Aurelia Butler

Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo was frisked and charged with knife possession after the police stopped him for wearing a ski mask.A man on Long Island has been arrested and charged with possessing a knife and wearing a face mask in public, a milestone moment in the debate over whether to criminalize masks in New York State.The push to ban masks in some public settings began in June after some pro-Palestinian demonstrators covered their faces during protests. They said that they had done so to avoid online harassment, though some activists used the anonymity provided by their masks to harass people or to engage in acts of vandalism.The man arrested on Sunday, Wesslin Omar Ramirez Castillo, 18, the first to face charges under a mask ban passed this month in Nassau County, N.Y., was not engaged in protest. He was walking down Spindle Road, a residential street of tidy lawns and single-family homes in Hicksville, wearing dark clothes and a ski mask in August, the county police said in a statement.Christopher Boyle, a spokesman for the Nassau County executive, Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who championed the anti-mask law, said Mr. Castillo “was on the street corner, and somebody called in a suspicious person.”When police officers arrived, they frisked Mr. Castillo and discovered a 14-inch knife in the waistband of his pants, the department said in a statement on Tuesday. He was charged on Monday with several crimes, including criminal possession of a weapon and a violation of the mask law.“Our police officers were able to use the mask ban legislation as well as other factors to stop and interrogate an individual who was carrying a weapon with the intent to engage in a robbery,” Mr. Blakeman said in a statement. “Passing this law gave police another tool to stop this dangerous criminal.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Districts and states across the United States have supported restrictions on student usage, but New York City’s leaders are backing away from the idea because of logistical concerns.Los Angeles became the largest school district in the United States to ban cellphones in June. Entire states, such as Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota, have moved to institute broad crackdowns on phones in schools. But not New York City.At least not yet, Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday.Mr. Adams said at a news conference that New York City was a “unique animal” and that while there would be “some action,” the city was not yet ready for a full ban.“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We have to get it right.”Earlier in the summer, David C. Banks, the schools chancellor, suggested that new cellphone restrictions would be unveiled before the fall semester. So the mayor’s announcement — a week before the city’s first day of school — came as a surprise to many families.Mr. Adams’s comments will likely placate some parents and educators concerned about the logistics of a ban, while worrying others who argue that the devices harm students.A growing list of states, cities and school districts have curbed students’ cellphone use as concerns rise over their mental health. Officials point to the potential damage that access to social media and an “always online” culture may do to children.Mr. Adams said that while he did not want any distractions in city schools, he also wanted to be careful about the implementation of any eventual ban, so that the city wouldn’t have to backtrack on its plans.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

