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    The Streets Are Safer This Year for Drivers, Cyclists and Pedestrians

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    There have been 87 traffic deaths in the city so far this year, the lowest number since 2018. Officials credit the Vision Zero program and congestion pricing.Good morning. It’s Wednesday. Today we’ll look at street fatalities in the first six months of 2025, which fell to a number not seen since 2018. We’ll also get details on Zohran Mamdani’s win in the Democratic primary, which is now official.Hilary Swift for The New York TimesTo city transportation officials, 2025 looks a lot like 2018. So far, anyway.In the first half of this year, 87 traffic deaths were recorded on New York City streets. That was the same number as in the first six months of 2018, which went on to become the safest year since the city began keeping records on traffic fatalities 115 years ago, with 206 deaths on city streets.As that total suggests, the statistics may look different by the end of the year. Crashes and collisions typically rise in the summer, and the second half of a year usually outpaces the first.But for now, city officials are encouraged, with Ydanis Rodriguez, the transportation commissioner, saying in a statement that the city’s streets are “are safer than ever” for everyone on them — pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. The 87 deaths from January through June compared with the 128 reported in the first six months of last year, which ended with 251 fatalities in all.Of the 87:51 were pedestrians, compared with 63 in the first half of last year.15 were drivers or passengers in cars or S.U.V.s, down from 29 in the first six months of 2024.20 were people on what the city calls “motorized two-wheelers,” a category that includes e-bikes, scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. That was down from 33 from January to June a year ago.So far in 2025, one cyclist on a conventional, nonelectric bike has been killed. There were three such deaths in the first half of 2024, six in the comparable months of 2023 and 11 from January to June 2019.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

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      Dangerous Heat Wave Expands Over Central and Eastern United States

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      A multiday heat wave is bringing high temperatures and health risks from the Midwest to the Northeast, prompting warnings and emergency measures.A relentless and intensifying heat wave is expanding across the central and eastern United States this week, bringing well-above-average heat to millions of people from the Midwest to the East Coast and prompting health advisories across several states.After pushing temperatures to around 100 degrees in parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota on Saturday, the heat is expected to continue over the Midwest and shift eastward on Sunday.By midweek, the heat is expected to affect major urban areas, including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington.“This is the deadliest weather threat we face in New York City — treat it that way,” the city’s Emergency Management said on social media on Saturday. “Don’t wait until you feel sick. Heat builds. It compounds. It kills quietly.”New York City officials noted that more than 500 residents die prematurely each year from heat-related causes, and they expect oppressive temperatures to persist through at least Tuesday.In Philadelphia, the Department of Public Health issued a heat health emergency, beginning at noon on Sunday and continuing through Wednesday evening.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

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      Doctor Who Gave Matthew Perry Ketamine Will Plead Guilty, U.S. Says

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      Dr. Salvador Plasencia, an urgent care clinic operator in the Los Angeles area, could face up to 40 years in prison in connection with the actor’s 2023 death.A doctor who illegally supplied the “Friends” actor Matthew Perry with the drug ketamine in the weeks leading up to Mr. Perry’s death in 2023 — traveling to his home and a parking lot to inject him — has agreed to plead guilty, according to court documents.The doctor, Salvador Plasencia, could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine on four criminal counts of distributing of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, under the agreement, which was filed on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles.Dr. Plasencia, 43, an urgent care clinic operator in Calabasas, Calif., will become the fourth person to plead guilty in connection to Mr. Perry’s death, which the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office determined was caused by the “acute effects” of ketamine. A court date has not been set.Mr. Perry, who publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades, was found floating face down in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28, 2023. He was 54.An autopsy said that drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of an opioid, buprenorphine, had contributed to his death.Ketamine, which has psychedelic properties, has emerged as increasingly popular alternative therapy for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. It is also used recreationally.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

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      1 Killed in Shooting at ‘No Kings’ Protest in Salt Lake City

