing. The city rezoned the neighborhood, especially in areas by the East New York train stations, to make it easier to build more homes, including high-density apartment buildings.
“Historically known as a predominantly working-class and African-American community, East New York has experienced significant changes in recent years, including an influx of new residents and an increase in development,” writes the website, City Neighborhoods. “Despite these changes, East New York retains its unique character, with vibrant street life and numerous community events throughout the year.”
Residential construction in East New York. According to the sign, the project was scheduled for completion in 2023.Photo by Gerard Lennon
However, civic leaders are concerned that the new housing may gentrify the community, leading to increased housing costs that would price out long-time residents.
Boris Santos, president of the East New York Community Land Trust, said he recognizes the value of a direct train link between the two boroughs, but does not want residents to be displaced if local housing becomes too expensive.
“It gets the mission of transit equity and access, especially among working-class neighborhoods, but I would be remiss if I didn’t state the real estate concerns,” Santos explained. “Where there is public or private investment in infrastructure development or housing development, you tend to heat up the market.”
In other words, real estate prices go up. Santos’ organization, he explained, works to protect land and ensure it remains permanently affordable for families, especially at a time when many New Yorkers are leaving the city.
Some politicians and civic leaders have said rezoning and investments in public spaces can change a neighborhood’s character. Santos cited NYC Economic Development Corporation’s plans to build public plazas at Broadway Junction, along with zoning changes that occurred as far back as 2016 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, as threats to East New York’s affordability.
“All of that brings fear of opening a Pandora’s box of gentrification and mass displacement,” Santos said. “You’re going to see an increase in property taxes because of real estate. And it trickles down to rent values, as well.”
Gary Giordano, the district manager of Queens Community Board 5, shared similar thoughts with amNewYork last month about gentrification in Ridgewood and Glendale, two other neighborhoods where the IBX plans to stop.
He said the IBX will be a benefit for public transit users who need to get from one part of Queens or Brooklyn to another fast because it cuts down on time without having to go through Manhattan. But, it could also change a neighborhood, especially combined with other government developments, such as Mayor Eric Adams’ recent win with a historic zoning overhaul aimed at fixing the city’s housing crisis.
“From the standpoint of neighborhood charm, it could be made nice,” Giordano said. “But here’s the kicker. I think there is concern that with the City of Yes proposal for additional housing, that if you are in reasonable proximity to a train station, what is the risk of development that is out of character with the existing housing?”
City of Yes, which some political experts have described as Adams’ signature accomplishment as mayor, amends the city zoning law to build more housing in neighborhoods that had previously restricted development. It is estimated to create about 82,000 new homes within 15 years.
Preserving employment
No matter how much or how little East New York changes, its rich history will always live on. In addition to the theaters that thrived here, the neighborhood’s history is marked by commercial vitality.
In 1922, the iconic department store Fortunoff opened its doors on Livonia Avenue at the East New York/Brownsville border, quickly becoming one of New York’s most recognizable retailers. Its presence made the area a bustling commercial hub. The neighborhood also played host to significant industrial enterprises, such as Sunnydale Farms, which occupied an entire block on Stanley Avenue, providing jobs and contributing to the local economy.
Today, various industrial businesses, including school bus parking lots, scrap yards and autobody shops, line the streets of East New York. Santos, of the land trust group, hopes that with the new rail line, the city will continue to prioritize job creation and employment stability within East New York.
“Another concern, beyond the real estate values going up, is the industrial business zone being protected,” he said. “The biggest source of commuting is people’s work. And an industrial business zone is a source of employment. It’s where industry is supposed to live.”
Santos fears the IBX, along with other types of development, could spark a desire to change East New York’s industrial areas into housing.
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s a housing crisis. People need shelter, but also in East New York, where we’ve developed the most amount of affordable housing than any other community in the past decade, we want employment,” he said.
To Santos, the IBX should be a balance between improved infrastructure and more transit while ensuring residents have employment and economic stability.
“Maintaining employment should be protected,” he said.
The next stop in our IBX: Stop by Stop series is Livonia Avenue.
Usually, people try to avoid anything considered “rotting.”
But a rare corpse flower is expected to bloom in Brooklyn just in time for Halloween.
The infamous flower known for its rotting, putrid smell is literally called the “corpse flower” — otherwise known as titus-arum or amorphophallus titanum.