A Biden administration border policy that has had a dramatic impact isn’t getting campaign play.Good evening. Tonight, my colleague Hamed Aleaziz, who covers immigration, looks at why the sharp drop in border crossings isn’t playing a bigger role in the presidential campaign. Plus, I want to hear about your favorite books about politics. — Jess BidgoodThe situation at the southern border looks very different these days.Gone are the headlines about surging border crossings crushing border communities and cities like New York struggling to fund housing for migrants who recently came to the country.The reality is that the numbers at the southern border have dropped to levels not seen before in the Biden administration — and lower than they were during parts of the Trump administration.The dramatic drop in border crossings came after a Biden administration policy seen by White House officials as a major success for an administration that has spent three years fighting Republican attacks over its handling of surging border crossings.Vice President Kamala Harris, however, has not focused on the dramatic change at the southern border in her presidential campaign. Tonight, I’ll explain what’s happening at the border, and offer some theories about why Harris isn’t talking it up.A border shutdown that workedThe border had seen a steady drop in crossings all year, but things took a dramatic turn in June. That’s when the Biden administration took a hallmark of the failed immigration bill from February — a measure allowing border officials to turn back migrants quickly when crossings exceed a certain level — and put a version of it into place via presidential proclamation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Seeking new audiences, Opera Philadelphia is putting in place a pay-what-you-can model, one of the first of its kind by a major opera company.In Philadelphia, a night at the opera may now be cheaper than going to the movies.Opera Philadelphia, a company with a reputation for innovation and ambition, announced on Tuesday that it was putting in place a pay-what-you-can model for the 2024-25 season, with all tickets for all performances starting at $11. The initiative, which the company calls Pick Your Price, is aimed at attracting new audiences.“People want to go to the opera, but it’s expensive,” said Anthony Roth Costanzo, the celebrated American countertenor who became the company’s general director and president in June. “Our goal is to bring opera to more people and bring more people to the opera.”It immediately proved popular. On Tuesday, the day the initiative was announced, Opera Philadelphia said it sold more than 2,200 tickets for the coming season, compared with about 20 the day before. The tickets were originally priced at $26 to $300.High ticket prices have long been a barrier to audiences, and especially to newcomers. In recent years a number of performing arts groups, including Lincoln Center, the Chicago Sinfonietta and Ars Nova, the Off Broadway incubator, have experimented with pay-what-you-can approaches. Other opera companies have experimented with discounts, including rush tickets and deals offered to young people. But Opera Philadelphia’s approach was one of the boldest yet.Its website explains that all tickets start at $11 but that people will be given the option of choosing to pay much more, including the standard price.Like many nonprofit performing arts organizations, Opera Philadelphia gets much more of its revenue from philanthropy than through ticket sales. Radically lowering the prices could encourage more donations, which will no longer risk being seen as subsidizing an expensive art form that is out of reach for many people. And Costanzo said that the new model would allow the company to concentrate more on staging interesting works, and less on worrying about ticket sales.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Donald J. Trump plans to name his former rival, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, a one-time Democrat, as honorary co-chairs of a presidential transition team that will help him select the policies and personnel of any second Trump administration, according to a campaign senior adviser. Mr. Kennedy, who ended his independent campaign for president and endorsed Mr. Trump on Friday, described his transition role briefly in an interview that aired Monday.“I’ve been asked to go on the transition team, you know, and to help pick the people who will be running the government,” Mr. Kennedy told Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, in an interview posted on X. Both Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Gabbard spent most of their public life as progressive Democrats. Only four months ago, Mr. Trump was calling Mr. Kennedy a “Radical Left Lunatic” who was “far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat.” Trump allies pushed stories about Mr. Kennedy’s record of supporting abortion rights and far-left environmentalism as they tried to make his independent candidacy less appealing to Trump voters.Ms. Gabbard, a former congresswoman who left the Democratic Party after her 2020 presidential run and who endorsed Mr. Trump on Monday, has been helping with the informal debate preparation sessions Mr. Trump has held in recent weeks. It’s unclear what exactly she and Mr. Kennedy will do in their transition roles, but they will join Mr. Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as his running mate, Senator JD Vance, as honorary chairs of the transition.Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign senior adviser, said that they are “proud that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have been added to the Trump/Vance Transition team. We look forward to having their powerful voices on the team was we work to restore America’s greatness.”Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Gabbard did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Chris Cameron More

Israel’s far-right national security minister has drawn outrage for agreeing that he would like to build a synagogue at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem that has long been a flashpoint between Jews and Muslims.In an interview on Monday on Israeli Army Radio, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, was asked if he would build a temple at one of the holiest sites for both Jews and Muslims, known as the Aqsa Mosque complex by Muslims and the Temple Mount by Jews. “Yes, yes, yes!” Mr. Ben-Gvir replied.The affirmation by Mr. Ben-Gvir, who has a long history of incendiary comments and actions, came amid heightened tensions in the region, with the war between Israel and Hamas expected to grind on with no end in sight. Four days of cease-fire talks in Cairo between senior Israeli and Hamas officials concluded on Sunday with no breakthrough.Almost immediately after the interview, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that there was no change to the status quo at the site, where two ancient Jewish temples once stood. Some religious Jews want to build a third Jewish temple, a move seen as offensive to Muslims.Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar quickly denounced the comments. In a joint statement, Jordan and Egypt added that a cease-fire was the only way to lessen the “grave escalation” in the region.The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it viewed Mr. Ben-Gvir’s statements as “an explicit and blatant call to demolish the mosque and construct the so-called Temple in its place.”Moderate Israeli officials distanced themselves from Mr. Ben-Gvir’s comments. Several Israeli leaders called on Mr. Netanyahu to discipline or control Mr. Ben-Gvir.“Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary and irresponsible act,” Yoav Gallant, the defense secretary, wrote on X. “Ben Gvir’s actions endanger the national security of the State of Israel and its international status.”A complex agreement governs the site. Officially, Jews may visit the site, but not pray there, though Israel has quietly allowed them to do so. Jewish worshipers are supposed to pray at the nearby Western Wall.In one of a series of provocations, Mr. Ben-Gvir recently violated the agreement with a public demonstration, leading a group of about 2,000 supporters in prayers at the site. He claimed in the Monday interview that not allowing Jews to pray there was discrimination.In June Mr. Ben-Gvir joined a procession of tens of thousands of Jews through the heart of Jerusalem to celebrate Israel’s capture of the eastern half of the city in 1967.In the interview, Mr. Ben-Gvir was open about his goals — and his current limitations.“It’s not as if I do whatever I like in the Temple Mount,” he said. “If this were the case, the Israeli flag would have hung over the Temple Mount a long time ago.’’ More

