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      Jeffrey Gibson Will Bring Sculptures of Ancestral Spirits to Met Facade

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      The Met named its 2025 art commissions, which include Gibson’s facade sculptures and a roof garden installation by the soundsmith Jennie C. Jones.Last summer, Jeffrey Gibson received an honor that most artists wait for their entire lives. Would he represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, the art world’s version of the Olympics? Only a few weeks after accepting, there was another auspicious ring on the telephone.It was the curator David Breslin, wondering if Gibson would become the sixth artist to alter the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s facade with newly commissioned sculptures.“He called me from the beach,” recalled Gibson, a Choctaw-Cherokee artist known for infusing abstract works with queer and native themes.For the commission, Gibson will return to the ancestral spirit figures he started assembling in 2015. The challenge will be translating these delicate structures of beadwork, textiles and paint into four weatherproof sculptures that will gaze upon museum visitors from their plinths above Fifth Avenue. They will be on view from September 2025 through May 2026.Breslin, who leads the Met’s modern and contemporary art department, described Gibson as “one of the most incredible artists of his generation.”Gibson’s 2015 sculpture, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” an ancestral spirit figure made from glazed ceramic and repurposed tipi pole, artificial sinew and copper jingles. Gibson will explore his Indigenous heritage, abstraction and popular cultures on the Met facade.Jeffrey GibsonWe 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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      Why the N.Y. Fire Dept. Canceled Its Black History Month Celebration

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      A documentary screening about the city’s first Black fire commissioner was scrapped after his family objected to the film’s exclusion of a Black firefighter group.When the Fire Department sought to commemorate Black History Month this year, a worthy honoree seemed obvious: Robert O. Lowery, New York City’s first Black fire commissioner, who was appointed nearly six decades ago by Mayor John V. Lindsay.A documentary on Mr. Lowery’s life was to premiere Tuesday as the focal point of the department’s celebration of Black History Month, which ends this week. But the event was abruptly canceled after Mr. Lowery’s family protested the film’s failure to more fully include the Vulcan Society, the influential Black firefighters’ association.“My father would not have been fire commissioner without the Vulcan Society,” said Gertrude Erwin, Mr. Lowery’s daughter.The cancellation of the screening of “The First: Fire Commissioner Robert O. Lowery’s Story,” represents an awkward turn of events for an agency that is still struggling to overcome decades of racism and homogeneity in its ranks. All but one of its 23 staff chiefs are white men, while about 10 percent of firefighters are Black in a city whose population is about 23 percent Black.The department first approached Mr. Lowery’s daughters about making the documentary roughly two decades after his death, at a ceremony last year renaming its auditorium in his memory. The family was receptive, provided the department met certain conditions.“We made very clear from the outset that the Vulcan Society was a core element in telling my uncle’s story and that it was an expectation that the Vulcan Society would have some role in the film,” said Chris Lowery, the fire commissioner’s nephew. 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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      N.Y.C. Protest Calling for Gaza Cease-Fire Targets Pro-Israel Senators

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      Demonstrators marched to the Manhattan headquarters of the lobbying group AIPAC, then to the offices of senators who have accepted donations from the group, where some were arrested.More than a dozen people were arrested Thursday evening during a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest inside a Manhattan building where Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrats of New York, have offices.Wearing black T-shirts reading “Cease Fire Now” and holding up signs demanding that the senators “stop funding genocide,” the protesters linked arms and sat on the floor in front of elevators in the lobby of the building at 780 Third Avenue, singing slogans and ignoring instructions to leave until police officers arrested them.The demonstration, organized by a local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a progressive activist group, was the latest in what have become almost daily protests throughout New York City since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Those attacks killed at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli officials; Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza has killed 29,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials. The mounting death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have prompted international calls for a cease-fire.By about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, several hundred protesters had gathered at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, in front of the United Nations headquarters, where the United States this week cast the lone vote against a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. It was the third time the Biden administration had blocked similar resolutions, signaling its continued support of Israel.Accompanied by a heavy police presence, the demonstrators on Thursday marched through a light rain toward the headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful lobbying group established decades ago to promote Israel’s interests in the United States.Organizers blamed senators supported by AIPAC for passing an aid package this month that included $14.1 billion for Israel’s war against Hamas. The bill must still go through the House, where its fate is uncertain.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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      Ex-President Made Honduras a Safe Haven for Drug Gangs, Prosecutors Say

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      The former president, Juan Orlando Hernández, goes on trial Wednesday in Manhattan, accused of years of misrule funded by cocaine proceeds.Brick after brick of cocaine flowed for years into the United States from countries like Venezuela and Colombia, all of it funneled through the tiny Central American nation of Honduras.Aircraft flown from clandestine dirt airstrips and smuggler vessels disguised as fishing trawlers found a safe haven there, U.S. officials said. And the ruthless gangs that operated them, the officials said, had a partner and protector in the country’s two-term president, Juan Orlando Hernández.Opening arguments in Mr. Hernández’s trial on conspiracy to import narcotics are scheduled for Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. He is accused of taking part in a scheme that lasted more than 20 years and brought more than 500 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.Mr. Hernández used proceeds to finance his presidential campaigns, U.S. officials said, then directed the Honduran police and military to protect the smugglers who paid him off. One accused co-conspirator was killed in a Honduran prison as part of an effort to protect Mr. Hernández, according to an indictment.When he was extradited to New York in 2022, U.S. officials said Mr. Hernández sanctioned violence and reveled in his ability to flood America with cocaine. The former president’s brother was said to have told a trafficker that Mr. Hernández was going to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”That brother, Tony Hernández, who had served in the Honduran Congress, was convicted in 2019 of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment.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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      SoHo 54 Hotel Homicide Suspect Arrested in Arizona

