arrow A view of Rikers Island Prison Complex located in the East River between Queens and The Bronx. Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
Ira Goldberg was terrified of dying in prison. In panicked phone calls in the days before he caught the coronavirus at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, his attorney described the 72-year-old Brooklyn man with a visceral terror in his voice that reminded her of the Blair Witch Project.
“He was legitimately very scared for his life and deeply concerned that the prison seemed to have no idea what they were doing as the virus spread,” said Alexandra Mitter, a lawyer for the Center of Appellate Litigation.
Amid COVID vaccine rollout, Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized for micromanaging process
New York State Team
ALBANY - In Gov. Andrew Cuomo s book last fall on New York s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he admitted being a micromanager. My natural instinct is to be aggressive, and it doesn t always serve me well. I am a controlling personality, he wrote in
American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
But he was also unapologetic for one of his best known traits. You show me a person who is not controlling, and I ll show you a person who is probably not highly successful, he continued.
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The snowstorm is dealing
a blow to New York’s already struggling coronavirus vaccination push, canceling all of New York City’s appointments and ones at
Though officials promise that appointments will be quickly rescheduled, losing two days of shots is no small thing when the city has already missed its goal of vaccinating a million people in the month of January, and the vaccination drive is racing the clock against new emerging strains of the virus.
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Source: AP Photo/Mike Groll
When New York Attorney General Letitia James released her office s report on the number of COVID-related nursing home deaths, it was shocking but not entirely surprising based on the stonewalling the press has received from the Cuomo administration. The report confirmed rumors that the New York Department of Health had severely undercounted the fatalities, for they failed to include those individuals who died after being transferred to hospitals. According to James s office, their reporting finds that the number may have been undercounted by as much as 50 percent.
And New York lawmakers are moving quickly, demanding accountability from the administration. New York state Sen. Tom O Mara thinks a good starting place is to subpoena Health Commissioner Howard Zucker. He advanced a motion to do so during Monday s Senate Investigations Committee meeting.