Oh! Calcutta opens in Long Island City; Grand Brasserie fills Vanderbilt Hall with Parisian flair and more restaurant news.OpeningOh! CalcuttaThe louche collection of sketches by the critic Kenneth Tynan that opened Off Broadway in 1969 has inspired the name of this new restaurant in Queens. Ruhel Amin, who has Indian restaurants in Harlem and Williamsburg, presents dishes from Kolkata, including a Lake Market fish fry, vegetable cutlet, chapli kebab with minced lamb, and kosha mangsho, a goat curry here. Workhorses like butter chicken, rogan josh and saag paneer are also on the menu. The chefs are Sharmeen Rahman and Lisha Khondoka; both women have worked in Mr. Amin’s other restaurants.10-57 Jackson Avenue (50th Avenue), Long Island City, Queens, 718-532-0017, ohcalcuttanyc.com. Grand BrasserieRick Blatstein, having sold OTG, his airport restaurant company with hundreds of outlets, continues to think big. His new company, Vizz Group, has taken over the landmark Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal, previously run by City Winery, and the adjacent dining room, formerly Cornelius. Grand Brasserie is an airy 400-seat restaurant and bar, open during the terminal’s hours. The Rockwell Group’s design with Art Deco and Beaux Arts accents and splashes of scarlet on tabletops and seats reflect the style of many Parisian brasseries and railway terminals. (Opens Sunday) 89 East 42nd Street.TzikiSouvlaki and gyro are the featured players in this Greek spot with counter service from the restaurateur Harry Nicolaou and the chef Alexandros Gkoutsi. Pork, beef, chicken and mushroom are the options sliced from pirouetting spits or strung on skewers. Homemade sourdough pita are underpinnings or wraps. The space has been decorated with the work of the artist Alexandra Manousakis, a native of Crete, including handmade ceramics. (Thursday, Sept. 5)209 Seventh Avenue (22nd Street), tzikisouvlaki.com.Mr. Baovia Mr. BaoAn uncommon specialty has come to the heart of Midtown: abalone. Empress International, a South African food company with a location in Old Tappan, N.J., imports the shellfish from South Africa. It has opened a duplex restaurant, where the entire menu is devoted to abalone, often in Asian preparations. The mollusks are farm-raised in an area just south of Cape Town. Abalone spring rolls, dumplings, skewers, stir-fried with Wagyu, fried rice, in tom yum soup and cucumber salad ($9.95 to $39.99, with a 25 percent opening discount until the end of this month) are some of the options. The company also plans restaurants in Chinatown and Long Island City, Queens. It’s not connected to the Mr. Bao chain of fast casual spots.110 West 40th Street, 929-302-3551, mrbaous.com.Joo OKA freight elevator whisks guests to the 16th floor of the building where the setting replicates a traditional Korean home or hanok. Original industrial elements share the space with Korean art. The chef, Chang ho Shim, is opening his New York restaurant for the prolific Hand Hospitality restaurant group. He seeks local ingredients for an upscale menu in the works, which could include items like shrimp and vegetables with pine nut sauce, mollusks and pickled quail egg with homemade perilla oil, and seafood with smoked soy sauce. (Tuesday, Sept. 3)22 West 32nd Street No. 16, 646-410-0332, joo-ok.com.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

They knew they probably should not have been laughing.Hundreds of National Guard members sat chuckling in their camouflage uniforms as former President Donald J. Trump tore into Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who served for 24 years in the National Guard. When Mr. Trump mocked him as “Tampon Tim” (a reference to a law he signed requiring schools to provide menstrual products to all students who need them) nervous laughter rippled through the crowd, then quickly dissipated.“This group is a little more low-key than the ones I’m used to speaking before,” Mr. Trump observed.It was Monday afternoon, and he was speaking at the National Guard Association’s annual conference in Detroit. There were people from all 50 states and various U.S. territories there. Those in uniform said they were prohibited from discussing politics with a reporter, but the crowd also included former service members who had gone to work for private contractors. These more casually dressed members of the defense sector were free to say what the others could not.“I think it’s phenomenal that he’s out and about, speaking with the military,” said Walt Nichols, a 58-year-old from San Antonio who said he served for 26 years in the Texas National Guard and did three tours in Iraq (he is now a sales engineer for TacMed Solutions, which manufactures high-tech manikins). “We need him back,” Mr. Nichols said of Mr. Trump.“We just found out this week that he was going to be here — we had no idea,” said Cliff Byrd, 45, a former Marine from Portsmouth, N.H., who now works for Vidarr Inc., which specializes in night vision technology. “As you can see, a lot of people came out for it.”The crowd at the National Guard Association conference included members in uniform, but also former service members who have gone to work for private defense contractors.Nick Hagen for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More