Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Assemblyman Dinowitz and Congressman Espaillat Give Out Face Masks and Hand Sanitizer

 


Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz stands outside his office holding a pack of face masks as he waited for the next person to come to his table. Also in his other hand he has a giant sized bottle of hand sanitizer where people could refill their empty bottles of hand sanitizer they have. Also on hand at the next table were representatives of the U.S. Census making sure to ask people if they filled out the U.S. Census. If someone said they did not fill out the U.S. Census the ladies brought out their laptop to record the quick and easy information. Congressman Espaillat had to leave for a tele-conference before we arrived. 



Above - Assemblyman Dinowitz with his Chief of Staff Randi Martos (at his side), and other helpers who assist several people seeking additional face masks and hand sanitizer.

Below - U.S. Census workers help this person fill out the U.S. Census. 



Acting U.S. Attorney Announces Federal Charges And International Operation To Dismantle Online Piracy Group

 

The Sparks Group is Alleged to Have Caused Tens of Millions of Dollars in Losses to Film Production Studios

  Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), and Philip R. Bartlett, Inspector-in-Charge of the New York Office of the United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”), announced today the unsealing of indictments charging UMAR AHMAD a/k/a “Artist,” GEORGE BRIDI, and JONATAN CORREA, a/k/a “Raid,” with copyright infringement, and as to BRIDI, wire fraud, for their involvement in the Sparks Group, an international piracy group involved in illegally distributing movies and television shows on the Internet.  BRIDI, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was arrested on Sunday in Cyprus on an INTERPOL Red Notice based on the U.S. criminal charges. The United States will seek BRIDI’s extradition to stand trial in the United States.  CORREA was arrested yesterday in Olathe, Kansas, where he will be presented in federal court.  AHMAD, a citizen of Norway, remains at large.  The case is assigned to United States District Judge Richard M. Berman. 

In coordination with law enforcement authorities in 18 other countries and supported by Eurojust and Europol, dozens of servers controlled by the Sparks Group were taken offline today around the world, including in North America, Europe, and Asia.  The Sparks Group utilized these servers to illegally store and disseminate copyrighted content to members around the globe. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As alleged, the defendants were members of an international video piracy ring that was sophisticated and widespread.  The group allegedly circumvented copyright protections on nearly every movie released by major production studios, as well as television shows, and distributed them by way of a worldwide network of servers.  Thanks to the efforts of HSI, the Postal Inspection Service, Eurojust, Europol, and our law enforcement partners in 18 countries on three continents, key members of this group are in custody, and the servers that were the pipeline for wholesale theft of intellectual property are now out of service.”

HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Fitzhugh said:  “As alleged, Sparks Group members reproduced and disseminated hundreds of movies and television shows prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios, causing millions of dollars in losses to the film and television industry.  This investigation shows – in high definition – that despite the online platform and international nature of this scheme, we are committed to stop those who use the cyber world for illicit gain.  HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force, in collaboration with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, leveraged their global network of law enforcement partners to shut down this criminal organization’s cyber piracy network and arrest those allegedly responsible.”

USPIS Inspector-in-Charge Philip R. Bartlett said:  “Copyright criminals have come a long way from bootlegging movies in local theaters and selling inferior quality videos and DVD’s on the streets of New York City for $5.00.  The movies and TV shows allegedly stolen by these defendants not only represent a body of work ripped off from those who spent years developing their craft and working their way to stardom, but deprives the studios and actors of the fruits of their labor.”

Ladislav Hamran, President of Eurojust, said:  “This case is an excellent example of what can be achieved if we work together across borders and continents. Thanks to the long-standing partnership between the U.S. and the European authorities, we managed to deal a significant blow to online piracy. My sincere congratulations go out to all countries involved in yesterday’s joint action day.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictments[[1]] unsealed yesterday in Manhattan federal court:

Between 2011 and the present, UMAR AHMAD a/k/a “Artist,” GEORGE BRIDI, JONATAN CORREA, a/k/a “Raid,” and others known and unknown were members of the Sparks Group, a criminal organization that disseminated on the Internet movies and television shows prior to their retail release date, including nearly every movie released by major production studios, after compromising the content’s copyright protections.

In furtherance of its scheme, the Sparks Group fraudulently obtained copyrighted DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from wholesale distributors in advance of their retail release date by, among other things, making various misrepresentations to the wholesale distributors concerning the reasons that they were obtaining the discs prior to the retail release date.   

