Nearly 2 dozen sickened in Legionnaires’ disease cluster in New York City
Illustration of Legionella pneumophila bacteria (Roger Harriss/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Health officials in New York City said they are investigating a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease.
As of July 6, 23 cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been confirmed in two of Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhoods, according to the New York City Department of Health. So far, no deaths have been associated with the cluster.
In a notice to the two neighborhoods — Carnegie Hill and Yorkville — the department said it believes the likely source of the bacteria is a cooling tower in the area, which sprays a mist that contains the bacteria.
The health department said there is no issue with any building’s plumbing system and that residents in the affected areas can continue to drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook and use their air conditioners.
“All cooling towers in [the] area are being sampled and tested in the NYC Public Health Lab,” Mark Levine, the city’s comptroller, wrote in a post on X on Sunday evening. “It unfortunately takes several weeks for cultures to grow.”
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by inhaling the Legionella bacteria in small droplets of water mixed in the air or contaminated water accidentally going into the lungs.
The bacteria are found naturally in freshwater but amounts generally don’t lead to disease. The bacteria typically grow best in warm water and in warm to hot temperatures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The disease does not generally spread from person to person, but infections can occur if the bacteria get into a building’s water supply, including in shower heads, sink faucets, hot water tanks, heaters, cooling towers and other plumbing systems.
Legionnaires’ disease has increased in prevalence over the last decade, reaching a peak of 2.71 cases per 100,000 in 2018, the CDC said. Cases dropped during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and then rebounded in 2021.
Although most people recover from Legionnaires’ disease with antibiotics, certain patients — including those who are immunocompromised or who suffer from chronic lung diseases — can develop complications that can be fatal.
About one out of every 10 people who develop Legionnaires’ disease will die due to complications, according to the CDC. Among those who develop Legionnaires’ disease during a stay in a healthcare facility, about one out of every four people will die, the federal health agency added.
The NYC health department said anyone who lives or works in the affected areas — or has visited since late June — and is experiencing flu-like symptoms should contact a healthcare provider immediately. The ZIP codes for the areas are 10028, 10128, and 10075.
(WASHINGTON) — In what has become a recurring legal battle for the Trump administration, a panel of judges is hearing arguments Friday about the legality of new tariffs that a policy research center says contribute to costing every household about $1,000.
A group of plaintiffs — including 24 states, the toy company behind Care Bears and Lincoln Logs, and a spice importer — argue that the Trump administration is abusing a little-known law to impose a sweeping 10% tariffs after the Supreme Court found the last round of tariffs were unlawful.
“The President has once again exercised tariff authority that he does not have –involving a statute that does not authorize the tariffs he has imposed –to upend the constitutional order and bring chaos to the global economy,” the state attorneys general said in their lawsuit.
The arguments are being heard by a three-judge panel on the Court of International Trade.
The legal dispute comes down to the interpretation of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to temporarily levy tariffs of up to 15% in response to “fundamental international payments problems” such as “balance-of-payments deficits.” The law allows the president to impose tariffs unilaterally for 150 days, after which Congress needs to approve the tariffs.
Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued that the United States’ massive trade deficit constitutes exactly the kind of problem Section 122 was designed to fix. A coalition of Democratic attorneys general disagrees, arguing the Trump administration is conflating different financial issues — “trade deficits” and “balance of payments deficits.”
While both terms use the word “deficit,” a “trade deficit” is created by having less exports than imports, while a “balance of payments deficit” accounts for all international transactions involving the United States, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank.
“Were the President to find the endless tariff authority he seeks based only on his decision to conflate trade deficits alone with balance of payments deficits, he would be seizing power from Congress unconstitutionally,” the attorneys general argue.
According to the Yale Budget Lab, a nonpartisan policy research center, Trump’s tariffs — including the broad Section 122 tariffs, as well as metal and pharmaceutical tariffs imposed under different authorities — are estimated to cost every household between $760 and $940 if the Section 122 tariffs expire within 150 days. If Congress were to extend the tariffs, the price impact could be between $1,200 and $1,500 for each household.
People walk through Grand Central Terminal on November 4, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Police shot and killed a knife-wielding man on a subway platform at Grand Central Station in New York City on Saturday after he stabbed at least two people, according to the NYPD.
Officers were called to the scene shortly after 9:30 this morning.
