Latest news with #Reisman
New York Post
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Rat whisperer offers tours of NYC's rodent hotspots: ‘They're sort of little monsters, but also sort of ... cute'
You could call it rata-tour-y. New York City has always been at war with rats, from when they jumped from ship to shore in the 18th century to the city's anti-rat campaign today. Over many decades, the reviled brown rodent has burrowed deep into the Big Apple's collective psyche — they were even referenced in a recent episode of 'And Just Like That' where Carrie Bradshaw screams as rats scurry past in her backyard. Thankfully, there has emerged a lone hero who braves Gotham's vermin plague to educate the masses and reduce the fright factor: Suzanne Reisman, leader of the Garbage & Rats in NYC walking tour. Clad in fuzzy, faux rat ears like a bizarro Mouseketeer, the varmint savant takes guests through some of the city's most rat-infested sites while spilling retch-worthy facts on the critters' habits, à la a sanitation history lesson meets an urban wildlife safari. 9 'We really have to address the fact that our city has a lot of litter,' said Reisman. 'We throw trash bags on the street that are easy for rats to rip into. But if we really cut down on the access, that would help significantly.' Stephen Yang 'Rats love to go up to the poop!' she enthused to entranced rodent tourists during a recent tour as she discussed the delicacy of canine excrement. 'They'll kick through it, find the undigested kibble,' she explained to the curious crowd. 'I mean, dog poop is disgusting, but anyway, I do not ever pass by dog poop anymore without thinking, 'Oh, it's a rat snack.'' Since the tour opened in April, curious city visitors and locals alike have been clamoring to see the Big Apple's trash-loving mascot. 'There has been a lot of interest,' Reisman told The Post of the popular, frankly skin-crawling experience, which costs $40 per person. 'I sold out two tours and filled the waitlists during Jane's Walk,' she said of a recent excursion coinciding with the annual festival of community-led walking conversations. 'I wasn't sure that people would show up for a Sunday night tour in the rain, but they did!' 9 'Rats are just so linked to New York City, both in reality and in our lore,' said Reisman. 'They're sort of little monsters, but also sort of … cute.' Stephen Yang 9 'Rats are having a moment,' said tour-goer Caroline Murray. Stephen Yang On the two-hour foray through lower Manhattan, guests learned how the Norway rat — a misnomer, as they hail from Asia, Reisman explained — hitched a ride here on Hessian ships in the late 1700s. They soon discovered a veritable island of garbage caused by nonexistent waste management policies that saw residents dump animal carcasses, feces and more onto streets and even into the East River. 'The rats get off the ship. They take a look around and think, 'Jackpot — we've made it,'' Reisman told rapt tour-takers and other revulsed guests. 'They are just beyond super happy, and they are as much of a New Yorker, a successful immigrant New Yorker, as any other group.' From then on, rats and garbage would go hand in paw. 9 Trash is dumped in the East River in an undated historical photo. Stephen Yang 9 Visitors check out one of the rat-tastic stops on the tour. Stephen Yang 9 A woodchuck-sized rat was spotted in DeLury Square during the Garbage & Rats in NYC tour. Stephen Yang Notably, after the 1968 sanitation workers' strike, NYC didn't return to using containers for garbage, which spawned countless opportunities for rats to multiply, Reisman explained. Guests learn many scary factoids, like how rats have sex up to 20 times a day — hence why the scourge is so rampant — and visit the former site of Sportsmen's Hall on Water Street, where spectators would bet on ferocious fights of terrier versus rat hosted by Irish gang leader Kit Burns in the 1800s. 'It's just incredibly fun to talk about these stories, to share, to hear from other people what their experiences have also been,' gushed the guide, who left her 20-year career in nonprofit work to go ratting full time. Then, of course, there are the rats themselves. Lots and lots of rats, in fact — around 225,000 of the beasts are in the Big Apple, according to Reisman. When a dachshund-sized varmint scurried out of the bushes at one stop, guests oohed and aahed as bird-watchers might about a vibrant blue jay or a rare condor. The grand finale, meanwhile, was Lower Manhattan's DeLury Square, named after John DeLury Sr. — who founded Local 831 of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association in 1956 — and seemingly more rodent-infested than a scene from the 2007 animated film 'Ratatouille.' Why are people clamoring to see a creature that most would normally do anything to avoid? 