Latest news with #TheNewYorkDailyNews
Indian Express
20-07-2025
- Indian Express
Indian-origin doctor charged with offering drugs for sexual favours in US
An Indian-origin doctor in New Jersey has been charged with distributing drugs without a legitimate medical purpose to his patients in exchange for sexual favours, according to a press release issued by the US Attorney's Office. Ritesh Kalra, 51, of Secaucus, allegedly operated a 'pill mill' out of his medical office, where he routinely prescribed high-dose opioids—including oxycodone—and promethazine with codeine to patients, said the press release issued by the US Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, on Friday. 'Physicians hold a position of profound responsibility—but as alleged, Dr Kalra used that position to fuel addiction, exploit vulnerable patients for sex, and defraud New Jersey's public healthcare programme,' US Attorney Alina Habba said in the release. Kalra is accused of issuing more than 31,000 prescriptions for oxycodone, including on days when he wrote upwards of 50 prescriptions, between January 2019 and February 2025. Kalra, an internist in Fair Lawn, also allegedly billed for false in-person visits and counselling sessions, the release said. He made his initial appearance on Thursday before a US Magistrate Judge in Newark federal court. He was released on home incarceration and an unsecured bond of USD 100,000, it added. Kalra is required to shut down his medical practice while the case is pending. His attorney, Michael Baldassare, denied the accusations and said the government press release 'reads like a supermarket tabloid,' The New York Daily News reported on Saturday.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC budget talks come down to the wire as sticking points remain
NEW YORK — Negotiations on this year's New York City government budget are coming down to the wire — with several sticking points remaining as talks turned tense Thursday between City Council Democrats and Mayor Eric Adams' administration, according to sources familiar with the matter. The hope was initially for the mayor and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to announce a handshake deal on the budget Friday. By law, the budget must be adopted before Tuesday, the start of the city's 2026 fiscal year. But funding legal assistance for immigrants — an issue many see as especially critical amid President Donald Trump's controversial 'mass deportation' crackdown — has created a fault line that some Council sources told The New York Daily News made them unsure the Friday handshake could still happen. The mayor, who has faced criticism over his budding ties to Trump since the dismissal of the mayor's corruption indictment, is proposing to earmark an additional $4.4 million in annual funding for nonprofits providing immigrants with legal services in the 2026 fiscal year budget. Council Democrats, though, have called for bumping that number up significantly, though it wasn't immediately clear just how big of an increase they'd like to see. The clash over the funding levels came to a head Friday, when Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan, the Council's Finance Committee chairman, pressed the case in a negotiation session with the mayor's advisers that they need to agree to jack up the funding to ensure the city can protect local immigrant communities, according to sources briefed on the discussions. Several sources described the interaction as heated and combative. Adams spokeswoman Liz Garcia wouldn't comment on the timing of a handshake deal, but claimed Council members pushing for more city funding are misguided. 'Mayor Adams will continue to advocate for state and federal funding — as he always has — especially given that we are not receiving any new support from other levels of government,' Garcia said. 'We urge these elected leaders and advocates to make good use of their time and do the same.' According to the sources, friction also remains between the two sides over issues related to funding for some childcare and mental health programs, among other snags. In 2022, the mayor and the speaker reached a budget deal weeks before the deadline. But every year since, they haven't cut a deal until just a few days before the deadline amid sharp policy differences between the two sides, especially as the mayor has enacted and proposed steep cuts to many agency budgets in some years, including public libraries. In a rally on the steps of City Hall on Thursday morning, Speaker Adams, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for mayor in this week's Democratic primary, highlighted how the immigrant legal funding issue is key for her members this year. 'This is especially important as we see Trump's administration exploiting the legal system to target mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons, despite the fact that they are doing everything asked of them to comply with the legal process,' she said, referencing the Trump administration's efforts to detain asylum seekers at courthouses as they appear for routine check-ins. 'It is just unacceptable to have a budget that doesn't meet the moment,' Brooklyn Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, chairwoman of the body's Immigration Committee, said. 'The $4 million being offered by the mayor is simply not enough. Our service providers are drowning.'