The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) says this one should bloom in about two weeks. The bloom doesn’t last long, though, and neither, mercifully, does the smell.
NYBG says the corpse flower only blooms every three to five years after its first bloom, which can take nearly a decade, and lasts just for two to three days, heightening anticipation for the attraction.
The flower, which is “the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom,” according to the federal government, can grow up to 9 feet tall.
Good news: You can watch a livestream of this one as we wait, courtesy of NYBG, in the YouTube player above.
There has been at least one storm-related death in New York City. A 76-year-old woman was struck and killed by a solar panel in Brooklyn, officials said.
It happened just after 10:30 a.m. Sunday at 3100 Ocean Parkway.
According to the Department of Buildings, a solar panel from the top of a carport structure in an outdoor parking lot flew about 20 feet through the air before hitting the woman. She was rushed to the hospital, where she later died.
The incident is under investigation, but it took place while a wind advisory was in effect throughout New York City due to the nor’easter that’s been impacting our area. Officials have taken several precautions in the area since the incident, including temporarily closing one of the nearby Q train entrances, as well as issuing a partial vacate order to the parking lot.
New York City’s Parks Department said it has received 265 reports of downed trees. They confirmed 12 streets had been obstructed by falling trees or limbs, at least half of which had been cleared.
As of Monday morning, peak wind gusts during the storm were unofficially calculated at 42 mph in Brooklyn.
Wind and coastal flooding have been the top concerns with this storm. A Coastal Flood Warning remains in effect for New York City, Long Island and and Westchester County through 8 p.m. Monday.
Less than a month after a fire devastated a local arts hub, Red Hook Open Studios is going ahead as planned — mostly — this weekend, Oct. 11 and 12.
The annual event invites New Yorkers to explore dozens of usually-private artist studios around the nabe, meet artists, and buy their work directly from the source.
But dozens of those studios and hundreds of pieces of artwork were destroyed in a five-alarm fire at 481 Van Brunt St. on Sept. 18. Many artists lost everything, and even the studios that survived suffered significant water and mold damage and aren’t safe to enter.
The Sept. 18 fire destroyed dozens of studios and hundreds of pieces of art. File photo by Lloyd Mitchell
So Red Hook Open Studios has pivoted.
“There are rumors saying that it’s been cancelled because of the fire but that’s so far from the truth,” said event organizer Deborah Ugoretz.
About 40 artists who had signed up to take part in Open Studios were not impacted by the fire, Ugoretz said. Some, like Ugoretz herself, have studios in parts of the Van Brunt Street warehouse that were unaffected by the blaze. Many others are scattered around the neighborhood, from the waterfront to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Red Hook creates the Rebuild Gallery
But supporting those artists who had lost everything has been front of mind since the night of the fire, said Carly Baker Rice, executive director of the Red Hook Business Alliance, a partner of RHOS.
Almost immediately, Sean Moore, the owner of a soon-to-be-opened waterfront yoga studio called The Swan Club, said they could use his space. Thus, the Rebuild Gallery was born, featuring about 50 pieces of art from those affected by the fire.
Some of the artists taking part are exhibiting work they had stored at home, Ugoretz said, or managed to borrow their own pieces from other exhibitions or buyers. Others, like Faye Harnest, created something new.
The Rebuild Gallery at The Swan Club features works from about 50 artists impacted by the fire. Photo courtesy of Ethan Cornell
Harnest, a comic and sculpture artist, had been sharing a studio at 481 Van Brunt St. with three other artists for about a year, she said. But she had been dreaming of working in the building for much longer.
“Every day I was like, this is a dream, this is too good to be true,” she said.
Some of Harnest’s work was saved by chance. The night of the fire, much of her work was on display in galleries and exhibits, far from the warehouse. Her studio mates lost their finished pieces, art supplies, and more.
“The biggest thing for me, besides just losing that dream of a space, was that I had my sketchbooks in there, sketchbooks of the work I’ve been doing for the last couple of years on a graphic memoir I’ve been working on,” Harnest explained.
But she also lost a space to show off her art.
“I had signed up for the Open Studios and was really excited,” she said. “I was just gonna put everything in there and let people, like, touch my sculptures and look through my comics and be able to ask questions.”
