Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - NOVEMBER 15, 2022

 

Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing and Treatment

69 Statewide Deaths Reported from November 11 to November 14

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"As families prepare to gather to celebrate the holidays, I urge New Yorkers to remain vigilant and use all available tools to keep themselves and loved ones in their communities safe and healthy," Governor Hochul said. "Be sure to stay up to date on vaccine doses, and test before gatherings or travel. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options."

Earlier this month, Governor Hochul launched a new public awareness campaign featuring New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett speaking directly to New Yorkers about three viruses - Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), flu and COVID-19 - now circulating in the state with similar symptoms and the potential to cause serious illness. Produced by the New York State Department of Health, the videos include a short clip and a longer version geared toward parents; and a version aimed specifically at health care providers.

Governor Hochul continues to remind New Yorkers that children ages 5 and older may now receive the bivalent booster shots that are recommended to increase protection against COVID-19.

The Governor also urges New Yorkers to get their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters. To schedule an appointment for a booster, New Yorkers should contact their local pharmacy, county health department, or healthcare provider; visit vaccines.gov; text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations.

In addition, Governor Hochul encourages New Yorkers to get their annual flu vaccine as flu season is widespread across New York State. The flu virus and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both circulating, so getting vaccinated against both is the best way to stay healthy and to avoid added stress to the health care system.

The State Department of Health is continuing its annual public education campaign, reminding adults and parents to get both flu and COVID-19 shots for themselves and children 6 months and older. Advertisements in both English and Spanish language began running last month.

For information about flu vaccine clinics, contact the local health department or visit vaccines.gov/find-vaccines/.

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Cases Per 100k - 16.02
• 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 18.77
• Test Results Reported - 40,564
• Total Positive - 3,131
• Percent Positive - 6.99%**
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 5.93%**
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,790 (+76)*
• Patients Newly Admitted - 1,302*
• Patients in ICU - 296 (+5)*
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 103 (+8)*
• Total Discharges - 362,018 (+1,073) *
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 69*
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 59,138*

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 75,473

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows **:

Borough	Saturday,   November   12, 2022	Sunday,   November   13, 2022	Monday,   November   14, 2022
Bronx	6.73%	6.68%	6.75%
Kings	6.28%	6.26%	6.24%
New York	5.72%	5.74%	5.86%
Queens	6.84%	6.92%	6.91%
Richmond	5.36%	5.43%	5.68%

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS RELEASES NOVEMBER FINANCIAL PLAN UPDATE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2023

 

Amid Fiscal Challenges, Adams Administration Continues to Balance Need for Fiscal Discipline with Upstream Investments to Make City Safer, Cleaner, and More Resilient

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the City of New York’s November Financial Plan Update for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). The FY23 budget is $104 billion and remains balanced.

“Fiscal discipline has been, and continues to be, a hallmark of my administration. The city faces significant economic headwinds that pose real threats to our fiscal stability, including growing pension contributions, expiring labor contracts, and rising health care expenses — and we are taking decisive actions in the administration’s first November Financial Plan to meet those challenges,” said Mayor Adams. “Thanks to a successful Program to Eliminate the Gap, we have achieved significant savings without service reductions or layoffs. We are also investing in new needs that will address our housing crisis, make our streets cleaner, combat climate change, and much more.” 

Since day one of his administration, Mayor Adams has clearly outlined the fiscal challenges facing the city. Today these include the impact of increased pension costs caused by stock-market losses, new needs related to aid for asylum seekers, the threat to the budget of impending healthcare and labor cost increases, and economic stresses like high energy prices and elevated inflation. In response to these challenges, the mayor has taken strong and swift actions in the November Financial Plan to protect the city’s long-term fiscal stability and the ability to deliver quality programs and services without interruption by achieving substantial savings through an aggressive Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG), controlling new spending, and maintaining a record level of reserves. Along the way he is making New York City a safer and cleaner place to live, work, and visit.

