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    New York City Will Stop Giving Debit Cards to Migrants

    Mayor Eric Adams is ending a contentious pilot program that gave 2,600 migrant families debit cards to purchase food.New York City will end a contentious program that provided debit cards to migrant families to purchase food, city officials announced on Thursday.The pilot program came under fire from the moment it was announced in February, with critics concerned that the cards could be misused and questioning whether it was fair to give preferential treatment to migrants over others in need.Mayor Eric Adams has defended it, arguing that the program would bring down the costs of feeding migrants and give them a wider array of healthier options at supermarkets and bodegas.But his administration has decided not to renew the one-year contract, which had been given to Mobility Capital Finance, known as MoCaFi, on a no-bid emergency basis.The city’s Department of Investigation is investigating the contract with MoCaFi, The New York Daily News reported in October.In explaining the city’s decision on Thursday, Mr. Adams made no mention of the investigation. He said that given the city’s “constant decrease in our population” of migrants, there was no need to renew an emergency contract.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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    Daniel Romanchuk’s Pre-Marathon Routine Includes Sandpaper

    Many of the 50,000 entrants in the New York City Marathon have pre-race routines — carbo-loading, plenty of liquids and so on — but only a few of these routines include wrenches, Allen keys and sandpaper.Daniel Romanchuk checks the contents of his utility pouch in Central Park ahead of the NYC Marathon, Manhattan, 2024.Clark Hodgin for The New York TimesThose are just a few of the tools that the 40 or so professional wheelchair racers rely on to prepare for New York’s hilly and rough roads.Before every race, they tighten the various nuts and bolts on their chairs to make sure nothing rattles lose on the city’s streets and bridges. Tires are doubled checked to ensure they are properly inflated. Adhesives are applied to customized racing gloves.Clark Hodgin for The New York Times“I have a nice long list of everything I need,” said Daniel Romanchuk, who became in 2018 the first American and youngest athlete ever to win the men’s wheelchair division in New York. “I travel with every tool that I could possibly need.”Clark Hodgin for The New York TimesClark Hodgin for The New York TimesUnlike at the Olympics, where there are fix-it shops to help Paralympians in a pinch, there is no dedicated wheelchair repair shop at the New York City Marathon. But by necessity, the racers and their coaches have an intimate knowledge of their wheelchairs and come prepared with an array of tools to allow them to make fixes on the fly.Clark Hodgin for The New York TimesIn addition to wrenches and screwdrivers, racers pay close attention to their tires, making sure they are ready for New York’s potholes and bridges. The organizers provide cans of pressurized CO2 because racers cannot bring them on planes when they travel to New York. Mr. Romanchuk recently switched to tubeless tires, but other racers carry sealant to repair any punctures.Clark Hodgin for The New York TimesRacers also apply adhesive to their gloves, but there is a balance between adding too much and too little, especially if it rains and grips become slippery.Clark Hodgin for The New York Times“I did that in one race when I was expecting it to rain a lot and it barely did, and my glove would stick to the wheel,” Mr. Romanchuk said.The night before the race, officials meet in the athletes’ hotel to inspect every chair to ensure it meets race standards for things like wheel size.Clark Hodgin for The New York TimesRomanchuk inspects the bottom of his racing bikeClark Hodgin for The New York TimesClark Hodgin for The New York TimesThe next morning, the chairs are brought to the hotel lobby and loaded onto trucks and taken to start line. The racers then travel by bus to Staten Island, where they do their final preparations, including packing a few essential tools like an Allen key and small CO2 can to carry during the race.Daniel Romanchuk poses for a photo for his mother at the finish line on Friday before the race.Clark Hodgin for The New York Times More

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    As Election Nears, Republicans Blame Child’s Rape on Immigration Crisis