Police said the man had been acting erratically on the train and slashed at least two people on the 4/5/6 platform. The slashing wounds are severe but the victims are stable in the hospital.
The suspect refused repeated commands to drop what police described as a machete before an officer opened fire, killing him, according to the NYPD.
There is no connection to terrorism, police said.
The identity of the knife-wielding suspect was not immediately released.
The NYPD will hold a news conference at the scene.
Matthew Perry attends the GQ Men of the Year Party 2022 at The West Hollywood EDITION on November 17, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for GQ)
(NEW YORK) — The woman reportedly known as the “Ketamine Queen” was sentenced to 15 years in prison for providing the drug that killed Matthew Perry.
Jasveen Sangha admitted in a plea agreement to working with another dealer to provide the “Friends” actor with dozens of vials of ketamine, including the dose that led to his fatal overdose in October 2023 at the age of 54.
Sangha pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
She faced a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
She was sentenced in Los Angeles federal court on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said in court filings ahead of Sangha’s sentencing that she should serve 15 years in prison for her “cold callousness and disregard for life,” and that she’s shown little remorse, pointing to recorded jail communications in which, they say, Sangha talked about “obtaining ‘trademarks’ and securing book rights on the events of the case.”
In a sentencing memorandum filed last month, prosecutors said Sangha ran a “high-volume drug trafficking business out of her North Hollywood residence,” where she stored, packaged and distributed drugs, including ketamine and methamphetamine, since at least 2019. Prosecutors said Sangha continued to sell “dangerous drugs” even after learning she had sold ketamine that contributed to the overdose deaths of two men: Perry and, years earlier, Los Angeles resident Cody McLaury. McLaury died hours after Sangha sold him four vials of ketamine in 2019, prosecutors said.
“She didn’t care and kept selling,” prosecutors wrote. “Defendant’s actions show a cold callousness and disregard for life. She chose profits over people, and her actions have caused immense pain to the victims’ families and loved ones.”
Sangha “had the opportunity to stop after realizing the impact of her dealing – but simply chose not to,” which warrants a “significant” sentence, prosecutors also said.
The defense, meanwhile, said Sangha, who has been behind bars since her arrest in August 2024, should receive a sentence of time served due to her “demonstrated rehabilitation.”
“She has maintained sustained and exemplary sobriety, and actively engaged in recovery-oriented and rehabilitative programming while in custody, and has tremendously strong family and community support to facilitate successful reentry and reduce the risk of recidivism,” her attorneys, Mark Geragos and Alexandra Kazarian, wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last month.
In response to the defense sentencing memorandum, prosecutors continued to argue that Sangha has shown a lack of remorse and claimed she has attempted to minimize the harm she’s caused.
“For example, defendant harmed two overdose victims, but her sentencing briefing does not even mention Cody McLaury and only references Matthew Perry in passing, in the context of defendant attempting to downplay her role in his death and to heap the blame on others,” prosecutors wrote in their response, filed last week.
They also argued that Sangha “expressed a similar lack of remorse in recorded jail communications” – including one on Dec. 25, 2024, during which prosecutors said an individual stated, “We’re gonna sell those book rights,” and Sangha allegedly responded, “Oh I know, the plan is in, the f—— trademark is going down,” according to the filing.
“Even if said in jest, this conversation suggests defendant does not appreciate the severity of her offenses, and instead sees her crimes as a potential future revenue stream,” prosecutors wrote. “It also shows that time in custody has, thus far, failed in getting defendant to adequately reflect upon the grave harms she has caused.”
Geragos has previously said that Sangha “feels horrible.”
“She’s felt horrible from day one,” Geragos told reporters outside the courthouse last year following Sangha’s guilty plea. “This has been a horrendous experience.”
In a victim impact statement filed ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s stepmother, Debbie Perry, said the pain caused by the defendant is “irreversible.”
“Please give this heartless woman the maximum prison sentence so she won’t be able to hurt other families like ours,” she wrote.
In addition to Sangha, four other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death: the other dealer, Erik Fleming; Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; and two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia.
Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine that were provided to Iwamasa.
“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last year. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22.
Fleming pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death and is set to be sentenced on April 29.
Chavez and Plasencia have also been convicted for their roles in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.
Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months home confinement in December 2025.
Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry prior to the actor’s death, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.