When she was asked to be part of the Rebuild Gallery, Harnest decided to create a new piece titled “Are We Safe?”
Harnest’s piece for the Rebuild Gallery, titled “Are We Safe?” Photo courtesy of Faye Harnest
The piece features a large, soft sculpture surrounding a drawing of floating islands and buildings, all asking each other “Are you safe?” and “Are we safe?”
One of the buildings is an homage to 481 Van Brunt St., with its brick walls and large, iconic windows.
“When I started making it, it was about all the artists that lost so much and their grief and just kind of, wanting to make something about that for them,” Harnest said. “It became about the community’s ability to help and their generosity, and then it kind of made me think of the world at large and how there are just so many people in so many places that are not safe … there are other people who are asking if they can help, and who are helping, even if they’re not completely safe for themselves.”
A sliver of 481 Van Brunt St. on the left side of the illustration. Photo courtesy of Faye Harnest
Red Hook Open Studios is a group effort, and this year’s event has needed more volunteers doing more work than before.
Artist Ethan Cornell, one of a number of artists who had studios at Hot Wood Arts, which was devastated by the fire, helped organize the Rebuild Gallery.
Cornell rented a studio at Hot Wood for ten years, he said, and had longed to join the collective for years before a studio became available. Hot Wood offered more than just a space to work, he said, it offered a community of artists supported by founder Megan Suttles, who is also a RHOS co-organizer.
“I had paintings in there that had serious personal history for me, but also works that I had sold, and that people were gonna come pick up, so some things that people had paid for,” he said. “It was, it was sort of multi-level, like, I lost the tools, I lost the artwork, I lost the money, I lost memories.”
Staying busy has helped keep his mind off the loss, Cornell said, and helping with the Rebuild Gallery has kept him plenty occupied.
“It’s been really good,” he said. “People were very appreciative when they came and left work, people have said they’re really glad to have it happen.”
The Rebuild Gallery ensured those artists who lost their space and work could still take part in Red Hook Open Studios.Photo courtesy of Ethan Cornell
It has also highlighted the strength of the community, Cornell said. Some artists have been able to salvage works from 481 Van Brunt St., but the gallery had to ask that those pieces not be exhibited due to mold concerns.
But that message came late for at least one person, who arrived at the gallery with a piece rescued from the warehouse and were told they had to bring it home. For a moment, the artist was fairly upset, Cornell said.
“Alomost immediately they were like, ‘I’m really sorry,’” he said. “And I was like, ‘I’m really sorry too.’ Everybody’s a little jangled up, especially people who actually lost their space. I felt there was a lot of community, even when we were disagreeing or something like that.”
Cornell said he didn’t have a piece hung in the gallery as of Thursday, but has a small painting — about six inches by six inches — that he would try to find a space for.
Supporting artists and celebrating Red Hook Open Studios
Outside the studio tours themselves, RHOS is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an outdoor sculpture garden and live performances throughout the weekend. The event is one of Red Hook’s biggest, and shows off the “hidden” studios and businesses tucked away in its industrial corners, Baker-Rice said.
It’s also an opportunity for New Yorkers to support local artists by buying their work.
“You will not regret it when you buy art that you can afford and you put it on your wall and see it every day,” she said. “Everybody has the power to become their own art collector and grow their collection. And Red Hook Open Studios gives you access to art you can buy and art you can afford.”
Red Hook Open Studios runs Oct. 11+12, 1-6 p.m. Admission is free, find a full list of events and a map of studio locations on the RHOS website.
At Middle School 50 in Brooklyn, New York, principal Benjamin Honoroff and his students are pumped to start the day — a dramatic transformation from when he came in a decade ago.
“We were on a list of persistently dangerous schools, and there’d been some pretty drastic enrollment decline from over a thousand students to 160 students,” Honoroff said.
But the former high school debate coach had an idea. He took a chance and integrated debate into every class, across all grade levels. He also expanded the debate team, and a third of the students enrolled with a select group traveling to tournaments.
Seventh grader Aria Rana says being on the debate team has helped her academically.
“I’ve noticed my words and my writing structure has become much better just in the time I’ve been in debate,” Rana said.
Debate is infused into every subject, including math.
“For example, a ratio problem — are they going to use a ratio table, are they going to use a double number line? And what we find is when students explain their mathematical reasoning, it really deepens their conceptual understanding,” Honoroff said.