 

The PEG was a success, achieving more than $2.5 billion in gap closing savings without service reductions or layoffs over this fiscal year and the next – more than $900 million in FY23 and more than $1.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24). Additionally, the administration achieved $1.5 billion of PEG savings in both Fiscal Years 2025 (FY25) and 2026 (FY26). As always, agencies must continue to find more efficient and effective ways to serve New Yorkers.

 

As a result of the PEG, the FY24 budget gap was reduced by more than $1 billion and is now a manageable $2.9 billion. Gaps are $4.6 billion in FY25 and $5.9 billion in FY26 because of the FY22 stock-market losses.

Budget reserves remain at a record level $8.3 billion, the most set aside by any administration in city history. There is $1.9 billion in the Rainy-Day Fund, $4.5 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, and $1.6 billion in the General Reserve, as well as $250 million in the Capital Stabilization Reserve.

 

Budget growth in FY23 since Adoption in July 2022 is the result of federal grant funds, including a projected $1 billion to fund the on-going cost of providing shelters and other services to the new asylum seekers in New York.

 

New agency spending of $211 million in FY23 and $138 million in FY24 is more than offset by PEG savings. As a result, the November Financial Plan shows a surplus of $705 million in FY23, which is used to lower the FY24 budget gap.

 

New FY23 investments honor the mayor’s commitment to making New York City cleaner, greener, and safer, and include:

 

• $19 million in additional support for the medallion relief program to help struggling taxi drivers.
• $14.5 million to launch “Get Stuff Clean,” an initiative that will create a cleaner city through a major upgrade to cleanliness protocols across the five boroughs. This includes funding to clean over 1,000 ‘No Man’s Land’ neglected areas around the city, increased litter basket service, expanded camera enforcement against illegal dumping, and funding for additional rat exterminators. New Yorkers will see faster and more reliable cleaning of every corner of the city.
• $15 million for the Shelter to Housing Action Plan, which includes a package of reforms to the CityFHEPS city-funded housing voucher program to make vouchers more widely accessible and easier to use more quickly. 
• $3.0 million to modify school boilers to burn cleaner fuel in support of the mayor’s “Leading the Charge” initiative to combat climate change. The conversion to cleaner-burning biofuel will improve neighborhood air quality, largely in Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted by higher rates of respiratory illness, by reducing disease-causing particulates from onsite combustion.
• $2.6 million to run a pilot residential curbside organics collection program in Queens, which was announced by the mayor and began operating in October.

 

Read the November Financial Plan Update here.

Riverhead Man Sentenced to 27 Years' Imprisonment for Firearm Related Murder

 

Defendant Was One Of Three Shooters In East End Gang Murder

 Jason Langhorn, an associate of the “Red Stone Gorilla” subset of the Bloods, a violent criminal enterprise based in Riverhead, New York, was sentenced to 27 years’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert for his participation in the murder of Thomas Lacolla on November 17, 2015, which occurred while Langhorn and others were attempting to kill a rival of the gang.  Langhorn pleaded guilty to firearms-related murder in August 2021.  

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) announced the sentence.

“Langhorn has been held accountable for his role in a heartless shooting that claimed the life of an unintended victim,” stated United States Attorney Peace.  “We hope this sentence brings a measure of solace and closure to the victim’s family and sends a clear message that those who commit brutal acts of gang violence will be brought to justice and punished.” 

Mr. Peace also extended his thanks to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s East End Drug Task Force, the Suffolk County Police Department and the Riverhead Police Department for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution.

As alleged in the indictment and court filings, the defendant assisted members of the Bloods as they tried to kill a rival gang member, which resulted in the shooting death of Mr. Lacolla.  In an attempt to carry out a standing order by the leader of the gang to kill the rival, Langhorn accompanied several fellow Bloods members to a location in Riverside, New York, just outside of Riverhead.  There, Langhorn and two others fired more than 39 shots, collectively, into a vehicle they believed was occupied by their intended target, but instead was occupied by Mr. Lacolla, who was shot and killed instantly. 

