More FDNY members have died from World Trade Center illnesses than killed on 9/11
(NEW YORK) — Twenty-three years after Sept. 11, 2001, illnesses linked to the World Trade Center terrorist attack have now killed more members of the New York City Fire Department than were killed on 9/11 itself.
On the day the Twin Towers fell, 343 members of the FDNY were killed, according to officials.
In the 23 years since, more than 360 FDNY members have died of World Trade Center-related illnesses, the department said. Twenty-eight of those FDNY deaths were over the last year, according to the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association.
“Those insurmountable losses did not end at the World Trade Center site,” New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said. “Instead, we have seen our members become sick because of time they spent working in the rescue and recovery.”
Of the 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center, about 40% — 1,103 people — remain formally unidentified. There has not been a new identification of remains since January.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s annual commemoration ceremony will take place on Wednesday, beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET.
(CODY, Wyo.) — A 60-year-old woman was walking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park when she suffered burns from scalding water in a thermal area by Old Faithful, park officials said.
The woman was walking with her husband and their dog in a thermal area near Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon “when she broke through a thin crust” over the extremely hot water, suffering second-degree and third-degree burns to her leg, the National Park Service said.
The woman, who was visiting Yellowstone from New Hampshire, was taken to a park medical clinic and later flown to a hospital for further treatment, officials said.
Her husband and dog were not hurt, park officials said.
“Visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution,” Yellowstone National Park said in a statement. “The ground in these areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface.”
Park spokesperson Linda Veress urges visitors to “follow the beaten path.”
“In thermal areas, boardwalks take you to amazing places, protect the park, and keep you safe,” Veress told ABC News. “People have been severely burned and killed after leaving the boardwalk or reaching into hot water.”
Pets aren’t allowed on boardwalks or hiking trails, or in thermal areas, park officials noted.
The incident is under investigation, park officials said.
(NEW YORK) — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her immediate resignation Wednesday, months after college protests over the Israel-Hamas war gripped the campus.
“I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University,” Shafik wrote in a letter to members of the university.
The announcement comes after protests broke out on the university’s campus in April, leading to arrests, property damage and backlash over the institution’s handling of the protests.
“It has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community,” Shafik said in her letter, adding, “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.”
“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead. I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins,” Shafik said.
Shafik, who became the first woman and person of color to lead the university in 2023, is the third Ivy League president to step down in recent months.
Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill previously announced their resignations following Congressional testimonies on the handling of anti-Semitism on campus.
During her congressional testimony in April, Shafik told the committee that Columbia “strives to be a community free of discrimination and hate in all forms, and we condemn the antisemitism that is so pervasive today.”
Shafik said she took the job to foster a diverse community at Columbia.
“But on Oct. 7, the world changed and so did my focus,” she said.
The day after Shafik’s testimony, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested, and an on-campus tent encampment was removed after Shafik gave the New York Police Department the green light to clear the protesters. What followed was weeks of protests and widespread tent encampments that culminated in the occupation of the university’s Hamilton Hall.
In May, Columbia University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a vote of no confidence in Shafik.
“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion,” Shafik wrote in her letter. “It has been distressing — for the community, for me as president and on a personal level — to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.”
Shafik, who previously led the London School of Economics and worked for the World Bank, announced she will return to the U.K. following her resignation.
“I am honored to have been asked by the U.K.’s Foreign Secretary to chair a review of the government’s approach to international development and how to improve capability,” Shafik said.
Katrina Armstrong, MD, who leads the university’s medical school and medical center, was announced as the interim president following Shafik’s departure.
(NEW YORK) — A Staten Island man who ran a large-scale marijuana smuggling operation and whose 10-year federal prison sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump has been arrested for domestic assault in Atlantic Beach.
Jonathan Braun, 41, is charged with punching his father-in-law Tuesday after the elderly man came to the assistance of Braun’s wife, whom he was chasing after an argument, according to prosecutors.
Braun pleaded not guilty. The judge released him on his own recognizance over the objection of the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, which requested bail.
At the time Trump granted Braun clemency, on his last day in office, the White House said Braun “will seek employment to support his wife and children.” Braun has assaulted his wife numerous times since his release, according to court records.
Braun also has a history of violence and threats.
At the time of his clemency, Braun still faced investigations related to his role in an operation that made predatory loans to small-business owners.
According to a lawsuit by the New York attorney general’s office, Braun called business owners and insulted, swore at and bullied them, demanding payment and making threats.
“You have no idea what I’m going to do,” the lawsuit quoted Braun as allegedly saying. “I will take your daughters from you.”
Braun also threatened that he would come to one merchant’s synagogue in Brooklyn and physically beat him and “publicly embarrass him,” stating, “I am going to make you bleed.”
He threatened another, “Be thankful you’re not in New York, because your family would find you floating in the Hudson,” according to the lawsuit.
Braun was granted clemency, along with dozens of others, on Jan. 19, 2021, his last day in office before Joe Biden took over as president.