Northeast

Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently 'should be shot down, if necessary'

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2024

Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently 'should be shot down, if necessary'

A U.S. Senator from Connecticut said the mysterious drones spotted recently flying over states in the mid-Atlantic region should be “shot down, if necessary.”

In an interview on Capitol Hill Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said intelligence analysis is needed on the drones and the U.S. must act “more aggressively” against the sightings that have been reported.

“We should be doing some very smart intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” the senator said. “They should be shot down, if necessary, because they’re flying over sensitive areas.”

Blumenthal also said the lack of information on the drones, who they belong to and where they have come from is “absolutely unacceptable.”

DRONES SPOTTED OVER CONNECTICUT SKY IN LATEST PHENOMENON

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the mysterious drones spotted in New Jersey over the past few weeks, and most recently in Connecticut, should be “shot down, if necessary.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

His comments come as many large drones have been reported flying over New Jersey in the past few weeks. Drones were also allegedly spotted in Blumenthal’s state for the first time on Thursday.

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said Thursday that many of the alleged drones spotted recently are actually lawfully operated manned aircraft.

“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby told reporters at the daily White House press briefing. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they’re working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin.”

Mysterious drones have been spotted flying over the mid-Atlantic region of the United States over the past few weeks. The above graphic shows the reported sightings as of Wednesday, Dec. 11. (Fox News)

Kirby also said, thus far, the investigation into the alleged drones has not revealed “any national security or malicious intent or criminal activity,” but admitted the government is in the beginning stages of the investigation.

MORE THAN 20 DAYS INTO PHENOMENON, PENTAGON STILL HAS NO ANSWERS ABOUT ORIGINS OF MYSTERIOUS NJ DRONES

Blumenthal said his office is asking for a briefing on the drones, describing it as “absolutely necessary” for Congress and the American people as many appear to be concerned and afraid.

“I’m hearing from constituents in the metropolitan area around New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, who are really terrified by these drones flying unidentified over airports and military bases,” he said.

A social media user said she filmed several drones hoovering over Fairfield, Connecticut, on Thursday night. (Lucy Biggers)

The senator added that the drones are causing a “level of fear, even terror” because people are worried about surveillance and airplanes flying in the same airspace.

He also encouraged Americans wanting to use drones to buy ones manufactured in the USA and not China, warning that they could be “sources of surveillance data for other kinds of security threats.”

Multiple drones were seen flying over Bernardsville, New Jersey, on Dec. 5. (Brian Glenn/TMX/AP)

“Chinese manufactured drones are real and present [a] threat to the security of this country,” Blumenthal said. “We have to stop using them.”

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New York

Vote For the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry of 2024

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2024

Press Room

Vote For the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry of 2024

Every week since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has published stories by, and for, New Yorkers of all ages and eras (no matter where they live now): anecdotes and memories, quirky encounters and overheard snippets that reveal the city’s spirit and heart.

For the past three years, we’ve asked for your help picking the best Diary entry of the year. Now we’re asking again.

We’ve narrowed the field to the five finalists here. Read them and vote for your favorite. The author of the item that gets the most votes will receive a print of the illustration that accompanied it, signed by the artist, Agnes Lee.

The voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22. You can change your vote as many times as you’d like until then, but you may only pick one. Choose wisely.

Click “VOTE” to choose your favorite Metropolitan Diary entry of 2024, and come back on Sunday, Dec. 29 to see which one our readers picked as their favorite.

Benched

Published on March 3

Dear Diary:

I was in the habit of taking walks in Carl Schurz Park on early summer mornings, when the sun cast a lovely orange glow over the quiet East River esplanade.

My walk was identical every day. What also became routine was seeing the same older man sitting on the same bench each morning. He held a flat tweed cap in his hands, always gazing wistfully out onto the water.

One morning, I decided to talk to him.

“Hello,” I said, approaching the bench where he was sitting.

He looked up.

“How do you do?” he said.

“I don’t mean to bother you, but I see you here every day,” I said.

“Is that right?” he said.

“And if you don’t mind me asking, I was curious why you sat on this same bench?”