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of its renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally based strategies to reduce violent crime.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

NYC Comptroller Outlines Framework for Comprehensive Property Tax Reform

 

Lander Proposes Bringing Together Long Overdue Reform for Overtaxed Homeowners with Changes to Multifamily Taxation in the Wake of the Expiration of 421-a

Framework Would Bring Fairness and Transparency, Incentivize New Rental Housing Production, Tie Tax Breaks to Actual Affordability, and Include a 21st Century Mitchell-Lama Program for Permanently Affordable Cooperative Homeownership

At a City Council Finance Committee hearing on property taxes Tuesday, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander presented a framework for addressing inequities in NYC’s convoluted property tax system. Lander argued this is a critical moment of opportunity for comprehensive reform to link long overdue relief for overtaxed homeowners with a better way of taxing multifamily development in the wake of the expiration of the 421-a property tax break for new development.    

Building on the NYC Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform’s 2021 recommendations, Lander proposed changes to address an opaque system with gaping inequities between homeowners in different neighborhoods and building types, while including a phase-in and protections for potentially vulnerable homeowners in areas where rates would rise over time.  

The Comptroller’s framework would also incentivize new rental housing production by reducing their base tax rate approximately 30% to be on par with condos, and tie tax breaks to the actual cost and affordability of buildings.  

In place of the widely-panned “130% AMI” program under 421-a that built subsidized housing unaffordable to the vast majority of residents in those neighborhoods, Lander proposed a new, 21st century version of the Mitchell-Lama program to create permanently affordable, cooperative homeownership for tens of thousands of working New Yorkers.  

“New York’s opaque and inequitable property tax system is hurting working families across our city, while inhibiting the housing development our city needs amidst a housing crisis,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “We have a unique moment this year to solve several problems at once, with structural changes to the tax system to bring fairness and common sense to our city’s largest revenue stream. If we get it right, we can address the unfair burden of high property taxes in the outer boroughs and create new affordable homeownership and rental opportunities that maximize public dollars to bring down costs for New Yorkers.”  

Promoting Fairness Among Homeowners 

In December 2021, the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax reform released a set of recommendations, following eight in-person public hearings during 2018-2019 and five remote public hearings during 2021.​ Those hearings focused on three core problems with the current tax structure:  

1. 1-3 family homes, co-ops and condos are not subject to the same rules for valuation. Large rentals are taxed at approximately double the rate of condo and co-ops. 
2. The system is generally opaque and difficult to understand. Variation in assessment ratios by property type confuses owners and makes the system less transparent.​ 
3. The differences in effective tax rates across neighborhoods is too wide.​ Outer-borough homeowners pay far higher rates than upper- and middle-class Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. 

Building on the recommendations of the Advisory Commission, the Comptroller made the following recommendations to address those problems:  

• Aggregate Class 1, Class 2 condos and coops, and small rentals (up to 10 units) in one class and uniformly value all properties in the class at sales-based market value.  

• End fractional assessments and apply one tax rate to the sales-based market value. 
• Phase the changes in over five years, with potential consideration of allowing homeowners to defer the higher tax burden until sale of the property, or even waiting until sale to reset the rates. 
• Provide a homestead exemption for homeowners who use their property as a primary residence and circuit breakers to protect potentially vulnerable homeowners in areas where rates may rise over time.  

A Better Way to Tax Multifamily Development and Subsidize Real Affordability 

For forty years, New York State has layered on a patchwork of exemptions and abatements to lower tax rates for developers of multifamily housing, rather than dealing with structural flaws in the property tax system.  

The largest of those has been the 421-a tax incentive program, viewed as necessary in large part because NYC taxes rentals at nearly double the rate of condo and coop development. But at $1.77 billion in annual forgone tax revenue, and with widespread fraud, it was far too expensive for the few genuinely affordable units it produced. The Comptroller was among the leading proponents of allowing the 421-a tax abatement to expire in June 2022.  

