Latest news with #VaughnCollege
CBS News
22-07-2025
- Business
- CBS News
As nation prepares for air traffic control overhaul, Vaughn College in Queens aims to be part of the solution. Here's how.
A college in Queens wants to be part of the solution when it comes to overhauling our country's air traffic control system. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Congress it will take more than $31 billion to get it done nationwide, and he said time is of the essence. Vaughn College in Queens is full of students who say they're ready to face the aviation industry's biggest challenges — from staffing shortages to equipment failures. Training there encompasses everything from pilots running simulations over Long Island to aviation management majors who want to work for the Federal Aviation Administration. "It really starts to turn the gears in my head wondering, how did we get here? How can we implement solutions in the future so it doesn't happen again?" student Elvira Pereyaslov said. President Trump's tax and spending bill includes more than $12 billion to get started on a major overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system. Duffy, however, told Congress the project will need tens of billions more. He said he wants to build a new version of the system by 2028 to address recent equipment failures. "As the federal government decides the equipment and what it's going to look like, and where do they start — we're hoping New York. So goes New York, so goes the country," Vaughn College president Sharon DeVivo said. And as CBS News New York was first to report back in the spring, Vaughn College will soon train some new FAA air traffic control hires on campus. The goal of that new program is to fight a nationwide air traffic controller shortage and get more controllers on the job faster. "We've been approved by the FAA. We're ready to go. We've got new equipment. Our instructors helped design that curriculum," DeVivo said. The team at Vaughn said they'll launch that new program this fall. They say they're starting small, with about 9-15 trainees.
Sky News AU
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
Traffic 'jams': Illegal New York car meetups feature strippers, drugs and ear-splitting speaker systems driving residents nuts
They've heard just about enough of this. Ear-splitting, high-decibel street parties fueled by cars with booming sound systems are making life hell for residents from the Bronx to Brooklyn — as the massive automotive meetups are becoming an ever-more frequent nuisance. The unregulated revelries are often louder than planes landing at LaGuardia and feature drugs, booze, strippers and wet t-shirt contests, all within earshot of neighborhoods such as Maspeth in Queens, Greenpoint in Brooklyn and Throggs Neck in the Bronx, residents said. 'It sounds like a missile being launched at your home from all directions,' said Astoria resident Jay Cane, 40. 'You know it will be a long night when the windows are vibrating. 'You shut your windows and turn on air conditioners and fans to drown out the noise, even in the winter,' the frustrated local said. The events, which got their start during the COVID-19 pandemic, often last all hours of the night, as sounds blast from gigantic car-mounted speakers referred to as 'kitipo' systems. Residents tormented by the noise of the illicit meetups — which can feature dozens of cars paying to participate — said the city and cops are having little luck cracking down on them. 'There's a sense we're being forgotten by the city because we have exhausted all the options it has provided, and we're losing hope,' Cane said. John DiMario, co-owner of Village Chapels funeral home in Middle Village, said the ruckuscould wake the dead. 'It booms off every surface in my house,' said DiMario, who lives in Maspeth. 'It's been going on for so long, and lately, it's starting earlier.' Alfredo Centola, co-founder of the nonprofit We Love Whitestone, said he and his family deal several times a week with intrusive noise from unlawful rendezvous in Willets Point and World's Fair Marina in Queens, as well as Ferry Point in The Bronx. 'It's a constant and consistent boom, boom, boom overnight,' said Centola, 54. 'It's the most frustrating experience in the world.' Locals said the events' organizers assemble in Industrial Business Zones and 'mixed-use' areas that are abandoned at night. There have been large-scale meetups outside of Vaughn College in East Elmhurst, Queens, and Maspeth's UPS Customer Center, as well as on Randall's Island — within walking distance of NYPD parking. The gatherings also feature the illegal sale of 'nutcrackers,' a street cocktail made of alcohol and fruit punch, and 'endless pot smoking,' neighbors claim. In one case, there have been reports of roughly 10 cars equipped with roaring stereos, synchronized by Bluetooth, routinely gathering in Greenpoint underneath the Kosciuszko Bridge. 'There is noise three or four times a week when there aren't events in 'Under The K Bridge Park,' ' said Natalia Rzeszutek, 23, of eastern Greenpoint. 'It's mostly on weekends, but you have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights where this has been a big issue,' too. In The Bronx, Friends of Ferry Point Park President Dorothea Poggi said these intolerable meetups frequently invade areas around the park, creating 'a hot spot for crime' where things sometimes turn violent. 'People are making big money using the park and the streets as a venue; they aren't paying the overhead to host a party, but they charge hundreds of people admission,' Poggi said. 