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      The man was arrested after what the police said were other attacks on other women. They are investigating to see whether more cases might be linked to him.At the SoHo 54 Hotel in Manhattan this month, a man and woman argued about how long he would be allowed to stay in room 1109.The dispute escalated, and the 26-year-old man flew into a rage, police officials said on Tuesday. He then hit the woman, Denisse Oleas-Arancibia, 38, in the head with an iron.Soon after, the man left SoHo 54, the police said. Hotel staff later found Ms. Oleas-Arancibia in the room, dead.Law enforcement had few leads until Feb. 18, when Raad Almansoori was arrested in Scottsdale, Ariz., accused of stabbing a woman working at a McDonald’s restaurant.That’s when Mr. Almansoori said he was wanted for a murder in New York City.“Google ‘SoHo 54 Hotel,’” he told investigators, said Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives at the New York Police Department, who spoke at a news conference on Tuesday.Mr. Almansoori is still in police custody in Maricopa County in Arizona. But a prosecutor from the office of the Manhattan district attorney has traveled there to arrange his extradition to New York, where Chief Kenny said the police will charge him in the killing of Ms. Oleas-Arancibia, who he said had been working as an escort.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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      N.Y.P.D. Drones Carrying Rafts Could Join Lifeguards in Beach Rescues

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      Mayor Eric Adams, an avowed technophile, said the drones would be used to assist lifeguards at Coney Island as part of a pilot program starting this summer.This summer, struggling swimmers off Coney Island might be met not just by a young lifeguard in an orange suit but also by assistance from above, in the form of a buglike device delivering an inflatable float.The raft-bearing drone is the latest in a series of gadgets promoted by Mayor Eric Adams as a way to improve life in New York City. Discussing the drone during his weekly question-and-answer session at City Hall on Tuesday, the mayor said it would begin flying as part of a pilot project to address a chronic summer problem.“They’re going to start out with Coney Island, and they’re going to grow from there,” Mr. Adams said, referring to the entertainment mecca on Brooklyn’s south shore. “I think it can be a great addition to saving the lives of those that we lose over the summer.”New York City may be known for its concrete-and-steel canyons, but it boasts 14 miles of city beaches, from Coney Island in Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach in Queens to Orchard Beach in the Bronx and South Beach in Staten Island.City officials have long struggled to improve water safety at public beaches, with their strong riptides, legions of unskilled swimmers and perennial lifeguard staffing shortages. Four people drowned last year off city beaches, all of them when lifeguards were off duty, and three drowned the year before that, city officials said. But there have been years with more drownings: In 2019, there were at least seven at Rockaway beaches alone.Mr. Adams, a self-described “tech geek,” has already assigned a robot to patrol the Times Square subway station and promoted a lasso-like device to restrain emotionally disturbed people.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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      Child Welfare Agency Routinely Violates Families’ Rights, Suit Charges

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      Lawyers for a group of New York City parents argue that the Administration for Children’s Services uses “coercive tactics” that traumatize the families it is charged with protecting.A sweeping class-action lawsuit filed against New York City on Tuesday argues that the agency that investigates child abuse and neglect routinely engages in unconstitutional practices that traumatize the families it is charged with protecting.The lawsuit says that investigators for the Administration for Children’s Services deceive and bully their way into people’s homes, where they rifle through families’ most private spaces, strip-search children and humiliate parents.The agency’s “coercive tactics” include threatening to take children away or call the police, telling parents they have no choice but to let them in and making public scenes in hallways, according to the suit, filed in federal court in Brooklyn.Marisa Kaufman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement on Monday that A.C.S. would review the lawsuit. “A.C.S. is committed to keeping children safe and respecting parents’ rights,” she said.She added, “We will continue to advance our efforts to achieve safety, equity, and justice by enhancing parents’ awareness of their rights, connecting families to critical services, providing families with alternatives to child protection investigations, and working with key systems to reduce the number of families experiencing an unnecessary child protective investigation.”Eastern District Lawsuit Against New York CityRead Document 49 pagesWe 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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      NY Archdiocese Condemns Funeral of Cecilia Gentili, a Transgender Activist

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      In a statement, the pastor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan said the church was not aware of Ms. Gentili’s background, or her avowed atheism, when it agreed to host the Thursday service.The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of a transgender community leader that was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday, calling the event an insult to the Catholic faith and saying it was unaware of the identity of the deceased — or her vocal atheism — when it agreed to host the service.The funeral, which drew well over 1,000 people, celebrated the life of Cecilia Gentili, an activist and actress well known for her advocacy on behalf of sex workers, transgender people and people living with H.I.V. She was also a self-professed atheist, a topic around which she built a one-woman Off Broadway show.The service on Thursday was an event that most likely had no precedent in Catholic history. The pews were packed with mourners, many of them transgender, who wore daring high-fashion outfits and cheered as eulogists led them in praying for transgender rights and access to gender-affirming health care.Catholic liberals, including some parishioners at St. Patrick’s, said the church had done a good thing by hosting the funeral of a transgender person. Some conservative Catholics vehemently disagreed.Sarah Blesener for The New York TimesOne eulogy, a video clip of which was widely shared online Friday, remembered Ms. Gentili as “Saint Cecilia, the mother of all whores,” to the thunderous cheers of a nearly full cathedral.Catholic liberals, including some parishioners at St. Patrick’s, said that regardless of how some mourners behaved, the church had done a good thing by hosting the funeral of a transgender person. But the response from conservatives was fiery.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