Comptroller Lander outlined structural reforms to taxation of multifamily residential buildings that would better incentivize new rental housing production, tie tax breaks to actual affordability, and include a 21st century Mitchell-Lama program for permanently affordable cooperative homeownership: 

• Reduce the tax rate on new large rental buildings by 30%, dramatically reducing the disparity in taxation between new rentals and condos. The lower tax rate makes market-rate rental housing production more possible in core and non-core markets. 
• Allow the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to underwrite full or partial exemptions for new development based on projected costs and affordability, aligned with HPD’s affordable housing programs, in order to appropriately support development and prevent double-dipping. 
• Instead of the outer-borough 130% AMI program in 421-a, which created units unaffordable to most residents of the neighborhoods where it was built, offer a 21st century Mitchell-Lama program, combining tax relief and capital subsidies to provide permanently affordable, multifamily, limited-equity cooperative homeownership at a range of incomes.  

The Comptroller’s framework as presented to the City Council is available here.

Attorney General James Secures $3.1 Billion from Walmart for Communities Nationwide to Combat the Opioid Crisis

 

New York to Receive Up to $116 Million as Part of Multistate Agreement with Walmart for Failing to Regulate Opioid Prescriptions

AG James Has Now Delivered More Than $2.1 Billion Total to New York to Fund Opioid Abatement, Treatment, and Prevention

New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a $3.1 billion multistate settlement with Walmart, resolving allegations that the company contributed to the nationwide opioid crisis by failing to regulate opioid prescriptions at its stores. Attorney General James co-led a coalition of attorneys general in negotiating the settlement, which will provide $3.1 billion to communities nationwide and will require significant improvements in how Walmart's pharmacies handle opioids. The state attorneys general on the executive committee, attorneys representing local governments, and Walmart have agreed to this settlement, which is now being sent to other states for review and approval. New York state will receive up to $116 million as part of the settlement, bringing the total amount secured by Attorney General James to combat the opioid crisis in New York to more than $2.1 billion.

“For decades, the opioid epidemic has ravaged communities here in New York and across the country,” said Attorney General James. “Pharmacies such as Walmart played an undeniable role in perpetuating opioids’ destruction, and my fellow attorneys general and I are holding them accountable. You cannot put a price on lives lost and communities destroyed, but with the $2.1 billion we have delivered to New York, we will continue to recover, rebuild, and strengthen our defenses against future devastation.”

In addition to providing $3.1 billion to be divided by sign-on states, local governments, and tribes to be used for opioid treatment, recovery, and abatement, the settlement announced today will include broad, court-ordered requirements Walmart must comply with, such as robust oversight to prevent fraudulent prescriptions and flag suspicious prescriptions.

Attorney General James and her colleagues are optimistic that the settlement will gain support of the required 43 states by the end of 2022, allowing local governments to join the deal during the first quarter of 2023. Further details about how the money will be distributed among localities is forthcoming. Last month, states confirmed that promising negotiations were also underway with Walgreens and CVS. Efforts to reach those agreements are ongoing.

In 2021, Attorney General James championed legislation to create an opioid settlement fund to ensure these monetary settlements are invested in helping New Yorkers impacted by the opioid crisis. The bill, now codified as New York Mental Hygiene Law 25.18, passed unanimously through the state legislature, and requires all funds secured in opioid settlements by Attorney General James — totaling more than $2.1 billion — be used for opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts in communities devastated by this epidemic.

Joining Attorney General James in leading the executive committee that negotiated this agreement are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Earlier this month, Attorney General James secured up to $523 million from Teva Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., its American subsidiary Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and its affiliates (Teva) for their role in fueling the opioid crisis, resolving the remedies phase of New York’s opioid trial after she achieved a historic liability verdict following a seven-month jury trial against Teva in 2021. In June 2022, Attorney General James secured up to $58.5 million from Mallinckrodt for fueling the opioid crisis in New York. In December 2021, Attorney General James reached a $200 million agreement with Allergan. In September 2021, Attorney General James secured $50 million from Endo to combat the opioid crisis. In July 2021, Attorney General James secured a settlement with McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen that will deliver $1 billion to New York. In June 2021, Attorney General James announced a settlement that will deliver $230 million to New York and end Johnson & Johnson’s sale of opioids nationwide. 