    Wilson Castillo Diaz was arrested in New York in connection with the rape of a 5-year-old girl. On Friday, local Republicans blamed Democratic immigration policies.A Long Island man who was charged with raping a 5-year-old girl last month was in the country illegally, the police said Friday as local Republican officials sought to connect the disturbing case to the bitter debate over immigration just days before the presidential vote.The man, Wilson Castillo Diaz, 27, is a Honduran migrant who crossed into the United States via the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 before Border Patrol agents detained him, the police said. Mr. Castillo Diaz skipped an immigration hearing and was last living in Westbury, N.Y., the authorities said.Mr. Castillo Diaz was arrested on Oct. 22, but local officials did not publicize the case until Friday, days before the end of an election season in which immigration has played a central role.Former President Donald J. Trump has sought to stir nativist sentiment from the campaign trail, and the large influx of migrants in New York City has stoked fears of a surge in crime, though that largely has not been reflected by crime statistics.At a news conference on Friday, Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive, said that the arrest of Mr. Castillo Diaz was the latest “illustration and evidence” of why authorities in his county closely watch for undocumented migrants.Mr. Blakeman, a Republican, said that the police waited more than a week to announce the arrest in order to protect the identities of the victim and her family.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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    How Heidi Klum Transformed Into E.T. for Halloween

    The model and television host dressed as the alien from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film for her annual New York City costume party.This Halloween, Heidi Klum is wearing an adult diaper.It’s a first for her, the model and former “Project Runway” host said.Ms. Klum, who has become known for her elaborate Halloween costumes, transformed into the character E.T. this year for her annual bash held at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York City.The costume, inspired by the alien from Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” included a glowing fingertip and motorized headpiece with a movable mouth and eyes, controlled remotely by a member of Ms. Klum’s team. The red carpet was also built several feet in the air, so when Ms. Klum stood on the ground behind it, her brown, knobby, otherworldly toes appeared to be on the floor.“Maybe I never need to use the diaper, but at least that way I don’t have to think about it,” Ms. Klum said, explaining that the look, is difficult to put on and take off.The idea for the costume came to Ms. Klum a few weeks after last year’s event, she said, explaining that “E.T.” was one of her favorite movies as a child. (Coincidentally, Janelle Monáe, another celebrity with a fondness for Halloween, also dressed as E.T. this year.)“They have no genitals,” Ms. Klum said of the aliens in Mr. Spielberg’s movie. “I like the whole idea of, like, we’re all the same.”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 Jury Is Set for the Trial of Daniel Penny, Accused in Subway Killing

    Lawyers selected 12 Manhattanites and four alternates to hear a manslaughter case that divided the city. Opening statements will be Friday.A jury of 12 Manhattanites has been chosen to decide the fate of Daniel Penny, a Long Island man who put a homeless man in a fatal chokehold on a subway car last year.Mr. Penny, 26, faces charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely, who had a history of mental illness and who Mr. Penny said had been threatening passengers.The jurors and four alternates, who Justice Maxwell T. Wiley ruled would be kept anonymous, include a cross section of residents from across the borough, including Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Washington Heights and Harlem.On Friday, those jurors will hear the lawyers explain in opening arguments their conceptions of a case that divided New York City as soon as a video of Mr. Penny, who is white, restraining Mr. Neely, who was Black, rocketed around the internet. Some New Yorkers saw Mr. Penny’s actions on the F train as criminal. Others saw him as a champion for frightened riders.Jury selection, which began last week, was contentious. Screening more than 100 prospective jurors, the first step in a criminal trial, took nearly two weeks and at times set off arguments between the lawyers.The defense, led by Mr. Penny’s lawyer Thomas A. Kenniff, hired a jury consultant who has worked with a wide spectrum of defendants, including the president of Brazil, Kyle Rittenhouse and O.J. Simpson. The consultant, Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, was in court with Mr. Penny’s legal team throughout the two weeks, taking notes and making suggestions.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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    ¿Trump es un fascista? El alcalde de Nueva York esquiva la pregunta