The gamble paid off. Within a few years, test scores started to rise, enrollment increased and the debate team started to win. Proficiency scores, which had been in the single digits, jumped up to 60% in English and 70% in math, Honoroff said.
Erick Williams and his debate partner, Anedwin Moran, first found success at the local state level.
“I felt like it kind of gave us an edge when we went to tournaments because we were kind of already used to it,” Williams said.
Then, last June, as eighth graders competing at the largest middle school debate tournament in the country, they won the national championship in policy debate.
“I was so happy. I couldn’t process nothing. I was really happy and excited,” Moran said.
“When I, like, really snapped into it and realized what we had accomplished, it took me back to, like, when we was in sixth grade, I wasn’t even a registered debater. It felt like a journey worth taking,” Williams said.
It was a journey that started with a principal who believed anything was possible with debate.
“There’s a deep, deep pride in this school as a community hub. It’s inspiring every day to walk down the block and have people say, I went to that school and, you know, keep it going, keep it going,” Honoroff said.
Meg Oliver is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York City. Oliver is a veteran journalist with more than two decades of reporting and anchoring experience.
Police in Brooklyn are searching for the hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a woman while she crossed a street on Saturday night.
According to law enforcement sources, 75-year-old Judith Byron of Sunset Park was walking through the intersection of 7th Avenue and 41st Street in the neighborhood shortly after 9:35 p.m. on Oct. 4 when she was fatally hit.
Police said she was walking in the north crosswalk in favor of the pedestrian walk signal when an unknown driver inside a possiblly silver SUV, heading northbound on the street, blew a steady red light before striking Byron.
Authorities said the driver did not remain at the scene after the collision.
Officers from the 72nd Precinct responded to a 911 call about the horrific crash and found Byron with severe trauma throughout her body. EMS responded and rushed the hurt woman to Maimonides Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
So far there are no arrests, but the NYPD’s Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad is continuing the investigation.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
The tragic incident follows a spate of deadly motor vehicle crashes this month, including two on Staten Island that left a total of four people dead.
Meanwhile, the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), reported on Oct. 2 that traffic fatalities in NYC dropped by 18% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
DOT officials stated that street redesign projects are, in part, the reason for the decline in traffic fatalities.
There have been three traffic fatalities year-to-date in the 72nd Precinct, where Byron was fatally struck, down from four during the same period last year, according to the latest police data.
Five men and two women, including three alleged gang members, are facing drug and gun trafficking charges after a year-long undercover investigation dismantled a Brooklyn-based operation, law enforcement officials announced Friday.
The investigation, code-named “Get Sturdy,” led by the NYPD’s Narcotics Borough Brooklyn North and overseen by the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, began in September 2024, when detectives zeroed in on the stretch of Schenectady Avenue between Lincoln Place and Park Place, “a corridor long plagued by drugs and violence,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
The Commissioner said detectives uncovered a group of individuals, consisting of two members of the G-Stone Crips and one member of the Bloods, who set aside gang rivalries to sell crack cocaine and traffic guns in the Weeksville section of Crown Heights.
Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny remarked at the Oct. 3 press conference that it was not unusual for the rival groups to work together, “when it comes down to it, red and blue, they care about green.”
“And when it comes to money, they’ll get together to make that cash,” said Kenny.
Over the course of 12 months, an undercover NYPD officer conducted 26 buys, purchasing 10 semi-automatic pistols, four revolvers, six long guns (including one altered into a fully automatic weapon), and 500 grams of crack cocaine.
“The takedown also recovered another loaded semi-automatic 9mm handgun, a large quantity of illicit drugs, including heroin, crack cocaine, and prescription pills,” Tisch added.
Photo by Lloyd MitchellPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
Seven of the individuals involved in the Crown Heights drug and gun ring were arrested during a takedown operation on Oct.1, while court-authorized search warrants resulted in the seizure of firearms and narcotics, authorities said.
Officials noted that most of the defendants had prior firearms arrests, and one was on parole for weapons possession at the time.
Commissioner Tisch said the case reflected the NYPD’s broader “precision policing” strategy, which targets small groups driving violence. “We are targeting the people who deal drugs, traffic guns, and put New Yorkers in harm’s way — and we’re holding them accountable,” Tisch said.