He turned away with a deep sigh.

“My wife and I used to sit on this bench together for 51 years,” he said.

“Oh,” I said, feeling badly. “I’m sorry.”

“And for some bizarre reason she likes to sit over there now,” he said, gesturing toward a woman 20 feet to the left of us.

– Samuel Willinger

Sausage and Peppers

Published on July 14

Dear Diary:

On a summer Sunday when I was living on 56th Street behind Carnegie Hall, I ran the loop in Central Park and then returned home on Sixth Avenue.

A typical summer street fair was being set up on the avenue, and an Italian sausage truck was positioned at 58th Street.

“Great,” I thought. I love Italian sausage sandwiches.

I returned to the truck at about 1 p.m., bought one, took it back to my apartment and thoroughly enjoyed it.

At about 4 p.m., I decided to treat myself to another. When I got to the truck, there was a man ahead of me who had just ordered and was waiting for his sandwich.

I ordered one, and while I waited, the counterman brought the man in front of me his and he began eating.

When my sandwich arrived, it was huge, with easily twice the amount of sausage, peppers and onions as before.

As I started eating, I noticed the other man looking at my sandwich, then at his sandwich, then at mine again. Finally, he looked at the counterman.

“What gives?” he said. “Why’s mine so small?”

“Oh,” the counterman answered without hesitating, “he’s a regular.”

– William L. Clayton

Slightly Worn

Published on Aug. 4

Dear Diary:

Some years ago, I worked in the management office at a clothing store on Madison Avenue. Our policy was that men’s suits could be returned within a specified time limit provided they hadn’t been altered or showed signs of wear like pulled threads or frayed material.

One summer day, a man walked in with a garment bag slung over his arm. He said he wanted to return a suit that had been bought 10 days earlier. He gave the receipt to the cashier, who unzipped the garment bag and called for me to come downstairs.

When I got to the counter, I took the gray pinstriped suit out of the bag and hung it on a hook for inspection. It didn’t appear worn, but it did seem a bit grimy and dirty, almost as though whoever had worn it had been rolling around in a flower bed.

“Did you purchase this suit for yourself?” I asked the man.

“No,” he replied. “A manager in my company purchased the suit. I am the courier.”

“What company do you work for?”

He gave me a business card for a funeral home in the Bronx.

My eyes widened as I conjured up all the possible purposes for which this grimy-looking suit could have been purchased. Realizing we would have to thoroughly clean it before trying to resell it, I told the man that we couldn’t give him a refund but would offer a store credit.

“But it’s only been worn once,” he said.

– Eric W. Stotter

That Was Quick

Published on Dec. 1

Dear Diary:

In May 1978, I and several other Cornell students traveled to Manhattan for interviews with prospective employers. After the interviews, we needed to get back to Port Authority to catch a bus back upstate.

I decided to show off my worldliness by confidently hailing a cab. We piled in, and I directed the driver to take us to Port Authority.

“Port Authority?” he asked.

“Please,” I replied.

He stared at me for a moment, drove the cab about 20 yards and pulled over.

“Here you go!” he announced.

I was thoroughly embarrassed.

“What’s the charge?” I asked meekly.

“Nothing” he said. “It was worth it for the entertainment.”

– George Lutz

East 37th Street

Published on Oct. 13

Dear Diary:

Janet became my best friend in fall 1968. We met in fifth grade at the St. Vincent Ferrer school on East 65th Street. She was a transfer student from a school in Murray Hill that was closing because of low enrollment.

We were both only children. My mother worked outside the home. Janet’s mother did not. So we would take the bus to her home on East 37th Street after school.

It was a magical place for me: a first-floor garden apartment where we could play outside and in Janet’s beautiful bedroom. It felt like a real home.

As we grew up, Janet was on track to become an actress. I vividly recall the day her father took us to a shoot for “The Godfather,” in which Janet had a part.

Janet died of leukemia a few months later, and over the years her friends, including me, made a point of walking by East 37th Street whenever we were in the area.