9 A tour group can learn tantalyzing tidbits — including that Norway rats arrived in NYC in the 1700s. Stephen Yang 9 Rats can have sex up to 20 times per day. Stephen Yang Brave rat tourist Caroline Murray, a current Boston resident and NYC native who was back visiting with her teenage sons, told The Post that she wanted to see something that felt 'more like the gritty New York' that she loves and not the tourist trap of Times Square. 'We saw live rats. We saw a pancake [squashed flat] rat. We saw a guy throwing up in a gutter,' Murray gushed of the sketchy scenes that unfolded in front of her. 'It was a very New York experience overall that my kids don't get to always see in the Massachusetts suburbs.' She added that NYC rodents are well-known outside the city, claiming that the city's immortal Pizza Rat is a 'hero' in Boston. 'Rats are having a moment,' she declared. Reisman's not the only tour guide noticing an uptick in interest. Fellow rodent watcher Kenny Bollwerk told The Post that he's had so many requests for rat tours that he 'can't physically go every night.' The self-proclaimed 'Rat Daddy,' who films his rodent-spotting exploits for his TikTok series 'Rat Tok,' was forced to add more stops to the tour — most notably an 'area next to Wollman Rink (Central Park) where the trash is thrown away, offering sweeping views of the skyline on Billionaires' Row with rats feasting on the buffet below.' 9 A rat hole was spotted on the tour. Stephen Yang Reisman attributes others' fascination in part — and somewhat ironically — to the city-wide anti-rat offensive, spearheaded by Rat Czar Kathleen Corradi. Along with lacing rat poison with contraceptives and rolling out rat-proof 'Empire Bins'' in Manhattan, the campaign has included a special program to educate the community on the garbage gobblers. This includes a Rat Academy to teach 'safe and effective methods for rat prevention' like filling in inactive burrows, a Rat Walk that highlights the relationship between humans and rats, and a community service project where aspiring verminators showcase what they've learned on the rat-tlefield. Perhaps it's no surprise that Riesman, busting with factoids, is a graduate of the academy and member of the 'Rat Pack,' a city-sanctioned 'elite squad of dedicated anti-rat activists.' 'It just seems like the city itself is doing so much more to engage people between,' said Reisman. 'So I think it's like there's also just more openness about this kind of thing and more discussion in general. And citizens in general are more interested.' The most important lesson? Cutting off the cheese thieves' food supply. 'We really have to address the fact that our city has a lot of litter,' she said. 'We throw trash bags on the street that are easy for rats to rip into. But if we really cut down on the access, that would help significantly.' To wit, citywide rat calls to 311 are down overall each of the past six months compared to the same time last year, which coincides with the city's new requirements for closed-lid trash containers. 'I think New York is an amazing, vibrant city, and we all deserve the best, and we can work together to do better,' said Reisman, who nonetheless believes that rats and NYC are inextricably tied — for better or worse. 'Rats are just so linked to New York City, both in reality and in our lore,' she said. 'They're sort of little monsters, but also sort of … cute.' Rat watchers can sign up for the Garbage & Rats in NYC walking tour on Tripadvisor.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Multiple flights diverted to Waco Regional Airport
Waco, TX (FOX 44) — Two American Airlines flights were diverted due to bad weather, and one Skywest Airlines flight, which is operated through a partnership with United Airlines, was diverted due to turbulence, leaving at least five injured. Skywest flight 5690, operating as United Express from Springfield, Missouri to Houston, landed safely at Waco Regional Airport Sunday after experiencing turbulence. 'Roughly around the 6:30 p.m. timeframe, and made an emergency landing here in Waco, Texas, in order to deal with the potential injuries onboard the aircraft,' says Waco Regional Airport interim director of aviation Michael Reisman. There were 29 passengers and three crewmembers onboard the CRJ200 aircraft. Medical personnel met and evaluated passengers following the flight, and five passengers were transported to the hospital with minor injuries. 'Waco Fire Department was on scene very quickly, because there was a fire station here at the airport,' Reisman said. 'City worker's emergency management department was activated very quickly after that. They were here very quickly, too. I don't know the exact time, but I believe that the folks were transported to the hospital and were transported very quickly.' Since United doesn't operate out of Waco Regional Airport, Skywest and United arranged for an aircraft to be ferried last night for the passengers. 'That aircraft came in with additional personnel and supplies to help support the operation,' Reisman said. 'They reported all the passengers on the second aircraft and then departed out of here at about 1:30 this morning.' The passengers who were injured during the flight were taken to Baylor Scott and White-Hillcrest, where they were treated with minor injuries and released last night, making it to Houston. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