KRVC - Join us this Thursday for our Gallery 505 Opening "Nature Close Up"

Nature Close Up

opens Thursday, November 17th

7-9 pm

Featuring the work of Herb Kaplan

Live Music with Scott Bravo

Refreshments

Gallery 505

505 West 236th Street

Bronx

“Beginning in the early 2000s, in addition to taking photos to record my travels with my wife Leah in the U.S. and abroad, I began to take pictures of nature, scenery and landscapes.

 

In recent years, I have become more interested in the visual effect of the pictures I take, moving much closer in to capture the mystery, the intimacy, the sensuality in nature.”

 

Herb’s photographs have been exhibited at his synagogue in Manhattan (SAJ), Gallery 18 at Riverdale Y, Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, and KRVC ‘s Art at Amalgamated annual exhibit.

HerbKaplanPhotography.com

This coming Sunday our annual art exhibition is back!  Art at Amalgamated Sunday, November 20th 1-5 pm  Featuring 18 Bronx Fine Artists There will be a shuttle bus running every hour from KRVC, 505 West 236th Street, to Vladeck Hall and back.

4Bronx is a community service program focused on supporting homeless families and other underserved community members. A local Manhattan College student has a goal of collecting non-perishables to distribute on Thanksgiving Day to people in our community battling food insecurity. Please help if you can. @4BronxProject

Look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events! KRVCDC.ORG/EVENTS KRVC | 505 West 236th Street, Bronx, NY 10463

NYSOFA, AgingNY and Blooming Health Partner to Strengthen Older New Yorkers' Access to Community-based Aging Services

 

Initial partnership offers access to Blooming Health platform through select group of county offices for the aging to engage 10,000 older adults in their communities

The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) and Association on Aging in New York (AgingNY) have partnered with Blooming Health to improve older adults’ awareness and connection to community-based aging services via an inclusive, digital engagement platform being made available through a select group of county-based offices for the aging.

Last year, New York’s offices for the aging served more than 1.3 million older New Yorkers and their family caregivers. This number is expected to increase over 20 percent by 2025, demanding scalable and efficient communication tools that can maximize network capacity to reach older New Yorkers and keep them engaged.

Aging care providers can use Blooming Health’s web application to send personalized and targeted communications to older adults and caregiver clients across text messages, voice calls, or email, and in 25 languages. Clients do not need access to broadband internet or a smart device to receive these communications. Providers can also receive longitudinal data on clients’ needs and outcomes, coordinate care, and better manage their population's health risks.

Blooming Health’s inclusive, digital engagement solution enables aging care providers across New York, Arizona, and California to scalably engage tens of thousands of older adults and caregiver clients. For its existing clients, Blooming Health has contributed to a three-fold increase in older adult engagement with provider services while saving two hours per day in outreach capacity for program staff and garnering an 85 percent satisfaction rate for older adult end-users. Through a recent collaboration with the AARP Foundation and New York City-based community organizations, Blooming Health helped drive a five-fold increase in the number of older adults applying for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (relative to 2021). Blooming Health also helped reduce the time from initial outreach with older adults about SNAP benefits application and their final application submission, from 57 days to 30 days – a 47 percent decrease.

Greg Olsen, Director of the New York State Office for the Aging, said: "NYSOFA is proud to play a role in the digital evolution of services and outreach to older adults. Our partnerships with innovative technology solutions have connected hundreds of thousands of older adults to combat social isolation while also providing evidence-based tools to help individuals caring for loved ones, and so much more. Blooming Health is a unique digital platform in that it will help enhance, extend, and better coordinate services that aging services providers are already delivering in their communities. NYSOFA is thrilled to work with a select group of offices for the aging to utilize this powerful technology and develop best practices that could potentially expand this partnership in the future."