Sparks Group members then used computers with specialized software to compromise the copyright protections on the discs, a process referred to as “cracking” or “ripping,” and to reproduce and encode the content in a format that could be easily copied and disseminated over the Internet.  They thereafter uploaded copies of the copyrighted content onto servers controlled by the Sparks Group, where other members further reproduced and disseminated the content on streaming websites, peer-to-peer networks, torrent networks, and other servers accessible to the public.  The Sparks Group identified its reproductions by encoding the filenames of reproduced copyrighted content with distinctive tags, and also uploaded photographs of the discs in their original packaging to demonstrate that the reproduced content originated from authentic DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.

AHMAD and BRIDI arranged for discs to be picked up, mailed, or delivered from distributors located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey to other members of the Sparks Group, including CORREA, prior to their official release date.  AHMAD, BRIDI, and CORREA then reproduced, and aided and abetted the reproduction of, these discs by using computer software that circumvented copyright protections on the discs and reproducing the copyrighted content for further distribution on the Internet. 

The Sparks Group has caused tens of millions of dollars in losses to film production studios.

AHMAD, 39, BRIDI, 50, and CORREA, 36, are each charged with copyright infringement conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.  BRIDI is also charged with wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.    

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

 Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of HSI and USPIS.  She also thanked Europol and Eurojust as well as law enforcement authorities in the following countries for their assistance in the investigation:  Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. 

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew K. Chan, Mollie Bracewell, and Christy Slavik are in charge of the prosecution.  The U.S. Department Justice’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) of the Department’s Criminal Division provided significant and ongoing assistance with facilitating the execution of dozens of mutual legal assistance requests in 18 different countries necessary for taking down servers and gathering evidence.  OIA also provided critical support in working with Eurojust and Europol in planning the coordinated operation yesterday.

The charges contained in the Indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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

Mayor de Blasio on COVID-19 and Schools Opening

 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. You know, we've talked about this for weeks, for months – the grit, the strength of New Yorkers; the amazing ability in this crisis to keep fighting back no matter what has been thrown at us; the compassion; the decency. So, those are the things we should celebrate. We're going to talk today about some of the challenges too, the trauma, the pain, so much of what people have been through. We’re going to particularly focus on our kids and everything they are dealing with in the midst of this crisis. But before we get to that, I want to talk about what we're doing to try and beat back this disease once and for all, because, in the end, it's the first, second, third topic every day – is how do we fight this disease? How do we get to a point where we can really get back to normal in this city? And I want to be really clear about the fact that the work that's being done now to ensure that people who travel to this city really understand the laws of this State, and this City, really understand they have to quarantine. And this is true for someone coming in from outside New York City, it's true of a New Yorker goes to visit family, or, for any other reason, travels to one of the states that's really having a tough time with COVID-19 – whatever reason, whoever the person is. if you traveled to one of those states or come from one of those states, you come here, you really have to quarantine. It's the law, it's for everyone safety.

 

One of the great efforts to make sure everyone understands this and to enforce this has been done by our Sheriff's Office. And I was out yesterday in Staten Island by the Bayonne Bridge with Sheriff Joe Facito and his team. And they're doing an amazing job, getting the message out and making sure people know we have to take it seriously. So, we have 31 States still where their COVID-19 infection level is still too high. So, anyone coming from those states has to fill out that traveler health form, has to quarantine. Now, we have been able to keep the infection level low here, but we are watching very carefully and with great concern – the number of travelers start to increase. And, right now, we think about 20 percent of the COVID-19 cases in this city are associated with people who have traveled. So, I want to be clear, the Sheriff's Office is going to be out there in force. They've done 3,000 vehicles stops already. They'll be doing a lot more. They're getting a lot of compliance from motorists. And I want to commend everyone – everyone's paying attention and doing the right thing. There's only been indeed so far for two summonses. And, at the same time, what the really good folks at the Sheriff's Office are doing is handing out masks for free. So, they're educating people. They're reminding them of the law. They're helping them to stay safe. And if someone won't comply, then they're ready to provide the penalties.

 

Now, I just want to say to everyone, since we all know the most important thing we can do together is beat back the coronavirus, the best thing to do is if you don't need to travel to one of those affected states, just don't – don't do it now, wait until they end up in a better situation. But if you do need to travel or you have traveled recently, please follow the rules for the good of everyone – yourself, your family, your community. And, again, Sheriff's Office will be out there, reminding people how important it is and making clear people understand it is the law.

 

Now, let me go back to our kids and the challenges they face – and not just the kids, the entire community – and that means parents, that means, as kids go back to school, educators, school staff, everyone's feeling the pain and the challenges of the last six months. And that means we have to address the mental health needs of our school community, starting with our kids. And we have to remember that there is no health without mental health, something our First Lady reminds me all the time. When we talk about keeping people safe, when we talk about keeping people healthy, we need to see that as not just protection from the coronavirus, or physical harm, but protection for people's mental health as well.