    Dos días después del evento de Trump en el Madison Square Garden, Eric Adams se notó visiblemente molesto ante las preguntas sobre el expresidente y dijo que había que “bajar la retórica”.El extraño noviazgo político entre el alcalde de Nueva York, Eric Adams, y el expresidente Donald Trump ha dado otro giro extraño.Dos días después de que Trump diera lo que sería su alegato final de campaña en el Madison Square Garden —un mitin que se convirtió en un desfile de insultos, agravios y discursos de odio—, le preguntaron a Adams si quería replantear su postura.¿Seguía manteniendo su afirmación de que Trump no era un fascista?Adams, quien es demócrata, se negó a dar una respuesta directa. Desestimó pregunta tras pregunta, describiéndolas como “humillantes”, “tontas” e “insultantes”.“Con todo lo que le está pasando a los neoyorquinos de a pie, nos estamos haciendo preguntas como si alguien es un fascista o si alguien es Hitler”, dijo el alcalde el martes en su rueda de prensa semanal en el Ayuntamiento. “Eso es insultante para mí y no voy a participar en eso.“Todo el mundo tiene que bajar la retórica porque, después del día de las elecciones, tenemos que seguir siendo los Estados Unidos y no los Estados divididos”.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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    Autumn in New York Has Been the One of the City’s Driest Ever

    It’s been 29 days since Central Park has seen measurable rain.On Saturday, Sarah Antebi, a 19-year-old sophomore at Barnard and Columbia, paused for a moment while running through Central Park to take in the fall foliage at the lake. It’s unusually resplendent for this time of year, with many of the trees just starting to turn orange and yellow.Like many New Yorkers, she was torn between enjoying the sight and feeling a sense of unease at how unusually warm and dry autumn has felt this year.“All my friends are like, ‘We just want it to be fall,’” she said. “We just want to wear our sweaters.”October is historically a fairly dry month, but the city has never quite seen an October like this. As of Tuesday morning, Central Park had gone 29 days without measurable rain, the second-longest dry streak in records that date back to 1869, Bill Goodman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New York confirmed. If no rain falls before midnight on Halloween, October would be the driest calendar month in the city’s history.And if the city makes it all the way through Election Day without measurable rain — something forecasts suggest is likely — it will beat the current record for a dry streak: 36 days, set in October and November 1924.(For rain to be considered measurable, the rain gauge at Belvedere Castle in Central Park must detect one-hundredth of an inch or more. The last time it did that was Sept. 29, when 0.78 of an inch fell.)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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    David Harris, Actor in the Cult Classic ‘The Warriors,’ Dies at 75

    He played Cochise, a member of the Warriors gang who navigated a panoply of costumed aggressors in New York City.David Harris, who played a member of a street gang in the 1979 cult classic movie “The Warriors,” died on Friday at his home in New York City. He was 75.His daughter, Davina Harris, said the cause was cancer.As the Warriors evaded and did battle with rival crews in New York City streets and subway cars, Mr. Harris in the role of Cochise dutifully supported his brothers. In a gang that conformed to matching red leather vests, Cochise cut a defiant presence with his headband and turquoise necklaces that bobbed to the rhythm of their violent journey home to Coney Island.After the Warriors are falsely accused of killing a gang leader, they have to navigate a panoply of colorful and costumed rivals — malevolent mimes, pinstriped baseball bat thumpers and villains aboard a school bus fit for “Mad Max.”In a movie with moments (the sinister bottle clinking, the baritone bellow of “Can you dig it?”) that have been recreated and parodied in media in the decades since the film’s release, one of Mr. Harris’s scenes inside a rival gang’s den was a central point in the mayhem.After being seduced by an all-female gang, a party in an apartment quickly turns sideways, with a hand near Mr. Harris’s face suddenly wielding a switchblade. He bobs and dodges, jumps and jukes before swinging a chair and plowing through a door that allows him and his fellow members to escape bullets and blades.“We thought it was a little film that would run its little run and go, and nobody would ever talk about it again,” Mr. Harris said in an interview in 2019 with ADAMICradio, an online channel about TV, films and comics.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