Northeast
Owner of NYC home that went up in flames says he can't get rid of squatters who 'have more rights' than him
The New York City man whose million-dollar home went up in flames late last year says he cannot get rid of squatters who “have more rights” than homeowners.
Zafar Iqbal, 53, told the New York Post he has repeatedly tried to renovate the house but they “keep coming back.”
He pays $6,000 a month for the Brooklyn property after paying $1.1 million for it in 2017. He says the home is now causing him to go broke, and he also fears for his safety.
“Every two or three weeks I go there, but I don’t approach,” Iqbal told the Post. “I don’t know if these guys have weapons or whatever. My safety is precious too.”
SQUATTERS BURNED NEW YORK HOME WHILE WREAKING HAVOC ON ‘HARDWORKING FAMILIES,’ OFFICIALS SAY
The Dyker Heights home before it burned to the ground in November. Squatter Cheng Chen, who was arrested for arson and criminal mischief, told police a candle started the inferno. (Google Maps)
Residents say the cadre of squatters took up residence in the Dyker Heights neighborhood over the summer and quickly made themselves known by stealing security cameras and other goods from surrounding houses – and directly threatening neighbors.
“I got a couple of contractors, they started working on the house,” Iqbal told the Post. “Next thing I know, I got a call from the fire department that the house is burnt out.”
BLUE STATE SQUATTERS PUT ON NOTICE WITH ‘AGGRESSIVE’ LAW AND ORDER BILL: ‘PEOPLE ARE GETTING KILLED’
Squatters set fire to a home in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights on Nov. 29 last year after a monthslong campaign of terror against their neighbors. Now, politicians are citing the incident as another indication that loopholes enabling squatters need to be closed. (LLN NYC)
Cheng Chen, 46, was charged with arson and criminal mischief after the Nov. 29 fire at 1237 67th Street last year. He was saddled with a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty, according to court records.
“The fire was caused by candles,” Chen told police, according to a criminal complaint. “I was smoking a cigarette, lit a candle. While I had the stove on to heat up the water and to keep myself warm, [I] went downstairs to take a shower. When I came back, I saw flames and smoke everywhere.”
Dozens of firefighters took an hour to put out the blaze, which caused $900,000 in damage. One squatter, Cheng Chen, was arrested on arson and criminal mischief charges. The other occupants of the home have taken up residence in the razed property’s backyard, neighbors say. (LLN NYC)
However, the New York City Police Department told Fox News Digital that Chen started the fire “intentionally” and “recklessly.”
The inferno caused $900,000 in damage, the New York Post reported, and took dozens of firefighters an hour to extinguish, according to ABC 7.
The Dyker Heights home Zafar Iqbal owns is in Brooklyn, seen here where people take photos near Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City on Oct. 19, 2022. (Yuki IWAMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
“Somebody got in there and torched my house,” Iqbal said. “That’s when I found out it was a squatter living there. The squatters have more rights than the homeowners. I’m the owner of the house. How much more can I do? I need help.”
Iqbal has been waiting for months since the fire for his insurance claim to go through, he told the Post. Once it does, he plans to fix the 8-bedroom, 4-bath home that has become a source of neighborhood complaints.
New York, most notably in New York City, has been rocked by repeated instances of squatting cases, including a handful that have turned violent and even murderous. Republican state Sen. Mario Mattera pointed to one man on Long Island in 2021, plumber Thomas Buckleman, who was brutally beaten with a baseball bat by a squatter when he was hired to winterize a building in Blue Point. Buckleman was left with three fractures to his skull and blood on his brain, and told local media at the time he believed he was going to die.
Fox News’ Emma Colton and Christina Coulter contributed to this report.
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Boston, MA
How to buy Paraguay vs. Germany 2026 World Cup tickets in Boston
Editor’s note: Follow live World Cup standings updates and analysis for the round of 32
Paraguay fans can breathe a sigh of relief, their team is headed to the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup.
Paraguay rebounded nicely after a tough first match against the United States, defeating Turkey and drawing Australia, finishing the group stage in third place and officially qualifying for the knockout rounds when Uruguay lost to Spain on Friday night.
However, it does not get easier from here, as Paraguay will take on Germany in the round of 32.
SHOP: Paraguay vs. Germany World Cup tickets
The match will take place outside of Boston at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. and is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to buy tickets for Paraguay vs. Germany’s in the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup.