She noted that shootings citywide have dropped to historic lows, with the 77th Precinct — where the group allegedly operated — seeing a 45% decrease in shootings this year.
A coordinated effort
At the center of the case is Dwayne Seales, 39, accused of running the loosely connected operation that prosecutors say “plagued local businesses and residential streets” with around-the-clock drug and gun sales.
According to Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan, Seales allegedly conducted 19 separate transactions with an undercover officer, selling more than a pound of narcotics and 20 firearms, including AR-style rifles and handguns with high-capacity magazines.
In many cases, the guns were sold loaded, she said.
Sales often took place in neighborhood businesses, including bodegas, a smoke shop and a Chinese restaurant, prosecutors said. In total, the undercover officer paid more than $35,000 for narcotics and guns.
Brennan said that Seales has been charged in a 28-count indictment, including criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first, second, and third degrees and criminal sales of a firearm in the first, second, and third degrees.
The narcotics sales allegedly began with crack cocaine, sometimes taking place inside local businesses. Later, prosecutors say Seales expanded to fentanyl and heroin.
Authorities said Seales dealt in increasingly dangerous drug mixtures, alleging that lab tests confirmed that some packets labeled as heroin actually contained fentanyl, cocaine, tramadol, xylazine, medetomidine, and other synthetic substances.
In January 2025, he allegedly began offering firearms for sale, sending photos of available guns to the undercover officer and then arranging meet-ups, often on Sterling Place in Crown Heights.
“To set up the sales, he sent photographs to the undercover officer’s phone displaying an array of firearms so the undercover could choose which one he wanted,” said Brennan. “And sometimes when he chose one, the officer was told that one was already taken.”
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan stands beside a table of seized firearms, including handguns, rifles, and high-capacity magazines, displayed after the announcement of “Operation Get Sturdy”Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Other alleged participants include Akeel Baptiste, 27, and Tyrone Stewart, 43, charged with facilitating gun transactions; Kevin Thomas, 39, described as a narcotics supplier; and Ismail Abraham, 24, accused of working as a street-level dealer.
The two women involved were identified as Sarahann Hinds, 36, and Medanie Wilson, 29. Prosecutors said they were arrested in conjunction with court-authorized searches of residences associated with the organization.
The group faces a range of charges, including criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal sale of a firearm, and criminal possession. Seales is charged with 19 drug sales and multiple firearms offenses.
Brennan praised the collaboration that made the case possible, highlighting work by the Brooklyn DA’s office and NYPD narcotics detectives, as well as wiretap evidence and search warrants that helped secure the indictments.
Brennan alleges that Sales, with the assistance of others, maintained a “consistent presence and close watch” over the neighborhood, which she said made it difficult for law enforcement to conduct surveillance.
“The wiretaps, as a result, were a particularly valuable tool in this case,” she added.
“This case underscores the close nexus between illegal drugs and guns, which we have seen far too many times,” Brennan said, adding that cocaine trafficking in the city has been on the rise since 2021, which she said reflects broader increases in South American production.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said the result of the joint operation should be a “wake-up call for bad guys.”Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called the takedown “a wake-up call to the bad guys out there in the street who think law enforcement can’t work together.” He said the partnership among prosecutors and police ensured that the defendants could not only be arrested, but also thoroughly investigated to dismantle the supply chain.
“I want to applaud the NYPD for having the courage to take the time to build out this trafficking case because we could have arrested him on the first gun, but we need to make sure we’re figuring out where these guns are going, where they’re coming from, and the trafficking ring,” Gonzalez said.
“These were dangerous drugs, and just the narcotics piece alone has made our community safer,” he added.
Authorities confirmed that the firearms will be traced in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to determine their origins, though early indications suggest they were trafficked from southern states.
Police are on the hunt for a man who slashed an MTA worker inside a subway tunnel in Brooklyn late on Monday night.
According to police sources, the incident unfolded inside the Nostrand Avenue-Eastern Parkway subway station on the 3 line in Crown Heights at around 10:39 p.m. on Sept. 29.
The NYPD reported that the victim, a 64-year-old MTA worker, spotted a man walking along the southbound tracks’ roadbed inside the tunnel.
Law enforcement sources reported that the employee confronted the trespasser, instructing him to leave the area, but the pair got into a dispute. The suspect became enraged, police said, and slashed the worker across his neck before fleeing further into the tunnel.