'There are drugs and alcohol; they've had strippers and wet t-shirt contests; there was even sex going on – it's crazy.' An upcoming epic meetup – touted as an 'outdoor music car show battle' – is planned for July 13 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Jamaica, Queens. An online ticket-seller lists general admission as $25, while the cost for vendors is more than $535. Centola, Poggi and Rzeszutek are all members of the Facebook group 'That Annoying Bass Sound Throughout NYC,' which Cane created to share tips about the illegal noise compromising their comfort. When meetups occur, page members request that people place 311 calls in the hope that their reports will be prioritized. 'The group was formed by fed-up residents who want to end the underground meetups,' Cane said. 'We're all waiting for legislation to address these illegal speakers.' Alicia Vaichunas, deputy chief of staff for city Councilman Robert Holden and a candidate for city council herself, lives near a regular nuisance in Maspeth and is active in the Facebook group. She said a Maspeth woman who tried to confront the source of the noise was threatened with a baseball bat. 'This happens at three or four Maspeth locations alone,' Vaichunas said. 'If the police chase them, they'll switch locations, and then we have to get the cops back out there again.' In March 2024, Holden introduced a bill that would have increased civil penalties for unreasonable noise from personal audio devices. He said there has been success in curbing parties in some parks but adds that the NYPD needs more power to mute the meetups. 'What we've been doing on the local level is trying to get the police to confiscate,' Holden said. 'I told police Commissioner Tisch that the local precincts cannot handle this; we need a special task force.' The NYPD did not return Post requests for comment. Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a member of Holden's Common-Sense Caucus, said a new law is needed to prevent illegal car stereos from hitting the streets. 'We proposed to make it illegal to operate a vehicle in New York State with a non-factory sound system installed which utilizes an external power supply,' Paladino said. 'This would make these cars impossible to register and inspect and subject them to impoundment if found in use.' Residents and officials hope that the NYPD's new Quality of Life Division, which launched Labor Day weekend, will help muffle the noise-causing car-speaker showdowns. 'I'd like to see the Quality of Life units roll out in Queens and The Bronx first to address illegal parties,' Cane said. 'Right now, it's a constant headache.' Originally published as Traffic 'jams': Illegal New York car meetups feature strippers, drugs and ear-splitting speaker systems driving residents nuts
CBS News
09-04-2025
- General
- CBS News
A college in Queens will play a big role in fighting the air traffic controller shortage. Here's how.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that Vaughn College will train some FAA controllers on campus as part of a new, nationwide program. The small college in Queens is about to play a big role in fighting the air traffic controller shortage . CBS News New York first reported last year that the plan was in the works and now it's official. Vaughn College sophomore Omeirys Romero, who is from the Bronx, dreams of becoming an air traffic controller for the FAA after she graduates. She practices frequently with a simulator on campus. If she does get hired, she will no longer have to move to the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City for three months of training, which had been a requirement for all new FAA controllers - until now. "I can just stay at home and still get the same certification and the same process to study, and to actually be able to be in the tower one day. And also be able to be with the same professors that have been working with me for the past two years already," Romero said. The FAA announced Wednesday that Vaughn will be the fifth college welcomed into a program allowing newly-hired graduates to train for those three months on campus rather than moving to Oklahoma. The idea is to streamline the training process and chip away at a concerning, nationwide controller shortage . "The FAA academy located in Oklahoma City, where all air traffic controllers currently get their training, is limited in how many people they can put through that facility. And so this gives us as a country an opportunity to have locations in a lot of different places - us being the first one in the Northeast - to train air traffic controllers," Vaughn College President Sharon DeVivo said. The folks at Vaughn are hoping to train the first batch of new controllers this September. The school hopes this will eventually improve the pipeline of New Yorkers working in New York's air traffic control centers as the FAA has struggled to recruit and retain controllers in New York's main air traffic control facility. The new hires won't be fully certified until they complete years of additional training at whichever air traffic control center the FAA assigns them to. Steven Fanno is a retired controller and current instructor at Vaughn. The school has specialized in aviation studies for decades. "I think a lot of us in the retired ranks feel that the training being localized will be as good, if not better, than the training at the academy. More specific, more thorough and people wont get left behind," Fanno said. "You've got Newark. You've got JFK. Lot of big facilities there. It's going to give people an opportunity to get that Oklahoma education - the FAA academy - right there in their backyard," FAA deputy vice president of safety and technology training Chris Wilbanks said. The FAA still oversees the curriculum, but Vaughn instructors will do the teaching. The trainees, at least for now, will all be Vaughn graduates hired by the FAA.
