Taxi cab strikes several pedestrians in NYC’s Herald Square
WABC
(NEW YORK) — Three people were hospitalized after a New York City taxi cab jumped the curb and struck multiple pedestrians in Herald Square on Christmas Day.
The incident occurred on the Midtown Manhattan sidewalk at 4:03 p.m. as the taxi driver was northbound on Sixth Avenue, a New York City Police Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
There were six pedestrians struck by the cab, and the three individuals that were transported to area hospitals included a 9-year-old boy, and two women aged 41 and 49, according to officials.
All of the impacted pedestrians suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Officials say the driver suffered a possible medical episode, but the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — New York City is known for its towering skyscrapers and bustling streets, but lurking beneath the glitz and glamour of the city that never sleeps are 3 million resilient rats that have cemented their place as native New Yorkers.
According to Orkin, the pest control service, New York has been ranked as the third rattiest city in the country behind Los Angeles and Chicago. Now local officials are taking up the battle against the city’s furry rodents.
In 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city’s first Rat Czar, drawing national attention. Since then, many citywide initiatives have been explored.
Director of Rodent Mitigation Kathleen Corradi, aka the Rat Czar, is taking on the task of educating fellow New Yorkers with a new program called Rat Walks. It’s a program available in all boroughs where attendees learn everything about rats, their habits, and what human behaviors encourage the rodents to stick around.
In October, Corradi told participants attending a rat walk, “We’re doing a lot in this administration to make sure we’re containerizing, make sure we’re changing behaviors around waste management.”
Given a $3.5 million budget, Corradi is tasked with reducing the city’s rat population. Still, she says it’s up to New Yorkers, too, “The only way we are successful is getting an educated public change in behaviors and addressing those conditions that support rats. Extermination will always be a part of the conversation, but we know the long-term success relies on front-end equation, and that’s where we’re really focusing and empowering New Yorkers,” she told ABC News.
Several New Yorkers living in rat mitigation zones spoke to ABC News about seeing rats in their neighborhood. “The rats were all over the place, like just ‘Ratatouille,'” Shea Sullivan, a NYC resident, told ABC News. Samir, a superintendent, told us the situation in some of his apartment buildings was getting so out of hand that he had to drown rats himself, “I drowned them in water and killed them. This is ridiculous. It has to be changed completely.”
As New Yorkers are dealing with rats in their homes or neighborhoods, others are taking a different approach to tackling the issue. New York City Council Member Shaun Abreu launched Bill 736, or “Flaco’s law.” The bill passed on Sept. 26, 2024, and will implement rat contraceptives in areas where trash is containerized. He told ABC News that rat birth control can help curb rat populations, but only if trash is fully contained so the rodents don’t have anything else to eat.
Two years ago, his office also introduced Rat Mitigation Zones, securing $11.5 million to fund the initiative.
“Through my legislation two years ago, the city established five rat mitigation zones, and in these rat mitigation zones citywide rat sightings have gone down by 14%, at least, based off of 311 complaints,” Abreu told ABC News. In 2024, his office also introduced a residential pilot program to containerize trash in Harlem, an area largely infested with rats. “You have these giant bins out on the street and since we’ve implemented that last September, trash is now in containers. Now they’re not out for a rat buffet anymore. 311 complaints for rat sightings have gone down by 55%. No other intervention has been done this past year,” he told ABC News.
With the passing of Bill 736, rat contraceptives are expected to be rolled out on New York City streets by April 26, 2025. The company WISDOM Good Works is expected to partner with the city to manage and maintain the distribution of rat birth control. “We’ve been working with City Council offices as well as city agencies that will be enforcing the bill,” the director of operations at WISDOM Good Works, Alaina Gonzalez-White, told ABC News.
She says that the birth control pellets are safer for all wildlife, not just rats. “It’s formulated to target the reproductive system of an animal the size of a rat. Anything that eats that rat will no longer be eating a poisoned meal.” PETA supports the initiative.
Ashley Byrne, senior campaigner for PETA, told us the end of rat poison, known as rodenticide, would mean saving the lives of pets that may come in contact with rats. “Ultimately, slaughtering rats doesn’t work. The only long-term and humane solution is prevention. No animal deserves to experience the slow suffering and miserable death that results from ingesting rat poison.”
Abreu shared his mission to combat rat populations more humanely, saying, “My goal personally is not for rats to go extinct. Our goal is (to) coexist in a way where rats aren’t showing up. I think our message is very much in line with the PETA message. We believe in New York City, we should throw everything we can at the problem from shutting off the food supply, but also targeting rat reproduction at the source.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Health and Human Services directed recipients of grant funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to immediately halt all programs, personnel and activities related to “gender ideology,” according to an email obtained by ABC News.
“You must immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting or inculcating gender ideology at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award,” the email stated.
It also said that “any vestige, remnant, or re-named piece of any gender ideology programs funded by the U.S. government under this award are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated.”
The email from HHS follows President Donald Trump’s executive order — Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government — which directed the federal government to recognize only two sexes: male and female.
The latest directive from the HHS impacts any entity that receives CDC funds, such as local health departments and clinics across the country, and it affects any programs supported by the nearly $4.5 billion spent by the CDC last year to aid health departments across all 50 states.
HHS sent a similar memo to recipients specifically receiving foreign assistance funds regarding DEI programs. That memo said, “You must immediately terminate, to the maximum, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEl) at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award,” according to a copy obtained by ABC News.
ABC News previously reported a memo that was sent to HHS officials on Wednesday directing sub-agencies such as the CDC to remove “all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by 5 p.m. on Friday.
As of Friday evening, government webpages on HIV, LGBTQ+ issues and public health were taken down, according to a subsequent report by ABC News.
(GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA) — The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday announced the transfer of two detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, bringing the total announced departures to three detainees in the last 24 hours.
Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, who are both Malaysians, are being sent to their home country to serve the remainder of a five year sentence imposed in June, the Pentagon said in a press release. Officials had announced the transfer of Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu to Kenya on Tuesday.
There are now 27 detainees at Guantanamo, 15 of whom are eligible for a transfer out of the detention facility.
The two detainees whose transfers were announced Wednesday had previously been brought before a Military Commission, where they pleaded guilty to multiple offenses, including murder in violation of the law of war, the Pentagon said.
Both had agreed prior to their trials to testify against Encep Nurjaman, who the U.S. described as the alleged mastermind behind al-Qaeda attacks in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002, and in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003, the Pentagon said.
“On June 13, 2024, in accordance with the pretrial agreements, the Convening Authority approved sentences of confinement for approximately five years for each and recommended that both men be repatriated or transferred to a third-party sovereign nation to serve the remainder of the approved sentence,” the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
In announcing the transfer of Bajabu to Kenya on Tuesday, the Pentagon said that a review board had found that his detention was “no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the national security of the United States.”
He was released to the Kenyan government, the U.S. said.
“The United States appreciates the support to ongoing U.S. efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the Pentagon said.