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New York Could Be the Next State to Limit Students’ Cellphone Use

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New York Could Be the Next State to Limit Students’ Cellphone Use

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Monday announced her intention to limit access to cellphones in schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade as part of her latest push to address children’s reliance on the devices.

In a statement, which provided no other details, the governor said she would include the legislation in her proposal for next fiscal year’s budget. She billed the initiative as a follow-up to one of her key achievements last year, the passage of legislation designed to protect young people from addictive algorithms on social media. She cited a Pew Research poll that showed 72 percent of high school teachers described students being distracted by cellphones as a “major problem.”

“Young people succeed in the classroom when they’re learning and growing — not clicking and scrolling,” Governor Hochul said Monday. “My upcoming budget proposal will put forth a new statewide standard for distraction-free learning in schools across our state.”

Speaking to high school and college students at Hudson Valley Community College on Monday, the governor acknowledged that restricting cellphone use might make her “very unpopular.”

Los Angeles Unified became the largest school district in the United States to ban cellphones last year. Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota are among the states that have moved to crack down on the devices in schools.

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In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams backed away from a plan to ban cellphones in schools in August, saying the city wasn’t “there yet.”

In September, New York State United Teachers, the state teachers’ union, called for a “bell-to-bell” policy that would restrict cellphone use from first period to dismissal. The union’s president, Melinda Person, has said that the union was working closely with the governor to craft a plan.

But the idea has its detractors as well. Some New York parents who were students during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have expressed reservations about losing the ability to contact their children in an emergency. Principals have questioned who would foot the bill for equipment to collect phones. And some teachers have wondered how they would be expected to discipline students who broke the rules.

In a statement on Monday, a spokeswoman for the United Federation of Teachers, New York City’s teachers’ union, said that the organization supported state and city restrictions on cellphones in public schools, as long as a number of conditions were met.

The union said teachers should not be responsible for enforcing the restrictions; school districts should shoulder the cost instead of individual schools; enforcement should be consistent from student to student; and schools should have emergency contact lines set up for parents.

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Many of New York City’s more than 1,500 public schools already restrict cellphone use. Some middle schools require children to place their phones in cubbies along the walls of their classrooms. Many high schools hand out locked fabric pouches for phones that students carry in their bags throughout the school day.

Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a state senator who represents a large swath of the West Side of Manhattan, introduced a bill last week that would prohibit students from accessing their phones on school property. He said he saw his bill as a starting point for a conversation in the State Senate.

He said he hoped that the governor’s plan would include a way for students to safely and securely hand over their phones and then get them back at the end of the day.

“As a parent of a 14-year-old daughter, I understand how phones are an obstacle in the learning environment,” Senator Hoylman-Sigal said. “At the same time, I appreciate that parents want their children to have phones when they’re on the subway or on a bus. So I hope the governor’s proposal embraces both of those needs.”

Speaking at the community college on Monday, Governor Hochul described hearing from students who told her about how they struggled to put away their phones because they are feared they would “miss something.”

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“There’s so much pressure on all of you, and I’ve got to help you with that,” she told the students. “That’s my job.”

Troy Closson and Benjamin Oreskes contributed reporting.

New York

Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

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Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

A driver who crashed into a woman and her two young daughters while they were crossing a street in Brooklyn in March, killing all three, was sentenced to as many as nine years in prison on Wednesday.

The driver, Miriam Yarimi, has admitted striking the woman, Natasha Saada, 34, and her daughters, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5, after speeding through a red light. She had slammed into another vehicle on the border of the Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods and careened into a crosswalk where the family was walking.

Ms. Yarimi, 33, accepted a judge’s offer last month to admit to three counts of second-degree manslaughter in Brooklyn Supreme Court in return for a lighter sentence. She was sentenced on Wednesday by the judge, Justice Danny Chun, to three to nine years behind bars.

The case against Ms. Yarimi, a wig maker with a robust social media presence, became a flashpoint among transportation activists. Ms. Yarimi, who drove a blue Audi A3 sedan with the license plate WIGM8KER, had a long history of driving infractions, according to New York City records, with more than $12,000 in traffic violation fines tied to her vehicle at the time of the crash.

The deaths of Ms. Saada and her daughters set off a wave of outrage in the city over unchecked reckless driving and prompted calls from transportation groups for lawmakers to pass penalties on so-called super speeders.

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Ms. Yarimi “cared about only herself when she raced in the streets of Brooklyn and wiped away nearly an entire family,” Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said in a statement after the sentencing. “She should not have been driving a car that day.”

Mr. Gonzalez had recommended the maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Ms. Yarimi appeared inside the Brooklyn courtroom wearing a gray shirt and leggings, with her hands handcuffed behind her back. During the brief proceedings, she addressed the court, reading from a piece of paper.

“I’ll have to deal with this for the rest of my life and I think that’s a punishment in itself,” she said, her eyes full of tears. “I think about the victims every day. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about what I’ve done.”

On the afternoon of March 29, a Saturday, Ms. Yarimi was driving with a suspended license, according to prosecutors. Around 1 p.m., she turned onto Ocean Parkway, where surveillance video shows her using her cellphone and running a red light, before continuing north, they said.

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At the intersection with Quentin Road, Ms. Saada was stepping into the crosswalk with her two daughters and 4-year-old son. Nearby, a Toyota Camry was waiting to turn onto the parkway.

Ms. Yarimi sped through a red light and into the intersection. She barreled into the back of the Toyota and then shot forward, plowing into the Saada family. Her car flipped over and came to a rest about 130 feet from the carnage.

Ms. Saada and her daughters were killed, while her son was taken to a hospital where he had a kidney removed and was treated for skull fractures and brain bleeding. The Toyota’s five passengers — an Uber driver, a mother and her three children — also suffered minor injuries.

Ms. Yarimi’s car had been traveling 68 miles per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone and showed no sign that brakes had been applied, prosecutors said. Ms. Yarimi sustained minor injures from the crash and was later taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The episode caused immediate fury, drawing reactions from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams, who attended the Saadas’s funeral.

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According to NYCServ, the city’s database for unpaid tickets, Ms. Yarimi’s Audi had $1,345 in unpaid fines at the time of the crash. On another website that tracks traffic violations using city data, the car received 107 parking and camera violations between June 2023 and the end of March 2025. Those violations, which included running red lights and speeding through school zones, amounted to more than $12,000 in fines.

In the months that followed, transportation safety groups and activists decried Ms. Yarimi’s traffic record and urged lawmakers in Albany to pass legislation to address the city’s chronic speeders.

Mr. Gonzalez on Wednesday said that Ms. Yarimi’s sentence showed “that reckless driving will be vigorously prosecuted.”

But outside the courthouse, the Saada family’s civil lawyer, Herschel Kulefsky, complained that the family had not been allowed to speak in court. “ They are quite disappointed, or outraged would probably be a better word,” he said, calling the sentence “the bare minimum.”

“I think this doesn’t send any message at all, other than a lenient message,” Mr. Kulefsky added.

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Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

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Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

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Bodegas have been an essential part of New York City life for decades. Anna Kodé, a reporter at the New York Times, breaks down the history, challenges and triumphs of the bodega and the people who run them.

By Anna Kodé, Gabriel Blanco, Karen Hanley and Laura Salaberry

November 17, 2025

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Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

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Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

new video loaded: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

The biggest thing holding Penn Station back from a much-needed rehaul is what’s on top of it: Madison Square Garden.

By Patrick McGeehan, Edward Vega, Laura Salaberry and Melanie Bencosme

November 13, 2025

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