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Germany vs. Paraguay round of 32 World Cup ticket price
With its Group E win, Germany will play its Round of 32 match at Gillette Stadium on Monday, June 29. As of publication, the cheapest available tickets for Germany’s game in Boston start at $1,044.
Germany World Cup Round of 32 game information
- Where: Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
- What time: 4:30 p.m. ET
- Tickets: Starting at $826
- When: Monday, June 29
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More: Here’s how to buy 2026 World Cup Final tickets in New York
When is Paraguay vs. Germany World Cup game?
Germany clinched the top spot in Group E on Saturday, its Round of 32 match will take place on Monday, June 29.
Where is Paraguay vs. Germany World Cup game?
Germany and Paraguay will play their round of 32 game outside of Boston. This will be the team’s first game in Foxborough, Mass. for the tournament.
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Germany World Cup schedule
- Sunday, June 14: Germany def. Curaçao WIN 7-1
- Saturday, June 20: Germany vs. Ivory Coast WIN 2-1
- Thursday, June 25: Germany vs. Ecuador LOSS 2-1
- Monday, June 29: Germany vs Paraguay in Boston (round of 32) – Shop tickets
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World Cup Group E standings
Paraguay World Cup schedule
- Paraguay vs. United States – LOSS 4-1
- Paraguay vs. Turkey – WIN 1-0
- Paraguay vs. Australia – DRAW 0-0
- Monday, June 29 – Paraguay vs. Germany in Boston (round of 32) – Shop tickets
World Cup Group D Standings
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Pittsburg, PA
South Side Street Fest adds more metal detectors and ID scanner to speed up lines
The South Side Street Fest added additional metal detectors and ID scanners, plus a dedicated line for locals, to help people get in faster after long lines were reported for the event’s first outing last weekend.
There were no lines at 11 p.m. on Friday, the event’s second night, but an organizer said Saturday, when they usually see larger crowds, will be a better test of the new measures. While attendees praised the event’s first night from a safety standpoint, with no arrests and an average number of citations issued, some criticized how long it took to get in on June 20.
“It’s a little overkill. I kind of had to wait 30 minutes,” Justin McCord said. “The line was just startling to me.”
John DeMauro, a business owner and member of the South Side Hospitality Partnership, which is working with the city to put on the event, said leaders have heard the feedback.
“We got more people than we thought there [would be],” DeMauro said. “There was a little bit of a wait to get into the entrances.”
They’ve since added four ID scanners and two more metal detectors, he said.
“We should be able to move those lines along fairly quickly this week,” DeMauro said.
The event is restricted to people 21 and up, but anyone under 21 who lives within the footprint can still get through. They’ll be escorted to their homes, a police commander told KDKA-TV, adding that few kids live inside the event’s footprint.
They also have a new solution for South Side residents to enter the footprint faster: a local lane pass. Acting just like a fast pass at an amusement park, those who have it can go through a dedicated entry line.
“Wanted that to be quicker, wanted that to be not as cumbersome,” he said.
Anyone who lives in the 15203 zip code, which covers the entire South Side, can register for the pass online, he said. At the 18th Street security checkpoint on Friday, residents had to show their ID with the 15203 zip code to go through the local lane.
Because the zip code is used, it means it’s not just for people who live inside the footprint. Anyone who lives on the South Side can enter using the pass, for instance, if they want to grab something from a corner store. Fifty people had registered as of 7 p.m. on Friday.
The line also helps to get delivery drivers through, Zone 3’s police commander said.
A bar owner within the footprint told KDKA-TV last week that during the fest’s debut, they saw a lot of people on the street but fewer in bars. But because it’s so early, they said they weren’t concerned.
“I think that’s the general consensus,” DeMauro said. “It was a really good start to it, but our intention is to make it grow. I think that’s the biggest thing we want people to understand.”
He added that the intention moving forward is to keep listening to feedback and making changes to improve the festival. He also encouraged people to come down to test the improved security measures themselves.
Connecticut
Newly released video shows Connecticut prison officers striking inmate before he died
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut prison inmate J’Allen Jones was suffering a mental health crisis in 2018 when correctional officers struck him multiple times, stripped him naked, put a spit bag over his head and sprayed pepper spray at his face shortly before he died.