Shafaq News
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
FBI examines anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish hate incidents across US
Shafaq News/ On Friday, New York City police opened an investigation after Zoran Mamdani, a Muslim Democratic candidate for mayor, received a series of phone messages containing direct threats and Islamophobic language. According to The New York Daily News, the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is handling the case following reports that Mamdani was targeted with four threatening voice messages sent at different times. One of the messages allegedly included a threat to blow up Mamdani's car. Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Max Miller, known for his outspoken support of Israel, reported that he and his family were harassed while driving in Ohio by an individual displaying a Palestinian flag. The encounter, which forced Miller to veer off the road, was later described by the lawmaker as an ''antisemitic act.'' These two incidents come amid a broader national rise in hate crimes targeting both Muslim and Jewish communities. According to FBI data, reported anti-Muslim hate crimes rose by 49 % from 2023 to 2024. The Anti-Defamation League separately recorded a record 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024, marking a 344 % increase over five years.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
NYC crypto trader accused of Italian man's kidnap, torture threatened to kill his family to get Bitcoin password: prosecutors
NEW YORK — The 37-year-old Crypto trader accused of kidnapping a 28-year-old Italian man inside a luxurious SoHo apartment repeatedly shocked his victim with electric wires, held him upside down from the top of a staircase, cut his leg with a saw and threatened to kill the victim's family — all to get the password to the man's Bitcoin account, prosecutors said Saturday. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Eric Schumacher ordered John Woeltz held without bail on assault and kidnapping charges as police continued to search for his accomplice. He also issued a restraining order against Woeltz, so if he does get out of jail, he can't go anywhere near his victim. A second alleged accomplice, a 24-year-old woman, was arrested late Friday but prosecutors declined to bring charges. Detectives on Saturday were still going through the Soho home, bringing out large paper evidence bags. Prosecutors said the victim arrived in the U.S. on May 6 and visited Woeltz. The two men share interests in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, cops said. The extortion plot was uncovered after Woeltz's victim managed to escape his swanky Prince and Mulberry Sts. home in SoHo Friday morning and wave down a New York Police Department traffic enforcement agent, who called police. Responding officers found Woeltz in the $30,000-a-month, eight-bedroom apartment swaddled in a plush white bathrobe. 'The guy comes out in a white bathrobe, barefoot, hands cuffed behind his back, got into a police car,' Ciaran Tully, 64, a vendor who sells photographs on Prince St., told The New York Daily News Friday. 'He didn't look concerned. He didn't look worried or anything like that.' Trading in his robe for a white T-shirt, black pants and black and white-striped Adidas slides, Woeltz said nothing as Assistant District Attorney Michael Mattson laid out the case against him. 'Upon arriving at the home, (Woeltz and his accomplice) took all of the victim's electronics and his passport, rendering the victim unable to call for help,' Mattson said. The two bound their victim's wrists and over the next three weeks subjected him to 'beatings including but not limited to the use of electric wires to shock him, using a firearm to hit him on the head, and pointing the firearm at his head on several occasions,' Mattson explained. '(They) used a saw to cut his leg, urinated on the victim, forced him to smoke crack cocaine by holding him down and forcing it into his mouth.' The duo also 'tied an airtag around his neck with a chain or wire,' Mattson said. 'They (said they) would kill his family and they would find the victim if he left.' After apprehending Woeltz, police found disturbing Polaroid photos of him and his accomplice torturing their victim and holding a gun to his head. Sometime during the victim's capture, Woeltz and his accomplice managed to get printed T-shirts of the victim smoking crack. The shirts were found in the home, along with body armor, night vision goggles, ammunition and ballistic helmets, officials said. The crypto trader refused to talk to police after he was arrested. 'He lawyered up immediately,' a police source said. On Friday morning, Woeltz 'carried the victim to the top flight of stairs in the townhouse and hung the victim over the ledge as the defendant threatened to kill the victim if the victim would not provide the defendant with the victim's bitcoin password,' Mattson said. After being pistol-whipped once again, the victim finally consented, but said he needed a laptop, the prosecutor said. 'When the defendant left the victim to retrieve the victim's laptop, the victim was able to escape down the stairs,' Mattson said. 