Stepping into a party is always a thrilling experience, but it becomes even more memorable when you’re adorned in a dress that feels like a second skin. But finding such a dress from the sea of apparel can be daunting. In this article, we have mentioned ways to find that dream party dress that makes…
NEW YORK (AP) — A potent rush-hour rainstorm swamped the New York metropolitan area on Friday, shutting down parts of the city’s subway system, flooding streets and highways, and delaying flights into LaGuardia Airport.
Up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas overnight, and as much as 7 inches (18 centimeters) more was expected throughout the day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“This is a dangerous, life-threatening storm,” Hochul said in an interview with TV station NY1. “Count on this for the next 20 hours.”
Traffic was at a standstill, with water above cars’ tires, on a stretch of the FDR Drive — a major artery along the east side of Manhattan. Some drivers abandoned their vehicles.
Priscilla Fontallio said she had been stranded in her car, which was on a piece of the highway that wasn’t flooded but wasn’t moving, for three hours.
“Never seen anything like this in my life,” she said.
Photos and video posted on social media showed water pouring into subway stations and basements.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs subway and commuter rail lines, urged residents of the nation’s most populous city to stay home if they could. Virtually every subway line was at least partly suspended, rerouted or running with delays, and two of the Metro-North Railroad’s three lines were suspended.
Flights into LaGuardia were briefly halted, and then delayed, Friday morning because of water in the airport’s refueling area. Flooding also forced the closure of one of the airport’s three terminals.
Towns and cities around New York City also experienced flooding, including Hoboken, New Jersey.
The deluge came less than three months after a storm caused deadly floods in New York’s Hudson Valley and left Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, submerged. A little over two years ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped record-breaking rain on the Northeast and killed at least 13 people in New York City, most of whom were in flooded basement apartments. Overall, 50 people died from Virginia to Connecticut.
Hochul warned New Yorkers on Thursday night of a forecast that called for 2-3 inches (5-7.5 centimeters) of rain, with 5 inches (13 centimeters) or more possible in some places.
“We anticipate, we warn, we prepare. But then when it hits and you have 5 inches in the last 12 hours — 3 in the last hour this morning — that’s a scale that we’re not accustomed to dealing with,” the Democrat told NY1 on Friday. But she added that New Yorkers “have to get used to this” because of climate change.
We don’t remember the last time it rained this much in New York.
Although it’s fairly peaceful to cozy up with a cup of coffee at home while the tempest rages on outdoors, we will have to eventually leave our apartments, which begs the question: when will it stop raining?
According to forecasters, it will steadily pour until tomorrow morning at least. More specifically, there is a flood watch in effect across the entire tri-state area through 6am Saturday, where flooding is expected.
Experts warn that the region will likely have to deal with between 1 and 8 inches of rain per hour throughout the next day or so.
Certain parts of NYC are currently under flash flood warnings as well, scheduled to stay in effect through 12:30pm.
Unsurprisingly, the subway system has been heavily impacted by the weather also, with some lines entirely suspended. The situation is fluid but we can confidently predict that a lot of roads will be closed, so whether you’re driving in Manhattan or outside, give yourself some extra time. Needless to say, try to stay home if possible.
Dear New Yorkers 🥰 We know that you couldn’t visit Venice, Italy 🇮🇹 Maybe because of Pandemic if not Bidenomics, we thought it would be nice to bring Venice to you 😉
Governor Kathy Hochul has just declared a state of emergency across New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. “Please take steps to stay safe and remember to never attempt to travel on flooded roads,” the politician wrote on Twitter. We echo her sentiments.
Plans are underway to form a BID on East 125th Street, a diverse corridor with a rich cultural history, outstanding intermodal transit connectivity, and a growing population. It is the terminus of the proposed Second Avenue Subway and has seen significant residential development over the past decade. With the support of the NYC Department of…
NEW YORK (AP) — With gridlock persisting in Washington, a government shutdown is looking more and more likely ahead of Saturday night’s deadline.
As the Senate marches ahead with a bipartisan approach aimed at keeping the government open, spending measures are still struggling to pass the Republican-controlled House. If a shutdown arrives, millions of federal employees will be furloughed and many others — including those working in the military and the Transportation Security Administration — will be forced to work without pay until it ends.
A handful of federal programs that people nationwide rely on everyday could also be disrupted — from dwindling funds for food assistance to potential delays in customer service for recipients of Medicare and Social Security. The ripple effects would come down to how long the shutdown lasts and varying contingency plans in place at impacted agencies.
“Collectively, hundreds of millions of Americans, a majority of the population, are receiving some kind of benefits from the government,” said Forrest V. Morgeson III, an associate professor at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business. He noted a potential shutdown could bring significant financial uncertainty and economic implications down the road.
Here’s what you need to know.Will SNAP be affected by a government shutdown? What about WIC?
A government shutdown could risk millions of low-income Americans’ access to food and nutrition assistance programs — with impacts depending on how long the shutdown lasts and program-by-program contingency funds.
Nearly 7 million women and children who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) could be at risk of losing assistance almost immediately into a shutdown, according to the Biden Administration. That’s because the federal contingency fund supporting normal WIC operations will likely run out in a matter of days — pushing states to rely on their own money or carryover funds.