 

And so, today, we announce the Bridge to School plan – and the Bridge to School plan makes clear that, from the very first day of school, the mental health needs of our kids and our school communities are going to be front and center. And it's support for students, teachers, principals for the whole community. And I need everyone understand, when we talked earlier in the week about the comparison of New York City's approach to opening schools with the entire world – we looked literally at examples from around the world, we took the best, strongest practices from different countries, combined them into a gold standard here to make sure our schools are healthy and safe. When we looked at that, we put mental health right there in the mix, because we knew our kids couldn't be healthy unless they were getting that mental health support. So, that gold standard continues to be built every day, and here to talk about what we're doing to support our kids, someone who I think everyone knows has been a champion for the mental health needs of all New Yorkers and has reminded us every single day that we have to focus on mental health. It's been swept under the rug for too many years and now it's getting the attention it deserves.


Now, Chancellor Carranza has done an extraordinary job getting ready in every sense, and he knows the power of addressing kids’ emotional needs and thinking about the mental health piece as well. And he's also reached out to a lot of partners, a lot of folks who want to help make this work, including the Robin Hood Foundation, and other great partners. And here to tell you about the support we're getting for this initiative, our Chancellor Richard Carranza.

 

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As a lifelong educator, I know that students are much more likely to learn and feel safe and rebound from tough blows when they feel connected to their teachers and their peers. Supporting students socially and emotionally improves not only their academic progress, but prepares them to succeed in life. Even before this pandemic, the majority of our students faced trauma every day. Poverty is traumatic. Homelessness is traumatic. Fear of deportation is traumatic. Yet schools can do so much to help students learn how to manage their stress and find refuge from their pain and anxiety. We've demonstrated this in New York City, as our First Lady and our Mayor have spoken about. Now, after the added trauma and upheaval of this pandemic when safety required that we abruptly close our buildings and limit our in-person interactions through social distancing, rebuilding those personal connections and honoring our students' lived experience is more important than ever before. That's one of the biggest reasons why we're going to such lengths to welcome students back into our schools this fall physically and virtually, while strengthening our social and emotional supports to student learning. Our students are the heartbeat of our schools and we have worked so hard to build and strengthen social emotional supports in New York City schools for the entire time I've served as Chancellor and throughout this administration as well. That includes historic efforts that the Mayor and First Lady and I announced just over a year ago, to provide all elementary school students with rich education and social-emotional learning, and every middle and high schooler with restorative practices aimed at strengthening community, building character, and creating the conditions to heal.

 

So, today, we're pleased to announce new ways that we will be providing these vital supports to our students and our staff, tailored to address the disruptions that we have confronted in the recent months. Foremost among these initiatives is curriculum that we are calling the Bridge to School plan, that will provide all schools with social-emotional learning lessons and activities designed for the first few weeks of school. As students re-enter their school communities, re-entering buildings, in many cases, that they abruptly left in March, or navigating a brand new building, these materials and lessons will help students build coping skills and process grief and reconnect and allow students to orient themselves to learning online or in classrooms during the first few weeks. In addition, with the generous support of the Robin Hood Foundation, the Gray Foundation, and the Tiger Foundation, and with the incredible support of the fund for public schools, we have been expanding access and training in trauma-responsive educational practices. Every New York City principals started this training this summer and we are going to expand to offer it to all school staff at the school year begins.

 

Finally, in partnership with Child Mind Institute, we will launch a helpline for educators and school staff to call to consult on best practices and classroom strategies for assisting students with their mental health and wellness. Staffed by mental health professionals, this hotline will help schools get immediate answers to urgent questions and concerns that they have for their students. So, together, through these efforts, we will build and we will strengthen our connections to restore our school communities this fall, whether students are on-site or online to help New York City school students build a strong and healthy future. As a largest school district in the country, by far, and the only urban school district in a position to reopen its public schools, our focus on SEL is another way in which we are setting the gold standard during this unprecedented time.