Association on Aging in New York (AgingNY) Executive Director Becky Preve said: “The Association on Aging in New York is incredibly proud to work in conjunction with NYSOFA and Blooming Health to continue to enhance and expand access for older New Yorkers. Blooming Health is an additional tool that aging services providers can utilize to drive engagement, decrease social isolation and loneliness, and improve health outcomes. New York State continues to lead the nation in enhancements to our service infrastructure, and Blooming Health is now available as a resource for our communities.”

Blooming Health Co-founder and CCO Kavitha Gnanasambandan said: “Blooming Health is honored to partner with the innovative New York aging network to power healthy aging-in-place for all New Yorkers. We believe that inclusive and personalized engagement can help connect more older adults in need with the quality services offered by the New York aging network, while streamlining the network capacity and improving operational efficiencies.”

About the New York State Office for the Aging

The New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) continuously works to help the state’s 4.6 million older adults be as independent as possible for as long as possible through advocacy, development and delivery of person-centered, consumer-oriented, and cost-effective policies, programs, and services that support and empower older adults and their families, in partnership with the network of public and private organizations that serve them. Stay connected—visit the NYSOFA Facebook page; follow @NYSAGING on Twitter and NYSAging on Instagram; or visit aging.ny.gov.

About the Association on Aging in New York

The Association on Aging in New York (AgingNY) supports and advocates for New York’s mostly county-based Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and works collaboratively with a network of organizations that exist to promote independence, preserve dignity, and provide support for residents of New York State as they age. For more information, follow AgingNY on Facebook, visit www.agingny.org, or call (518) 449-7080.

About Blooming Health

Blooming Health is an agetech company founded in New York with a mission to power healthy aging in place for all. Its inclusive, digital engagement solution enables aging care providers across New York, Arizona, and California to scalably engage tens of thousands of older adults and caregiver clients in a personalized way across text, voice calls, emails, and over 25 languages. The Blooming Health solution is intentionally designed to remove the technology and language barriers for older adults to receive the care they need at the right time. Aging care providers have seen a three-fold increase in client engagement via the Blooming Health solution, while also saving two hours per day in outreach capacity for their care staff.

To learn more about Blooming Health and this partnership, please visit www.gobloominghealth.com or reach out at team@gobloominghealth.com.

Drug Dealer Charged With Trafficking 19 Kilos Of Fentanyl

 

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Frank A. Tarentino III, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), announced that JUSTO VARGAS was charged for possessing nearly 20 kilograms of fentanyl with the intent to distribute it, in concert with others.  VARGAS was arrested on Sunday and presented yesterday before Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, the defendant conspired to distribute fentanyl, one of the deadliest drugs on Earth.  Thanks to our law enforcement partners, nearly 20 kilograms of this poison have been taken off the street.”

As alleged in the Complaint:[1]

On or about November 13, 2022, VARGAS met with a confidential source to sell that confidential source approximately 19 kilograms of fentanyl.  VARGAS arrived at the Cross County Center parking lot in Yonkers, New York, and parked adjacent to the confidential source’s vehicle.  The parties exited their respective vehicles and stood next to the open trunk of VARGAS’s vehicle, which contained what appeared to the confidential source to be 19 kilograms of fentanyl.  Agents and officers then intervened and arrested VARGAS and seized the fentanyl, which is pictured below:

VARGAS, 31, of New York, New York, is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams and more of fentanyl and one count of conspiring to do the same.  Those offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years in prison and maximum potential sentences of life in prison.  

The mandatory minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. 

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force comprising agents and officers of the DEA,  New York City Police Department, and New York State Police.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Yonkers Police Department for their assistance in this case.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Complaint, and the description of the Complaint set forth herein, constitutes only allegations, and every fact described therein should be treated as an allegation.