Video of the series of events was released Friday by a state judge in Hartford overseeing Jones’ family’s lawsuit against eight officers and a prison nurse, following a yearslong legal battle and after both sides agreed to certain redactions.
The Department of Correction had sought to keep it sealed since 2019, saying in part that its release could present security problems because it shows the physical layout of the prison and staffing patterns. But Jones’ family, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and local NAACP officials called for publicly releasing the video, saying transparency was needed in Jones’ death.
“The events in the video are as disturbing as the events in the video of George Floyd’s death,” Ron Murphy, a lawyer for Jones’ family, wrote in a court document, referring to the man killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. “But in some ways, the video of J’Allen’s death is worse.”
Jones, 31, from Atlanta, was serving a 10-year sentence for robbery at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of New Haven when he died on March 25, 2018. Correction officers had been trying to take him to a medical unit in the prison at the time to get treatment for his mental illness.
Handcuffed inmate appeared in crisis as officers struck him
Portions of the 52-minute video show Jones handcuffed behind his back — and later with his legs shackled — as officers hit his legs and torso with their knees and fists, after he refused a strip search. At one point, an officer pins him down on a bed with a knee on his back while others hold him down.
Jones — who was having a schizophrenic episode, according to court documents — is heard yelling at this point, much of it unintelligible. He repeatedly shouts, “In the blood of Jesus Christ!” At one point, he tells officers, “I command you … to uncuff me now!”
Officers, meanwhile, tell Jones numerous times to stop resisting and to calm down. One officer tells Jones they’re just trying to help him.
About 17 minutes into the video, Jones appears to start having trouble breathing after the spit bag was placed over his head and he was pepper sprayed. Nearly five minutes later, Jones appears to be unconscious as officers struggle to hold him up and put him in a wheelchair. At around the 24-minute mark, an officer requests a nurse to evaluate Jones.
“Right now he’s just being dead weight, and I just want to make sure he’s OK,” the officer says, talking to the video camera held by another officer.
Minutes go by before life-saving measures are started
About 28 minutes into the video, a nurse starts performing CPR and an officer orders someone over the radio to call 911. An ambulance crew doesn’t arrive until more than 43 minutes into the video. Jones was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Hours after Jones’ death, the Department of Correction put out a brief statement saying that Jones had become “non-compliant and combative with staff and then became non-responsive.” It did not say anything about officers striking Jones but noted that there were no immediate indications that excessive force was used. It said life-saving measures were performed and he was brought to a hospital.
The medical examiner’s office determined that the cause of Jones’ death was “sudden death during struggle and restraint with chest compression and pepper spray exposure in person with hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.” It ruled his death a homicide, although that designation does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.
In January 2019, a state prosecutor investigating Jones’ death determined that no crimes were committed.
An internal Correction Department investigation found that excessive force was not used. But the eight officers and nurse violated policy by not recognizing for more than seven minutes that Jones was in medical distress — although not intentionally, the investigation report said.
Punishment of one-day suspensions without pay were handed down to the nine staff members, Correction Department records show.
The correctional officers’ union did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Family lawyer hopes video release spurs calls for reforms
Allen was Black, and his lawyer says eight of the nine defendants are white. One is Black. In court papers seeking release of the video, Murphy said it’s important that the public sees the footage and can consider “whether his race or schizophrenia played any role in how his cries for help and gasps for air were perceived and handled.”
“I hope everyone who chooses to watch the video does so with an open heart, remembering that J’Allen Jones was a father and a son and that his family grieves every day,” Murphy said in a statement Friday afternoon, adding that he hoped the video leads to prison system improvements.
He added, “I found the video very difficult to watch as it depicts the painful death of another human being. So please take care of yourself while watching and if you experience overwhelming feelings, consider taking a break or reaching out to someone for support. Thank you.”
Responding to a series of questions from The Associated Press about the video and how officers dealt with Jones, the Correction Department’s interim commissioner Sharonda Carlos, said in a statement that the agency is continually focused on improving the services it offers to inmates experiencing mental health problems.
“Any loss of life in our facilities is a tragedy that we feel deeply, and our sympathy remains with Mr. Jones’ family and loved ones,” she said.
Carlos said she appointed a psychiatrist to lead the department’s inmate medical services in May, and the agency is rolling out major improvements to its mental health training for staff.
“Behind every individual in our care is a family hoping for their well-being, and we do not take that responsibility lightly,” she said.
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