Latest news with #Benedetto
New York Post
21-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
NYS Democrats kill bill to strengthen protections against college antisemitism
ALBANY – Republican lawmakers are fuming after Democrats moved to block a bill that would give colleges and universities more teeth to combat antisemitism. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Putnam), would update the definition of antisemitism under state education law to match that used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA. The change would make it easier to go after colleges and universities that allow hate to fester under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, supporters said. Advertisement 'The first step in combatting hate is defining it,' Slater told The Post. 'It appears Albany Democrats disagree. Assembly Democrats effectively killed a bill that proponents say would make it easier to crack down on college antisemitism. Michael Nagle 'It's shameful they refuse to take a real stand against antisemitism when they have an opportunity to do so, especially given the significant rise in hate crimes across our state since October of 2023,' he added. 'They can denounce hate all they want when it's convenient, but actions speak louder than words.' Advertisement The bill was considered in the Assembly's education committee Tuesday but the panel's chairman, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) said Democrats were rejecting the bill because they believe interpretation of the Civil Rights Act should be handled by Washington. Benedetto also took issue with the way Slater's bill was worded. 'The ACLU has concerns about this. Until things are settled federally, I think it's best for us to hold on to this,' Benedetto said. This drew quick ire from Long Island Assemblyman Ari Brown (R-Nassau) who shot back at Benedetto: 'I completely don't understand anything you said.' Advertisement 'Isn't New York supposed to be the first when it comes to leadership throughout the country?' Brown said. 'And something so simple to do, isn't it something we should all take pride in and stand up first? Why are we waiting for the ACLU? You know they're going to say the opposite of what's good for the Jewish people.' Assemblyman Ari Brown (R-Nassau) excoriated Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benedetto (D-Bronx) during an exchange over the bill Tuesday. New York State Assembly The chairman said he said the original wording was intended to 'maybe be a guidepost' and not to set a standard definition. That sparked Brown to ask Benedetto to point out what specific wording he took issue with. After waiting a few seconds while a staffer spoke with the chairman, Brown then quipped,' I thought so.' Advertisement The education committee ultimately voted to table the bill, effectively killing any chance of it moving forward before Albany wraps its regularly scheduled legislative session next month. Slater's bill isn't the only one that would put the IHRA definition into statute. Assemblyman Sam Berger (D-Queens), has a similar piece of legislation which would apply to all state agencies, including SUNY. Berger defended Heastie and Assembly Dems' move. 'I have seen the Speaker go to bat for the Jewish people time and time again,' Assemblyman Sam Berger (D-Queens) told The Post. 'I believe there are fundamental disagreements with some members in the legislature on how best to tackle antisemitism, but we have a responsibility to meaningfully address the alarming surge of hate in this state.'
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Fashion guru Maurizio Gucci's assassin tried to kill himself after shooting son in family dispute
The hitman who murdered fashion mogul Maurizio Gucci is in critical condition in hospital after reportedly trying to kill himself. Benedetto Ceraulo, 63, allegedly turned a gun on himself after shooting his 37-year-old son Gaetano during a family dispute at his rented home near Florence. Despite injuries to his face, Gaetano reportedly drove himself to a bar in a nearby town - 'with blood everywhere' - where he was rescued by paramedics and taken to hospital. He is in stable condition. Benedetto had been living at the home in Santa Maria a Monte, in Pisa province, for the past two years following his lengthy prison sentence for killing Gucci - at the behest of the businessman's ex-wife. Benedetto was an indebted restaurant owner when he accepted Patrizia Reggiani's offer of 600 million lire to have Gucci killed, according to La Stampa. He worked with two other men to pull off the assassination on March 27, 1995, when Gucci, 46, was arriving for work at his Milan office. Benedetto was ultimately sentenced to 28 years in prison, but was granted work release in 2017 and participated in a wine-producing project on the prison island of Gorgona, The Times reports. 'You have the chance of learning,' he said at the time. 