To fight scams, Senate bill would limit transactions at crypto ATMs
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin announced legislation Tuesday that would institute sweeping new regulations for the nation's crypto ATM industry. The machines have come under increasing scrutiny as the kiosks are used for scams where victims have lost thousands of dollars — in a single visit. The Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act would prevent new users from spending more than $2,000 in a day or $10,000 over a 14-day period to purchase cryptocurrency at a bitcoin ATM. The bill would also require companies to speak directly with new customers seeking to make transactions over $500 and mandate full refunds when those users file a police report and alert operators within 30 days of their transaction. 'As our technology has evolved and become more sophisticated, so have scammers,' Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. 'Nefarious actors are now using intimidation and manipulation to scare Americans, particularly seniors, into dumping their life savings into cryptocurrency ATMs.' The bill, he said, would 'help curb the efficacy of these scams.' At least $114 million in losses from scams involving bitcoin ATMs were reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2023. Advocates and law enforcement say older adults are particularly vulnerable to such crimes. NBC News has previously reported on the scams, which advocates say have proliferated in the wake of regulatory gaps. Some victims have been falsely led to believe they were facing arrest or owed fines for missing jury duty. Eric Reisman, a 67-year-old retired special education teacher, said he fell for a jury duty scam in January. The Baltimore County resident said he lost $7,000 after paying the supposed fine by feeding bills into a bitcoin ATM. It's possible, he said, that there was a warning at the machine that he skipped past. 'I was hypnotized, that's the best I can say,' Reisman said. 'Why would I have spent four and half hours on this thing and not woken up?' Having an interaction with a customer service representative might have helped break the spell, he said. 'If somebody called me and said, 'Wait a second, what are you doing? Why are you putting in so much money, and do you have more money you're going to put in?' that would have saved me as well,' Reisman said. The Senate bill comes as the kiosks have become more accessible, popping up in gas stations and grocery stores in communities across the United States. Consumer watchdogs have pushed for federal oversight of the industry. At least three states — Minnesota, California and Vermont — already have daily transaction limits for bitcoin ATMs. The Senate bill says it will defer to state regulations, provided they are not in conflict or less stringent. In the fall, Durbin led an inquiry from a group of Democratic senators questioning how the country's 10 largest bitcoin ATM operators were protecting elderly users from scams. The companies said they required users to acknowledge warnings about potential fraud and most set daily transaction limits around $25,000. NBC News reached out to three crypto ATM operators — Bitcoin Depot, CoinFlip and Athena Bitcoin — for comment on Durbin's legislation. These companies operate the most bitcoin ATMs in the U.S., according to Coin ATM Radar, a website that tracks them. A spokesperson for CoinFlip said in a statement that the kiosks are used by thousands daily for 'legitimate transactions,' calling them 'critical' to the cryptocurrency sphere. 'We support legislation that includes strong and consistent protections for consumers, while preserving their right to access digital currencies, and we look forward to working with Sen. Durbin on this important issue,' the statement read. A spokesperson for Bitcoin Depot declined to comment. Athena Bitcoin did not immediately respond. When similar regulations have been debated at the state level, some companies have argued they might still be evaded if scammers simply directed victims to go to more than one site. If the bill passes, the Treasury Department could fine companies $10,000 for each day violations persist. Americans for Financial Reform is one of several watchdog groups that have endorsed the legislation. Mark Hays, its associate director for cryptocurrency and financial technology, says the legislation as a 'good first step' in tackling practices within the crypto industry that have allowed fraud to flourish. 'This bill won't solve all those problems,' he said, 'but it can help.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