Officers from the NYPD Transit Bureau responded to the incident. The victim was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition and is expected to survive.
The perpetrator was last seen wearing a black and white shirt. No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding this attack can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
RED HOOK, Brooklyn (WABC) — The Tunnel to Towers Foundation kicked off its 24th annual “5K Run and Walk” on Sunday honoring the fallen first responders of 9/11.
Nearly 40,000 people are expected to participate in the event, which takes place each year on the last Sunday of September.
What began with 1,500 people in 2002, one year after the terror attacks, is now considered by many to be one of the top 5K runs in America.
The event retraces the final footsteps of FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller on Sept. 11, 2001, from the foot of the Battery Tunnel in Brooklyn to the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan.
Assigned to FDNY’s First Squad, Siller had just finished his shift and was on his way to play golf with his brothers when he heard over the radio that a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center.
Photograph of 9/11 first responder and FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation
In response, he drove his truck to the entrance of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but found out it had closed. Siller then strapped 60 pounds of gear to his back and raced on foot to the Twin Towers, where he sacrificed his life to save others in the terror attacks.
Ahead of the race, Eyewitness News caught up with his son, Stephen Siller Jr., who described his father’s legacy.
“I feel like I hit the lottery in terms of a dad. You know, I didn’t get much time with him, but he gave me an example of how to live the rest of my life and what my priorities should be,” Siller Jr. said. “To see this and the legacy he left behind with his sacrifice and what he did for other people, it’s motivation to just make sure I’m living for other people too.”
Chantee Lans speaks with Stephen Siller Jr. about the event and his father’s legacy.
Sunday’s run and walk pays homages to more than 340 FDNY firefighters, law enforcement officers and thousands of civilians who lost their lives on September 11. Proceeds from the event support the foundation’s programs, including those benefitting first responders and service members injured in the line of duty.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
A coalition of over 200 New York City public charter schools marched across the Brooklyn Bridge last week in what school networks are calling a show of support for a “child’s right to learn” and opponents have labeled as forced advocacy.
Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy — after hosting organizer webinars, sending SOS emails to supporters, family and faculty, and allegedly admonishing employees for failing to lobby elected officials to her — rallied on Sept. 18 with some 15,000 students, parents and staff, then “marched for excellence” from Brooklyn to Printing House Square, just outside New York’s City Hall.
The rally was described by organizers as an opportunity for advocates to “raise their voices in unity” and send a message demanding “excellence as a civil right,” as well as “equal treatment and access to excellent schools.”
Supporters said the rally was an opportunity to demand equal treatment of and access to charter schools. Photo by Jonathan Portee
“This rally is about equity, justice and opportunity,” said Samantha Robin, a parent at Dream Charter School. “Parents deserve the freedom to choose schools that honor their children’s genius, their culture, and their potential.”
With mere weeks before the New York City mayoral election, charter schools, facing the prospect of a new mayor opposed to their expansion in Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, are framing the “March for Excellence” rally as part of a yearslong larger fight for the equal treatment of charter school students.
The rally comes at a delicate moment for the charter sector. Charters, which are publicly funded and privately run, serve 15% of city students but have experienced slowed growth in enrollment since the pandemic, according to research from the New York City Charter School Center.
Mamdani, the only major mayoral candidate running in November, has been critical of charters. He centered his education platform on universal child care and has been vocal about his intention to review charter school funding as mayor.
Thousands of people attended the rally and march.Photo courtesy of March for ExcellenceSuccess Ccademy CEO Eva Moskowitz, who organized the rally and allegedly demanded that Success students and teachers attend. Photo by Jonathan Portee
Supporters in attendance included Rafiq Kalam Id-Din, Chair of the Black, Latinx, and Asian Charter Collaborative; Leslie-Bernard Joseph, CEO of KIPP NYC public schools; and many charter school families and faculty, who were instructed on organizing and staying on message throughout the event.
Rumors circulated online that faculty attendance at the rally was compulsory.
In the r/survivingsuccess group on Reddit, one user’s simple question concerning the veracity of the claim sent members of the small but sprawling community of current and former charter school teachers into a frenzy.
Reporting that details internal emails and other documents about the event suggest a coordinated effort to pressure employees into participating and coerce students into demonstrating what the charters are calling targeted advocacy.