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      A bystander was fatally shot after security members at the demonstration confronted a man who was running toward the crowd with an AR-15-style rifle, the police said.At the No Kings protest in Salt Lake City on Saturday, two armed security members spotted a man dressed all in black move away from demonstrators and to a secluded area behind a wall, the police said.At that point, according to the police, the man started handling an AR-15-style rifle that he removed from his backpack. The security members drew their guns and confronted the man, who began running toward the crowd, holding his weapon in “a firing position,” the police said.One of the security members fired three times, wounding the gunman and also striking a bystander, who was killed, the Salt Lake City Police Department said.The police took the man with the rifle, who was identified as Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody and charged him with murder, Chief Brian Redd of the Salt Lake City Police Department said at a news conference on Sunday.The bystander, who was identified by the police as Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, of Utah, died at a hospital.Chief Redd called the shooting “sudden and alarming.”“No one should fear coming to a peaceful and lawful demonstration in our city,” Chief Redd said.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

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      A Miscalculation by Iran Led to Israeli Strikes’ Extensive Toll, Officials Say

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      Interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials show that they were not expecting Israel to strike before another round of talks.Iran’s senior leaders had been planning for more than a week for an Israeli attack should nuclear talks with the United States fail. But they made one enormous miscalculation.They never expected Israel to strike before another round of talks that had been scheduled for this coming Sunday in Oman, officials close to Iran’s leadership said on Friday. They dismissed reports that an attack was imminent as Israeli propaganda meant to pressure Iran to make concessions on its nuclear program in those talks.Perhaps because of that complacency, precautions that had been planned were ignored, the officials said.This account of how Iranian officials were preparing before Israel conducted widespread attacks across their country on Friday, and how they reacted in the aftermath, is based on interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials and two members of the Revolutionary Guards. They all asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information.Officials said that the night of Israel’s attack, senior military commanders did not shelter in safe houses and instead stayed in their own homes, a fateful decision. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace unit, and his senior staff ignored a directive against congregating in one location. They held an emergency war meeting at a military base in Tehran and were killed when Israel struck the base.By Friday evening, the government was just beginning to grasp the extent of damage from Israel’s military campaign that began in the early hours of the day and struck at least 15 locations across Iran, including in Isfahan, Tabriz, Ilam, Lorestan, Borujerd, Qom, Arak, Urmia, Ghasre Shirin, Kermanshah, Hamedan and Shiraz, four Iranian officials said.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

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      Paul McCartney, Carole King and Others Pay Tribute to Brian Wilson

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      Wilson, whose death was announced on Wednesday, leaves behind an immense musical legacy that spans several decades. King and others share how his music shaped them.Brian Wilson, the leader of the Beach Boys who death at 82 was announced on Wednesday, provided a joyous soundtrack for beach vacations and summer road trips for generations of people.Among pop and rock musicians he will also be remembered as a talented songwriter and studio pioneer whose music has had an immense influence for decades on those who followed him.The Beach Boys had 13 singles in the Billboard Top 10, with three of them reaching No. 1. Their influence on the surf rock genre and on popular music generally was recognized by the variety of people who paid respects on social media to Wilson on Wednesday.Here’s what some of Wilson’s friends had to say about his death and legacy.Paul McCartney, a Wilson contemporary, noted that there was a chorus of tributes from other musicians, saying Wilson had a “mysterious sense of musical genius” that made his songs special. “The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time,” McCartney said. “I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while. How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows.’”Carole King, also a contemporary, wrote on Facebook that Wilson was her friend and brother in songwriting. “We shared a similar sensibility, as evidenced by his 4 over 5 chord under ‘Aaaah!’ in ‘Good Vibrations’ and mine under ‘I’m Into Something Good,’” she said. “We once discussed who used it first, and in the end we decided it didn’t matter.”In 2015, “Love & Mercy,” a biopic about Wilson’s life starring John Cusack was released. On Wednesday, Cusack said that the “maestro” had died, adding that the hitmaker was an open heart with two legs “with an ear that heard the angels.”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

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      The Rapper Silentó Gets 30 Years in Prison for Fatal Shooting of His Cousin