 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And thank you for all the work you and your team are doing. And thanks again to all of the partners who are giving us so much support in this crucial moment. And again, it all comes back to the extraordinary effort in this city to fight back this disease. And every New Yorker is participating in some way, and that's why we have gotten as far as we've gotten. And what we're focusing on now is neighborhoods that need particular attention to make sure we keep the infection levels low there. And we've seen that when we apply the focused efforts of our Health Department and our Test and Trace Corps, it makes a huge, huge difference. So, I want to talk to you about a couple of examples lately. And, obviously, a week or two ago, I talked to you about Sunset Park, Brooklyn. And that was an area where we had a particular concern. We saw some evidence that caused us concern. We sent the Test and Trace Corps in, in a very big way, and with folks who spoke multiple languages and could connect with the community. This is part of what we call our hyper-local strategy, really focusing on specific areas, even specific blocks, where there's a concern. In the course of this blitz in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, our test and trace team knocked on over 16,700 doors, made sure that folks in community got testing to the level of 8,500 new tests and just that one community. And now, as more and more people have gotten tested, we're seeing a clearer picture and it's a better picture. So, now, the seven-day rolling average for that community is 2.5 percent. So, it's more than the citywide average, but, thank God, not by a lot. And this is a really good sign that, that additional outreach, that additional testing allowed us to get a fuller picture and also encourage folks who did need to safely separate to do so. And that support was there for them. We've applied the hyperlocal strategy as well in Borough Park, Brooklyn, and that's continuing now. And, again, we saw some concern there at a particular location. That follow-up has been intensive. Good news, again, seven-day rolling average for that community is 2.5 percent. So, again, we see results that give us some comfort, but more work is being done. There have been a number of cases identified. And so, the test and trace effort is going deeply into that community – and free mask distribution as well to make sure everyone knows how important it is. So, two examples that are working – a lot more to do, but, again, they work best when we go deeply into communities, engage people often in their own language and get people to join us in being vigilant and following through for the safety of all.

 

I'm going to talk about our daily indicators in a moment, but I want to just take one moment before we do a talk about an extraordinary anniversary today – 100 years – the women's suffrage movement fought for so long. And on August 26th, 1920, a hundred years ago today, the 19th Amendment to the constitution finally adopted, and it gave women the right to vote. But we, I think, all now know our painful history, not all women, only white women – women of color excluded, and they had to fight for many decades more. And to give you a sense of how recent this was, my mom was actually born before this amendment was passed. Chirlane’s mom was born after the amendment was passed, but it was many decades before her rights were fully recognized. So, I want people to realize this struggle is very, very much in our recent past, and we need to keep learning the lessons and fight for truer equality in this city, in this country. And a small step and an important step forward today – the unveiling of the statue you see on your screen – Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth represented as the great historical figures they were. But what's interesting here is it's not just to celebrate this crucial anniversary. It's also the first time there has been a statue of real life historical figures who are women in Central Park. Central Park has plenty of statues of men. It even has some statues of fictional women. This is the first time that actual women who changed the world are being honored and represented. So an important day for this city and more such statutes will be coming in the future to actually represent our whole history.

 

Okay, with that, let's turn to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to hospitals for a suspected COVID-19, threshold 200 patients, today, 71. And the confirmed positive rate for COVID-19 among those patients, only 2.78 percent. Number two, new reported cases on a seven day average, threshold 550 cases. Today's report 233. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, threshold five percent. Today's report, 0.83 percent.

 

 

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Have you seen the newest members of
the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance staff? This summer, we've hired seasonal help for the park, including GOATS!  These adorable additions have been working hard to reduce the invasive plants on the eastern half of the Van Cortlandt House Museum lawn.   

Help us be great hosts to our goats by making a donation through our Goat Fund Me page.

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One of our current goats- Janet!  Photo by Alice Su.
Our goats require daily care and a "goatel" for sleeping and relaxing after a hard day's work clearing invasive plants.

Help us cover these necessary expenses and make sure our goats love Van Cortlandt Park as much as YOU do.

Next time you are in the park be sure to stop by Van Cortlandt House Museum to say hello to the goats from outside the fence!
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Van Cortlandt Park Alliance
80 Van Cortlandt Park South, Ste. E1
Bronx, NY 10463
www.vancortlandt.org

SENATOR RIVERA ON HEALTHCARE WORKERS' ACTIONS IN RESPONSE TO NYSDOH SAFE STAFFING REPORT


"The surge of COVID-19 made it very evident that New York's hospitals and nursing homes are chronically understaffed, especially in the most underfunded institutions across our state. During the three public hearings I recently presided over, numerous nurses shared heartbreaking experiences on how the lack of adequate staff, particularly at the height of the crisis, forced them to work under almost impossible conditions and was detrimental to patient care and outcomes.

This week, the nurses and healthcare workers who got us through the worst days of this pandemic are renewing their call for New York State to finally address and set adequate staffing levels at our hospitals and nursing homes. The New York State Department of Health is using the release of its long-overdue report to defend maintaining the status quo by claiming that financial constraints and workforce shortages prevent us from even considering the implementation of safe staffing.