'I feel lucky.' Reggiani served 17 years for her part in the murder plot. She, too, was offered the opportunity of work release in 2011 - but turned it down, saying: 'I've never worked in my life and I don't intend to start now.' The headline-grabbing crime was sensationalized in the film House Of Gucci, which family members claimed violated their privacy. 'We are truly disappointed. I speak on behalf of the family,' one of Maurizio's second cousins, Patrizia Gucci, said ahead of the film's release. 'They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system,' she claimed. 'Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything. But there is a borderline that cannot be crossed.' Her ancestor, Guccio Gucci, founded the luxury fashion house that bears his name nearly a century ago in Florence. But the family has not been involved with the fashion house since 1993, when Maurizio sold his remaining stake to the Bahrain-based company, Investcorp. It was later bought by the French group PPR, which is now Kering.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Hitman who killed Maurizio Gucci shoots his son in the face then turns the pistol on himself
The notorious hitman who killed fashion mogul Maurizio Gucci at the behest of the revered businessman's ex-wife apparently tried to take his own life on Tuesday after shooting his son in the face. Benedetto Ceraulo, 63, allegedly shot his son, Gaetano, 37, during a family dispute then turned the pistol on himself in the front yard of his rented home in Santa Maria a Monte - just outside of Pisa, Italian media reports. Despite the injury to his face, Gaetano never lost consciousness and 'with blood everywhere... dragged himself out to his car,' according to Il Tirreno. He then reportedly drove himself to a bar in a town in the nearby province of Valdinievole, where he was picked up by first responders and rushed to a local hospital. Gaetano is now in stable condition, after receiving treatment at Felice Lotti Hospital. But Benedetto was left in critical condition, and remains at Cisanello Hospital in Pisa Tuesday night. Meanwhile, police are continuing to investigate what exactly transpired at the home Benedetto has been living at for the past two years - following his lengthy prison sentence for Gucci's death. Benedetto was an indebted restaurant owner at the time, when he took Patrizia Reggiani's - Gucci's ex-wife's - offer of 600 million lire to have him killed, according to La Stampa. He then worked with two other men to pull off the assassination on March 27, 1995, when Gucci, 46, was arriving for work at his Milan office. Benedetto was ultimately sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murder, but was granted work release in 2017 and participated in a wine-producing project on the prison island of Gorgona, The Times reports. 'You have the chance of learning, I feel lucky,' he said at the time. 'Closed in your cell, deprived even of your privacy, people become worse.' Reggiani, meanwhile, served 17 years in prison for contracting the murder. She, too, was offered the opportunity of work release in 2011 - but turned it down, saying: 'I've never worked in my life and I don't intend to start now.' The headline-grabbing crime was recently sensationalized in the film House of Gucci, which family members claimed violated their privacy. 'We are truly disappointed. I speak on behalf of the family,' one of Maurizio's second cousins, Patrizia Gucci, said ahead of the film's release. 'They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system,' she claimed. 'Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything. But there is a borderline that cannot be crossed.' Her ancestor, Guccio Gucci, founded the luxury fashion house that bears his name nearly a century ago in Florence. But the family has not been involved with the fashion house since 1993, when Maurizio sold his remaining stake to the Bahrain-based company, Investcorp. It was later bought by the French group PPR, which is now Kering.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Preparing your home, property ahead of severe storms
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Trees toppled over across central Ohio Sunday night during severe storms that churned multiple confirmed tornados. A teenager remains in the hospital after a tree fell onto her home and trapped her underneath. Columbus Fire was able to free her and she was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital in stable condition. The tree that fell was a massive pin oak tree, according to ISA Certified Arborist James Benedetto of Arborist Solutions. Central Ohio's most accurate forecast 'You could have a healthy tree, you could have a sturdy tree in the wrong wind, hit it in a pattern that it hasn't built its strength up for, and it could fail,' Benedetto said. 