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      The songwriter, whose real name is Ricky Hawk, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and three other charges in relation to the killing.Silentó, the rapper known for his viral hit “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges related to the fatal shooting of his cousin.The rapper, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possessing a firearm while committing a crime and concealing the death of another, District Attorney Sherry Boston of DeKalb County said in a statement.Mr. Hawk, 27, was arrested in connection with the shooting of his cousin, Frederick Rooks III, 34, in the early hours of Jan. 21, 2021, after the police found him bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds in a residential neighborhood in Decatur, Ga., seven miles northeast of Atlanta, according to a police report. Emergency workers pronounced him dead on the scene.Several people nearby heard gunshots, and security footage from doorbell cameras showed a white BMW S.U.V. fleeing the scene a few minutes after the gunfire, according to the district attorney’s office. A relative of Mr. Rooks told officers that he was last seen with Mr. Hawk, who had picked him up in a vehicle that matched the description.After he was taken into custody on Feb. 1, 2021, Mr. Hawk told investigators that he had shot Mr. Rooks, according to the district attorney’s office. Mr. Hawk initially faced a murder charge, which was dropped as part of the plea agreement on Wednesday.His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.On the day of his arrest, Mr. Hawk’s publicist at the time said that he had been “suffering immensely from a series of mental health illnesses” in recent years.Mr. Hawk became famous in 2015 while he was still in high school through his single, “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” which started a social media dance craze. Tutorial videos have millions of views, and the official music video has been watched about 1.9 billion times on YouTube.In 2019, Mr. Hawk went on the interview show “The Doctors” and described his struggles with depression.“Depression doesn’t leave you when you become famous,” he said. “It just adds more pressure.”“I don’t know if I can truly be happy,” he added on the show. “I don’t know if these demons will ever go away.”With a plea of guilty but mentally ill, the state’s Department of Corrections is responsible for evaluating and treating Mr. Hawk’s mental health needs, according to Georgia law. More

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      Gaza Aid Group Says Hamas Attacked Its Palestinian Workers

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      The group, which has been harshly criticized by the U.N. and other aid providers, said at least five people had died in an attack on one of its buses.An aid group in Gaza backed by Israel and the United States said that on Wednesday night a bus carrying some of its Palestinian workers was attacked by Hamas, leaving at least five people dead and others injured.At the time of the attack, the bus was carrying about two dozen of the group’s workers and was en route to an aid distribution site in southern Gaza, according to a statement from the group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Some of the workers “may have been taken hostage,” it said, adding that it was still gathering information.“We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,” said the foundation, which is run by American contractors. “These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others.”The New York Times could not independently verify the attack. Hamas did not comment on the accusation that it had attacked workers from the group, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The foundation said it held the militant group “fully responsible” for the deaths of “dedicated workers who have been distributing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.” The group called on the international community to condemn Hamas for the attack.“Tonight, the world must see this for what it is: an attack on humanity,” it said.The aid organization has repeatedly criticized Hamas, saying that for days it had “openly” threatened workers and civilians. On Saturday, the foundation said it was “impossible to proceed” with aid distribution because Hamas had menaced its staff.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

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      Gun Deaths of Children Rose in States That Loosened Gun Laws, Study Finds

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      Researchers looked at firearm fatalities in the 13 years immediately after the Supreme Court limited local governments’ ability to restrict gun ownership.Firearm deaths of children and teenagers rose significantly in states that enacted more permissive gun laws after the Supreme Court in 2010 limited local governments’ ability to restrict gun ownership, a new study has found.In states that maintained stricter laws, firearm deaths were stable after the ruling, the researchers reported, and in some, they even declined.Guns are the leading cause of death in the United States for people under 18. Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital in Boston, who was the study’s lead author, said he was dismayed to find that most of the children’s deaths were homicides and suicides.“It’s surprising how few of these are accidents,” Dr. Faust said. “I always thought that a lot of pediatric mortality from guns is that somebody got into the wrong place, and I still think safe storage is important, but it’s mostly homicides and suicides.”John Commerford, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, called the study “political propaganda masquerading as scientific research.”The study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, examined the 13-year period after the June 2010 Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment, which protects an individual’s right to bear arms, applies to state and local gun-control laws. The decision effectively limited the ability of state and local governments to regulate firearms.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