Will Doyle, 21, grew up attending public schools in the Bay Ridge area. Now a first-year teacher with Success Academy in Sheepshead Bay, Doyle explained the reason for the rally.
A number of charter schools canceled classes for the day and brought students to the rally instead. Photo by Jonathan Portee
“We’re here advocating for charter schools, but I do know that with the mayoral elections coming up, some candidates oppose the expansion of charter schools,” Doyle said. “From what I’ve heard, mayoral candidate Mamdani seeks to oppose the expansion of charter schools. I don’t have a source for that, but I have done some personal research. I don’t know if he’s the only one.”
Doyle said he was happy to attend the rally because he works for a charter school and all employees are required to attend these events as part of their job.
An operations associate with Success, who asked not to remain anonymous, echoed that the event was planned due to a general concern about “certain candidates” in the upcoming election. The associate noted that Success Academy is trying to show a presence for the cause of charter schools.
“I think that [charters] definitely would advocate that they need more money and space. But I think the big thing is just accounting for future challenges,” he said.
Rallygoers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan after the Cadman Plaza event. Photo by Jonathan Portee
While the repercussions for skipping the rally may not seem swift or severe, staff at the charters have said they worry about the condition of their working environments should they opt not to attend the rally.
“I think that there is pressure. I know that it might not reflect directly on your employment, but it’ll reflect on your experience in the school building if you weren’t going to be here,” the associate said.
CUNY law professor David Bloomfield told Gothamist that under laws governing nonprofits, charters can require staff to participate in demonstrations if they are advocating for the schools, rather than speaking in support or opposition to a political candidate.
Documents obtained by a reporter for Labor New York showed that Zeta Charter elementary and middle schoolers had classroom instruction canceled for the day and instead were scheduled to participate in a “school-on-a-bus” civics lesson, suggesting the event was part of the school’s curriculum for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Some lawmakers are calling for an investigation of the event, which they said was a “misuse” of public funds. Photo by Jonathan Portee
Pop-up tents for rally “marshals” to hand out water, snacks, and protest signs were scattered around Cadman Plaza Park. First-year parents and teachers showed little hesitation in sharing their excitement about the event, while members of the charter system with more than a year under their belt were often skittish about sharing their reasons for attending.
A day after the rally, two lawmakers — state Sens. John Liu and Shelley Mayer, who chair the senate’s education committee — called for an investigation of the event, which they said had been an “egregious misuse of instructional time and state funds.”
The pair said in a letter that the state provides public funding to charter schools “to educate students, not for political activism or for influencing elections.” If violations are uncovered, they said, the state should take back a portion of the funding it had provided to the participating charter schools.
NewsCopter 7’s Tom Kaminski is over the scene of the crash in East Flatbush with the latest details.
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) — A driver was injured after a car crashed into a storefront in Brooklyn on Friday.
FDNY officials said the crash happened just before 11 a.m. at a two-story tattoo parlor located at 4817 Church Ave. off East 48th Street in East Flatbush.
A driver suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
They were taken to Kings County Medical Center.
Department of Buildings officials said personnel did not find any structural damage to the building itself despite damage to the parlor’s front roll down gate.
They said they ordered repairs be made, but did not order the building to be vacated.
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When a family came to Dirt Queen NYC seeking a backyard makeover, they really just wanted one thing: to be able to use their yard. The existing “garden” was a patchy stretch of grass with garages on three sides. Now that their kids were older, the family no longer felt they needed a lawn for playtime. Instead they craved an adult space for hosting dinner parties and a dedicated firepit area, which might even entice their teens to hang out at home.
Jarema Osofsky and Adam Bertulli, co-founders of Dirt Queen NYC, took stock of the existing conditions. The family wanted to keep the existing trees, including some arborvitae that were nicely screening the neighbor’s garage and some Norway maples that were creating dense shade on one half of the garden. Bertulli and Osofsky saw an opportunity to give their clients the function they craved, carving out two distinct garden rooms in the small space, while also creating a dynamic pollinator garden.
Here’s how they did it.
Photography by Brett Wood, courtesy of Dirt Queen NYC.
Before
Above: The yard was nothing but balding grass, arborvitae, and a stand of Norway maples. One impactful move Bertulli and Osofsky made was asking the neighbors if they could paint the back walls of their garages the same color. Luckily, they agreed.