25-02-2025
- Business
- NBC News
To fight scams, Senate bill would limit transactions at crypto ATMs
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin announced legislation Tuesday that would institute sweeping new regulations for the nation's crypto ATM industry. The machines have come under increasing scrutiny as the kiosks are used for scams where victims have lost thousands of dollars — in a single visit. The Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act would prevent new users from spending more than $2,000 in a day or $10,000 over a 14-day period to purchase cryptocurrency at a bitcoin ATM. The bill would also require companies to speak directly with new customers seeking to make transactions over $500 and mandate full refunds when those users file a police report and alert operators within 30 days of their transaction. 'As our technology has evolved and become more sophisticated, so have scammers,' Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. 'Nefarious actors are now using intimidation and manipulation to scare Americans, particularly seniors, into dumping their life savings into cryptocurrency ATMs.' The bill, he said, would 'help curb the efficacy of these scams.' At least $114 million in losses from scams involving bitcoin ATMs were reported to the Federal Trade Commission in 2023. Advocates and law enforcement say older adults are particularly vulnerable to such crimes. NBC News has previously reported on the scams, which advocates say have proliferated in the wake of regulatory gaps. Some victims have been falsely led to believe they were facing arrest or owed fines for missing jury duty. Eric Reisman, a 67-year-old retired special education teacher, said he fell for a jury duty scam in January. The Baltimore County resident said he lost $7,000 after paying the supposed fine by feeding bills into a bitcoin ATM. It's possible, he said, that there was a warning at the machine that he skipped past. 'I was hypnotized, that's the best I can say,' Reisman said. 'Why would I have spent four and half hours on this thing and not woken up?' Having an interaction with a customer service representative might have helped break the spell, he said. 'If somebody called me and said, 'Wait a second, what are you doing? Why are you putting in so much money, and do you have more money you're going to put in?' that would have saved me as well,' Reisman said. The Senate bill comes as the kiosks have become more accessible, popping up in gas stations and grocery stores in communities across the United States. Consumer watchdogs have pushed for federal oversight of the industry. At least three states — Minnesota, California and Vermont — already have daily transaction limits for bitcoin ATMs. The Senate bill says it will defer to state regulations, provided they are not in conflict or less stringent. In the fall, Durbin led an inquiry from a group of Democratic senators questioning how the country's 10 largest bitcoin ATM operators were protecting elderly users from scams. The companies said they required users to acknowledge warnings about potential fraud and most set daily transaction limits around $25,000. NBC News reached out to three crypto ATM operators — Bitcoin Depot, CoinFlip and Athena Bitcoin — for comment on Durbin's legislation. These companies operate the most bitcoin ATMs in the U.S., according to Coin ATM Radar, a website that tracks them. A spokesperson for CoinFlip said in a statement that the kiosks are used by thousands daily for 'legitimate transactions,' calling them 'critical' to the cryptocurrency sphere. 'We support legislation that includes strong and consistent protections for consumers, while preserving their right to access digital currencies, and we look forward to working with Sen. Durbin on this important issue,' the statement read. A spokesperson for Bitcoin Depot declined to comment. Athena Bitcoin did not immediately respond. When similar regulations have been debated at the state level, some companies have argued they might still be evaded if scammers simply directed victims to go to more than one site. If the bill passes, the Treasury Department could fine companies $10,000 for each day violations persist. Americans for Financial Reform is one of several watchdog groups that have endorsed the legislation. Mark Hays, its associate director for cryptocurrency and financial technology, says the legislation as a 'good first step' in tackling practices within the crypto industry that have allowed fraud to flourish. 'This bill won't solve all those problems,' he said, 'but it can help.'