Impacted families are “going to be going to food pantries,” said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, senior associate dean for health policy at the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. “These are people who need the help. These are moms. These are infants. So this is a real problem.”
Families who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could also lose assistance if a shutdown drags out for a more significant period of time. According to the Agriculture Department, regardless of what happens in Washington this weekend, households will receive SNAP assistance as usual through October.What about Head Start programs and free school lunch?
Head Start programs serving more than 10,000 disadvantaged children would immediately lose federal funding, although they might be able to stave off immediate closure if the shutdown doesn’t last long.
Those 10 programs, which are located in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts and South Carolina, serve just a fraction of the 820,000 children enrolled in the program at any given time.
Tommy Sheridan, the deputy director for the National Head Start Association, said the programs are in trouble because their grants start on Oct. 1. Programs with grants that don’t start on that date will continue getting money. But if the shutdown drags on, the number of affected programs will grow as more grants come up for renewal.
Beyond Head Start, concerns have also arisen around free school meals. But the Agriculture Department says it does not anticipate any immediate issues with federal child nutrition programs, including school meals because support for these programs is provided in part by a permanent and mandatory funding authority.
In the event of a government shutdown, state and federal operations for child nutrition are set to continue through October and potentially a few months beyond that, according to the department. But the department would not be able to support these programs for the full year without appropriations.Will I continue to receive Social Security checks?
Regardless of what happens in Washington this weekend, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients will continue to receive payments. But response times for people with issues could be delayed due to furloughs.
“If you have a question about Social Security, you may not be able to find anybody to answer your questions,” Nielsen said. “But the everyday transactions of sending checks out will still continue.”
According to a recent contingency plan from the Social Security Administration, the agency will cease non-critical actions and those “not directly related to the accurate and timely payment of benefits.” The issuance of new social security cards and replacements will continue.Would a shutdown impact Medicare and other health services?
Medicare and Medicaid benefits will also continue — as both are mandatory programs funded separately from annual appropriations. That means that patients should still be able to see their doctors and have medical bills paid.
But, similar to Social Security, there could be delays and disruptions to customer service due to furloughs. According to contingency details published by the Health and Human Services Department last week, about half of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is set to be furloughed in the event of a lapse of appropriations.
Beyond Medicare and Medicaid, health care services for veterans are set to continue in the event of a shutdown. The majority of programs funded by the Indian Health Service would also remain in operation and IHS has received advanced appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year, per a recent contingency plan.How could flights and other travel be impacted?
The nation’s air-travel system is expected to operate relatively normally during a shutdown. Air traffic controllers and TSA screeners are deemed essential workers — however, those people won’t be paid until the shutdown ends, and TSA lines could grow longer if enough screeners stay home.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that air travel will remain safe in a shutdown, but that the training of new air traffic controllers will stop and 1,000 trainees will be furloughed.
Long before this week’s deadline, airlines were already been complaining that a shortage of air traffic controllers has been causing flight delays and cancellations. The Federal Aviation Administration said in August it hired 1,500 new controllers in the past year and asked Congress for money to hire another 1,800 in the new fiscal year.
The processing of passports and visas will continue in a shutdown “as the situation permits,” according to guidance that the State Department gave employees last week. The department said consulates in the U.S. and abroad will say open “as long as there are sufficient fees to support operations,” but passport work could stop if the building where the work is done gets shuttered.
The time it takes to get a passport or visa already is much longer than before the pandemic. Most Customs and Border Protection agents are also considered essential and would be expected to work at airports and border crossings.Could there be student loan disruptions?
If spending measures aren’t passed by Saturday’s deadline, the government shutdown would start the same day that student loans emerge from the pandemic pause after beginning to accrue interest again on Sept. 1.
But, shutdown or not, borrowers’ payments will still be due. For the most part, loan servicers will be able to continue to process payments regularly — but there could be delays for those who need to consult with or seek help from the Education Department due to the potential of agency furloughs.
Students applying for federal aid during a shutdown can expect similar delays because of this. Officials have pointed to potential disruptions to processing FAFSA applications, disbursing Pell Grants and pursuing public loan forgiveness, for example.Would mail services slow down?
The United States Postal Service will not be affected by a government shutdown. The Postal Service doesn’t rely on taxpayer dollars because it generally gets its funding through the sales of products and services.
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Associated Press writers David Koenig in Dallas and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City contributed to this report.
The AmNews hosted its 9th Labor Awards Breakfast Thursday honoring several movers and shakers in the labor movement.
The event was held at the 1199SEIU Headquarters in Midtown and brought out several union, community and political leaders. This year’s theme was ““Vision to Reality” celebrating the leaders that fought for Black and minority inclusion in the skilled trades.
Ariama C. Long photos
U.S. Sen Kirsten GilIibrand (D-NY) kicked off the breakfast with a welcome to guest via a video message followed by an invocation by Elise Bryan, President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLEW).
Honorees included Gary LaBarbera, President of the New York State and the New York City Building and Construction Trades Councils, Lavon Chambers, Executive Director at Pathways to Apprenticeship, William Wallace IV, Senior Acquisitions Officer at The Continuum Company and Priscilla Sims Brown, CEO of Amalgamated Bank.
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