While I can admit that there are obstacles to setting uniform staffing levels throughout our healthcare delivery system, none of them are insurmountable. It is clear that we cannot maintain a status quo that places patients and healthcare workers in harm's way. We can and must find adequate solutions that fairly address understaffing and I renew my commitment to work with every stakeholder to accomplish that goal."

Bronx Jewish Community Council - THANK YOU!!

 

THANK YOU!!
Dear Bronx Jewish Community Council Friends,

Thank you!

We are especially thankful for those who volunteered to carry out 
a contact-less Rosh Hashanah delivery to the outside doorstep of 
our isolated seniors on September 13th.

Because of your generosity, we are all set to carry out these 
deliveries for our most neediest and isolated BJCC clients. You are 
our heroes in both spirit and deed.

We thank you all from the very bottom of our hearts.

Have a safe and joyful day!
 
Most sincerely,

The ever caring and appreciative staff of 
the Bronx Jewish Community Council

NEW YORK CITY HAS STRONGEST PLAN TO REOPEN SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY, RANKS AMONG MOST RIGOROUS IN WORLD

 

New York City's reopening plan is the strongest in the country and builds upon successful plans worldwide

  Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza announced the City’s Back to School Scorecard. With its blended learning model, socially distanced classrooms, mandatory masks, widely available testing, and contact tracing program, the City's plan for reopening schools is the strongest in the country and among the most rigorous in the world. The City will only open schools if transmission stays below 3%, exceeding the 5% standard set by the World Health Organization and New York State. 

“With our record-low infection rate, New York City is the safest major city in America,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We’ve looked at what’s worked across the globe to create a plan for reopening schools that’s the absolute gold standard. My message to parents and our school communities cannot be clearer: we are taking every possible precaution to bring our kids back safely.”

 

“In a constantly changing public health landscape, one thing has always been clear: we’ll take every precaution to keep our schools safe," said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. "We’re going above and beyond measures taken by the rest of the country in order to provide in-person instruction this fall, and we won’t compromise health and safety at any point.”

 


 

Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr - Pandemic Math

 

  You should know that an article published in Politico by Erin Durkin titled “Ventilation teams to inspect all NYC classrooms” begins with the following statement:  

“Teams of engineers and ventilation experts will inspect every city classroom over the next week to make sure they're safe to open during the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. The eleventh-hour push comes as the city is scrambling to get buildings ready for the first day of school on Sept. 10, despite resistance from principals and teachers.”
 
My dear reader: let’s do a little pandemic season math. 
 
This would include 1600 public schools, times the number of classrooms, divided by 2-1/2 weeks which would then be assigned to “100 teams of engineers with two to four of them inspecting each school.” 
 
Does anyone have the answer yet? 
 
Let’s factor in driving time between all five boroughs, keeping in mind that there are only 24 hours in a day.  

My scrap paper tally so far shows that’s approximately 124 schools per day, assigned 100 teams of engineers, minus Labor Day. Then there’s overtime, of course. 
 
Ready. Set. Go! 
 
So 25-ish schools per borough per day - every single classroom in the city - if these teams literally all start today and only work on weekdays.  

Let’s be certain they will be all out there at 6am to get an early start on the day.  

Ms. Durkin’s article states: “Rooms must pass a checklist of requirements, including making sure that windows that may have been sealed shut over the years can open. For rooms with no windows, air filters must be installed.”  

These things might also have been important in normal pre-Covid times. 

In fact, this report makes perfectly clear that none of these remedial things are required or checked on a regular basis or are considered vital to the health of our children in a normal time.  

It is important for you to know that the last day public schools were open was 60 days ago.  

What was done for 60 days - never mind since March? 

My dear reader some of the poorest countries in the world have prioritized government initiatives so their children will have remote learning programs that are as successful as possible.  

Their leaders have had the same time to plan for this, but here in New York, it seems that those at the helm are more interested in how they look on daily live broadcasts instead of being sure that our children are protected and that they receive quality education. 

You should know that parents who continue to contact me want to know why Mayor Bill deBlasio and his handsomely paid School Chancellor Caranza have yet to prioritize remote learning and release the remote learning specifics.  

As the number of teachers and principals NOT returning to the classroom increases, why does the DOE let parents remain in the dark?  

Parents have not been told their children’s schedules – not even for hybrid learning. Isn’t that done by a computer program, or is someone still writing on a stone tablet?  

Schools have until Friday, August 27 to submit their outdoor learning plans. How many schools don’t have outdoor space at all? 

And what about inclement weather, like rain, hurricanes, snow, or a cold winter? 

Ladies and gentlemen, our children deserve MUCH better than this insanity. 

I am Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz and this What You Should Know.