'You get 80 mile an hour gusts coming from the opposite way. And now you have a tree on the ground.' Benedetto has been working with trees for more than a decade and is a Risk Assessment Qualified arborist. He said there is no sure-fire way to prevent a tree from being taken down in a storm, but with the proper care and specific attention, the risk can be mitigated. 'Anyone can manage their trees as long as they're aware of the risks and I think people can keep a lot more trees if they're informed of the risks that they actually have, rather than kind of like a perceived risk,' Benedetto said. 'A healthy tree doesn't mean a safe tree. There are pathogens, fungi that will attack a healthy tree, and you have no idea. So really, in my opinion, it comes down to looking at the tree and looking at each tree as its own. It really comes down to knowing what kind of tree it is like. Species can make a big difference. Knowing what fungi might attack the tree and seeing the body language that the tree is giving you to see if there's any, any defects.' Once a tree is diagnosed, it's easier to decide what kind of care it needs. Benedetto said there are things homeowners can look for before calling an arborist. 'If you see any type of mushrooms forming at the base or above where the root zone of the tree would be, that's a huge sign,' he said. 'If you hear cracking when you're around your tree in the wind, that's a large sign. You want to make sure that that's checked out or, if there's a lot of branches that are dead or peeling bark. Typically, when you see something that snapped off above the ground, there is some type of trunk defect that maybe it was formed when it was really young, or there's some type of, you know, parasitic wood fungi that's going after it. Be a little more wary of trees after, like, heavy, long rainfalls followed by winds. That's a lot of the time when we'll see, like, conifer trees fall over.' Columbus schools facing special education teacher shortage Falling trees can be a major issue for power companies also. Forestry Manager for AEP Ohio Dale Hopkins said trees are a primary cause of power outages in Ohio. 'That's either, as I said, either through growing it and contacting the lines, which we work to prevent by trimming the trees back, but then also trees that fall from outside of our right away,' Hopkins said. 'On any given day, we have 400 tree crews out working in the neighborhoods as part of our four-year term cycle and as we're out there, we're looking for trees that can either grow into the power lines or fall into the power line.' Trees growing into power lines, trees falling on power lines, or trees uprooting lines can force an outage for hours. That's why Hopkins said they try to be proactive with preventative measures. 'We have about 32,000 miles of line,' he said. 'We trim close to half a million trees on those on any given year, as part of our four-year cycle trim program and then as part of our Danger Tree program, where we're looking at trees outside the roadway that could fall into that, probably close to another hundred thousand trees are being taken down to prevent them from falling. So, we're out working to provide safe, reliable service for our customers. And, you know, our team is working with property owners to talk to them about the work that we need to do on their property, not only in preparation for a storm that's going to be, you know, coming at any given time. But this is preventative maintenance to work to prevent power outages from occurring.' Educating customers about where to plant new trees is another part of the preventative process. Once the face of Intel, Ohio One project falls second under new CEO's vision 'Spring is when customers are starting to do their yard work,' Hopkins said. 'You know, they're looking for places where they can plant a tree to beautify their property, enhance their neighborhood. So first of all, we want them to do is look up, you know, are there obstructions where they want to put that tree? Is there a power line above that? Are there other obstructions that tree is going to grow into? And we got to think beyond what that tree is the day that we're planting it. How tall is that tree going to get at maturity? How why does that canopy going to get? So we always ask that our customers don't plant anything in the right of way.' The Emerald Ash was a huge problem for AEP in years past due to the Emerald Ash bore decimating the population and killing trees throughout the Midwest and Ohio. Since that time, Hopkins said the biggest problem tree for them is the Silver Maple. 'Silver maple tree is a big, wide growing tree grows very fast, but the tree that grows very fast like that is typically a weaker woody tree, so they're going to be more susceptible to storm damage,' he said. 'White pine trees — another fast-growing evergreen tree. We have a lot of storm damage from the spruce trees. They tend to uproot, you know, they have a shallow root system.' No matter the tree, when severe storms hit, there is a chance it can come down. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