After
Above: From uninspired and useless to inviting and functional. Above: Native flowering shrubs are the backbone of the new garden. For the garden’s midlayer, Osofsky used Clethra summersweet, oak leaf hydrangeas, and Viburnum dentatum, which she notes provides really beautiful berries for birds.
The NYPD Crime Scene Unit processes a fatal double stabbing at Ridgewood Avenue and Cresent Street.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A double stabbing in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills neighborhood early Friday left a 30-year-old man dead and another man hospitalized, police said.
Officers from the 102nd Precinct in Queens responded just before 1 a.m. to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center after two men arrived there by private transportation with stab wounds, according to the NYPD.
A 30-year-old man who had been stabbed in the armpit was later pronounced dead, police said, noting that a 25-year-old man who suffered a stab wound to the stomach was listed in stable condition.
Investigators later determined the stabbings took place near Ridgewood Avenue and Crescent Street, within the 75th Precinct, in Cypress Hills.
So far, police have yet to ascertain a possible motive for the stabbing or a suspect’s description. Sources familiar with the case said the 25-year-old victim has been highly uncooperative.
Police cordon off Ridgewood Avenue in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills on Friday following a double stabbing that killed a 30-year-old man and injured another.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The identity of the man who died is being withheld pending family notification.
As the Crime Scene Unit processed the scene early Friday, onlookers wondered what had led up to the situation, but said it was not an unfamiliar scene in the area.
“There is always something going on over here; it never fails,” said Crystal Rodriguez, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years. “This is my third or fourth time seeing the crime scene unit here.”
Barry King, another long-time resident, said the area needs a stronger police presence. “There is always senseless violence here. We are tired of it.”
A pair of glasses lays on the ground near an evidence marker.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
The 75th Precinct has seen a 29.6% uptick in homicides year-to-date through Aug. 31, according to the most recent CompStat report. As of the end of August, the Cypress Hills precinct had logged 9 homicides, up from 7 during the same period last year
As of Aug. 31, homicides in the 75th Precinct were up nearly 29% compared with the same period last year, according to police data.
No arrests have been made in this case, and anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Detectives have yet to determine how the incident unfolded, as the surviving victim has reportedly been uncooperative.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Seven people were shot, and one person was slashed in the area surrounding Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade on Labor Day despite a surge of cops along the route.
Photo by Dean Moses
Seven people were shot, and one person was slashed in the area surrounding Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade on Labor Day despite a surge of cops along the route.
“They’re working around the clock to ensure that all New Yorkers who visit and participate will do so in a safe way,” Mayor Eric Adams said of authorities last week, leading up to the notoriously troubled parade. Although Adams and police brass said they strove to stave off dangers this year as the celebrations wore on, violence marred the festivities.
The first incident occurred around 5:35 p.m. on Sept. 1 as the parade was still in full swing. Police say shots erupted on Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue and injured two people.
Law enforcement sources said a man in his 20s was struck by a bullet in the leg, while a 42-year-old woman was left with a graze wound to her buttocks. Both victims were rushed to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Just after 6 p.m. Monday, authorities said, a man was attacked with a knife and slashed across his face on Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Avenue, cops said. He fled into a nearby train station and was treated by cops, but refused further medical attention and was uncooperative with police.
Just before 7 p.m. on Sept. 1, police reported that two people were shot along Eastern Parkway and Classon Avenue: a 36-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and a 21-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the chest. Both were taken to Kings Country Hospital in stable condition.
Around the same time on Nostrand Avenue and Sterling Street, a 53-year-old man was shot in the neck and right leg, while a 40-year-old man was hit in the left ankle. Both were treated at Kings County Hospital and listed in stable condition. In this incident, police cuffed 31-year-old Dashawn Fleming and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm.
Finally, the carnage ended in Brooklyn when a young teen was shot at around 9:38 p.m. on Sept. 1 along Rochester Avenue near Eastern Parkway. Cops say a 14-year-old boy was shot in the left hand and back. He was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition.
“After a day of celebration for the community and city, the plague of gun violence struck. I pray for the swift recoveries of the New Yorkers injured in these separate attacks, and am relieved that all appear to be in stable condition,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said in a statement.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