Fast forward to 2022. I had lived in different parts of New York City over the years and most recently at my mother’s home in Connecticut. I sold the house after my mother died and was able to rent in the city once again.

I looked at many apartments, until one day a certain East 37th Street address came up on my computer. I was shown an amazing, newly renovated, light-filled apartment on the fourth floor in the front of the building.

I had to interview with the apartment’s owner. He listened quietly as I explained my connection to the building. I expected to leave and hear his decision at a later date. That is not what happened.

“Welcome home,” he said immediately.

– Dayna Gerring

Illustrations by Agnes Lee.

Boston, MA

Boston Water and Sewer Commission to meet over proposed 3.4% rate increase

Published

4 hours ago

December 14, 2024

Press Room

Boston Water and Sewer Commission to meet over proposed 3.4% rate increase

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission will hold a public meeting to discuss a 3.4% rate increase to go into effect next year.

Commissioners will meet Tuesday on the second floor training room of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission building “for the purpose of giving interested persons an opportunity to present data, views or arguments relative to the following schedule of rates for water, sewer and stormwater in the City of Boston which are proposed to become effective January 1, 2025,” the public notice states.

Under the 2025 rate increase, the commission states, the average one-family customer using 180 gallons per day in 2025 would be charged about $111.75 per 31-day month or approximately $1,317.79 annually.

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) proposed 3.4% rate increase for water, sewer and stormwater revenue is higher than the previous two years, which fell at 1.4% and 1.5% respectively. The rate increase still remains slightly below average for the last decade, with the increases reaching as high as 8.9% in 2021.

The Commission stated the increase will cover “projected 2025 expenses and all other legal and contractual funding requirements.” The average combined revenue for water and sewer rates will be $24.35 per 1,000 gallons for the year, the BWSC estimates.

Nationally, over the last 12 years combined household water and sewer bills increased by an average of 4.1% each year, according to Bluefield Research.

The BWSC also released estimates for the following four years of revenue rate increases. The rates are expected to increase by 3.75% in 2026 and 2027 before dropping to 3% for 2028 and 2029.

The Commission is undergoing an annual Capital Improvement Plan “to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of water and sewer services while working to reduce unnecessary water loss and minimize pollution of Boston Harbor and tributary waters,” the rate increase proposal said.

The rate setting takes into account a number of other sources of revenue including special service fees, which are expected to bring in $7.3 million, and late fees, which are forecasted to top $2.4 million in 2025.

The BWSC serves about water distribution system, which purchases water through the Massachusetts Water Resources Facility, serves about 90,000 active accounts in Boston. The Commission also runs 1,535 miles of sewers, including 713 miles of sanitary sewers,
668 miles of storm drains and 140 miles of combined sewers, according to the rate change proposal.

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Pittsburg, PA

Former Steeler Joey Porter Reveals Travel Quirk in AFC North Cities

Published

5 hours ago

December 14, 2024

Press Room

Former Steeler Joey Porter Reveals Travel Quirk in AFC North Cities

CINCINNATI — Former Steelers linebacker great and Bengals rival Joey Porter is self-aware when he goes to AFC North cities. He discussed how intense the division rivalries are on Hard Knocks this week, even saying he won’t eat out in Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Baltimore.

“Once you learn the rivalry, it’s way more intense than anybody can speak on it,” Porter Sr. told his son and current Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. “Like I don’t even eat in Cleveland. I never eat in Cincinnati. And I never eat in Baltimore. Like they can just forget about it, they talk about the good crab in Baltimore. Nah. I ain’t never had it. They gonna spit in Joey Porter’s sandwich. They gonna spit in my pasta.”

Porter famously caused controversy after running on the field during Cincinnati’s playoff loss to Pittsburgh in 2016 after Antonio Brown was hit by Vontaze Burfict with a penalized tackle.

The former hard-hitting linebacker was the ire of AFC North fans on the playing field from 1999-2006.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch the video below:

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

News Pub

Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently 'should be shot down, if necessary'

Northeast

Sen. Blumenthal says mysterious drones spotted recently 'should be shot down, if necessary'