'The victim was bloodied and had no shoes on.' He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated and released. When requesting he be held without bail, prosecutors said Woeltz had the means to escape the country. '(He) has a private jet and a helicopter,' Mattson said. Woeltz is facing 15 years to life if convicted. His attorney Wayne Gosnell declined to comment to reporters after the brief arraignment proceeding. Woeltz has been featured as a speaker at several cryptocurrency conferences and has 'nearly a decade of experience with technology startups in Silicon Valley,' according to online profiles. Woeltz's mother Joan Woeltz said her son was an early believer of cryptocurrency and 'had been mining Bitcoin from the age of 12.' During his travels in the crypto world, he had been taken in and corrupted by another cryptocurrency trader who systematically isolated him from his family and may have been the mastermind of this scheme, the mother claimed. 'We've been concerned about this person entering his life and kind of controlling it,' she said in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. 'My family and I have been concerned for some time for John's well being and what influence he was under with these people. 'We could never speak to John anymore without them being there,' Joan said, adding that the other trader and his cohorts had been influencing her son since December 2023. 'It was very sudden. Suddenly this person entered John's life, and we were suddenly isolated from John.' Neighbors said the SoHo townhouse was vacant as of December. No one had any idea someone was being held captive and tortured inside. 'I saw the police,' neighbor Luigi, 37, told the Daily News. 'It was a surprise.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY lawmakers may weaken, stall tougher educational requirements for yeshivas
NEW YORK — New York lawmakers are brokering a deal that would delay and weaken educational requirements for religious schools — a major setback for yeshiva reform advocates who believe all students should receive some secular instruction, The New York Daily News has learned. The plan is to include the changes in the next state budget, which is in its final stages of completion and more than a month late, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. On Thursday, the state education commissioner, Betty Rosa, called the last-minute effort a 'travesty' for students during an interview with The New York Times. 'It's gutting this whole mechanism that exists for compliance and caring if kids are able to get a basic education,' said Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, executive director of the group Young Advocates for Fair Education. The New York State Education Department passed regulations in 2022 related to government oversight of private schools. The schools were given multiple ways to show how they were complying with a century-old state law, which requires private schools provide secular instruction at least 'substantially equivalent' to that offered at a public school. The vast majority of private schools, including most yeshivas, are following the law. But the years-long fight came to a head this year when the agency moved to revoke funding from six ultra-Orthodox schools in Brooklyn, seemingly not cooperating with regulators — the initial cohort of which was first reported by the Daily News. The agency's Board of Regents is expected to take up the topic at its monthly meeting on Monday. With the final details of any possible deal still under wraps, some proposals have included extending the deadline for schools to comply with the regulations by as long as eight years, sources said. Others add potentially less rigorous assessments for schools to demonstrate compliance, or allow those with older grades to skip a test entirely if they meet requirements in younger grades, though one source had not heard those specifics. The most sweeping changes, which have been called for by the Legislature's Republican leadership, would involve repealing the regulations in the name of parental rights in education and respecting the autonomy of religious schools. 'I have a general rule after 23 years in Albany,' said state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat and chair of the finance committee. 'If someone comes along at the last second and tries to stuff something into budget negotiations — where there's been nothing in writing, no opportunity for public review or expert review, and you're being told, 'we've got to do this to get the budget done' — whatever that proposal is, it smells to high heaven, and you should run the other way.' Sources said there appeared to be more enthusiasm for changes in the Assembly than the Senate. The governor's office did not return a request for comment on Friday afternoon. There is speculation Gov. Kathy Hochul could have her own reelection prospects in mind as gubernatorial candidates start to vie for a powerful Hasidic voting bloc. 'It's three-dimensional chess — with the yeshivas as just a pawn,' said David Bloomfield, a professor of education leadership, law, and policy at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center.
