Cops were called to the scene at Southards Park Pond, off Siegel Boulevard in Babylon Village, shortly before 9 a.m. when a parent of the students who found the arm called 911. That came after the teens spotted a person’s left arm dumped in the bushes.

“One of the students called their father. The father responded, confirmed it was an arm on the side of the road and he called 911,” Suffolk County Police Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer said at a news conference.

A short time later in the early afternoon, a police dog searching another part of the large park found a human leg under leaves about a mile from the first location — and not far from a nearby elementary school. Later in the evening, a right arm was found as well, about 20 feet further into the woods from where the first arm was discovered in the morning, police said.

“There’s a mound of leaves. We don’t know what’s going to be under the mound. Once we clear the mound we may find the remainder of the body or we may not,” said Beyrer.

The superintendent of the Babylon Unified School District said in a letter to parents that students at the nearby school were kept indoors for recess while the investigation was underway, and that mental health resources would be provided “to assist our students at all grade levels, and we encourage any student feeling uneasy, anxious or scared in any way to please take advantage of them during this time.” The letter noted that the investigation is otherwise unrelated to any of the schools.

Homicide detectives were on scene throughout the day with crime scene tape stretched across an area usually frequented by school kids, joggers and people walking their dogs. Police said it appeared the body parts had been dumped recently.

Police didn’t immediately provide any further information on the limbs found, hoping that testing the DNA and examining tattoos could help lead them to an identification. Investigators were looking into all possibilities as to what may have happened, and did not rule out that it may have been gang-related.

Police did not share whether the body parts are believed to be of the same person or how the individual may have died.

A woman was arrested in the caught-on-camera bottle attack on a Herald Square musician as he performed for the evening rush crowd earlier this month, the NYPD said — but she was then released without bail hours later.

Amira Hunter, of Brooklyn, was charged Thursday with assault in the Feb. 13 attack at the midtown transit hub. It wasn’t clear if she had an attorney.

Even though she allegedly committed a violent crime that is bail eligible, and despite the district attorney requesting she be held on bail, the judge on Thursday released her without it.

Hunter has previous arrests for petit larceny, for which she has failed to show up in court multiple times.

“This was on film, a random attack against an individual. She goes gets arraigned — and is walking right back out on the street without a consequence, without spending a few nights in jail,” said former NYPD chief Terry Monahan. “It may be two three years now before this case gets resolved.”

Police allege Hunter is the woman seen on video smacking Iain Forrest in the back of his head with his metal water bottle. Video shows the woman leaning on a column at the 34th Street station while looking at her phone, then putting her phone in her bag and marching behind Forrest. She grabs his metal water bottle and whacks him forcefully.

“I just felt in the middle of the performance some terrible collision in the back of my head,” Forrest, a medical student and electric cellist with the stage name Eyeglasses, recalled.

The “Music Under New York” member said he didn’t know what had caused “a lot of pain” and was disoriented.

He also said it wasn’t the first time he’d been attacked in transit. Forrest says someone tried to steal his instrument when he was performing in Times Square within the last year.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” he announced on his Instagram two days of the latest attack. “I’m suspending subway performances indefinitely.”

While the MTA doesn’t log specific numbers of assaults on musicians in subway stations, Forrest says he believes tracking those numbers and diverting resources can help prevent future attacks.

“If you talk to any of these musicians, they’ll tell you something similar happened to them. They got assaulted. They got attacked, harassed,” Forrest said.

The musician has been entertaining locals and tourists in subway stations for nearly a decade. He also performed the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden last December.

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Aranwood Kennels in Mahwah bills itself online as “trustworthy indoor/outdoor boarding for dogs.” But the owner, 57-year-old Richard Dubarton, has been arrested and charged after the jarring find was made by a customer the week of Feb. 18.

“The caller stated he located a Dutch Shepherd dog which appeared to be in near-death conditions located inside a garbage bag, which was inside a dumpster in the parking lot,” court records state.

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Miraculously, there is a bit of good news: The dog survived, police said.

Dubarton said “someone must’ve dumped it there.” Investigators said he got the dog months earlier from Irvington police after its original owner surrendered the canine.

Irvington officials had no comment, nor did the kennel when reached by phone by NBC New York.

Police said Dubarton has worked as an animal control officer in several New Jersey communities. That includes Plainfield, which said that after the Humane Society terminated its working relationship with the town in 2023, they started working with the kennel.

“We entered into a contract with them, hopeful that this partnership would provide a reliable and compassionate solution. However, recent developments have cast a shadow over this decision,” a statement from Plainfield officials on Thursday read. “Allegations of mistreatment within Aranwood Kennels have come to light, prompting an immediate investigation by our police department…in response to these disturbing reports, we acted swiftly to ensure the safety and care of our community’s animals, none of whom remain under the care of the implicated facility.”

Police said they have since recovered 37 dogs from Dubarton’s property. He locked “multiple dogs'” outside in sub-freezing temperatures for an extended period of time, according to court papers.

The animals taken away have since been vetted and taken to various rescue facilities, police said. Some of the rescued animals may have to be euthanized. An investigation is ongoing.

A voicemail for Dubarton was not returned. He is next scheduled to appear in court during the first week of March.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed that agents carried out early-morning raids at two Bronx addresses, which records show are owned by Winnie Greco, a former fundraiser to Adams who now serves as a special advisor of Asian Affairs. Agents could be seen taking boxes of material away and loading them into an SUV.

The purpose of the investigation was not immediately clear, though it appears to be related to questions as to whether she asked for donations in exchange for access to official mayoral events, according to a report by The City.

Crown Heights Nov 2, 2023

FBI searches Crown Heights home of chief Eric Adams fundraiser: Sources

Eric Adams Nov 10, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams' phones, iPad seized by FBI amid campaign fundraising investigation

It comes as Adams and several members of his inner circle are facing federal scrutiny by Manhattan prosecutors related political fundraising during his 2021 campaign.

A person with knowledge of the investigation said the investigation was being overseen by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn and was separate from the criminal inquiry being conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

Neighbors of Greco’s said federal agents began searching the two homes, which are on the same block of Gillespie Avenue in the Pelham Bay neighborhood, at around 6:00 a.m. and remained in the area for several hours.

Greco was placed on administrative leave Thursday, according to a City Hall spokesperson. A prolific fundraiser, she had worked closely with Adams for over a decade, serving as his conduit to the city’s Asian-American communities.

In November, the city’s Department of Investigation opened a probe into her conduct following a news report that raised questions about her political fundraising and whether she used her position in the administration to obtain personal benefits.

According to that report, published by the local news outlet The City, Greco demanded that a city employee complete free renovations on her home when he was supposed to be working. The report appears to have led to DOI investigation as well as an FBI criminal investigation.

Greco is at least the third aide to Adams whose home has targeted by federal agents. In November, the FBI raided the home of Brianna Suggs, a top fundraiser for Adams, and Rana Abbasova, who worked in the mayor’s international affairs office. Four days later, agents quietly seized the mayor’s cellphones and an iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan.

That investigation, which is being led by Manhattan prosecutors, is believed to be focused on whether the Adams campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources, funneled through straw donors, according to a warrant reported on by The New York Times.

Adams has repeatedly deflected questions about the investigation while stressing that he has not officially been accused of wrongdoing.

“Our administration will always follow the law, and we always expect all our employees to adhere to the strictest ethical guidelines,” a spokesperson for the mayor said in a statement Thursday. “As we have repeatedly said, we don’t comment on matters that are under review, but will fully cooperate with any review underway.”

There was no immediate response to a voicemail seeking comment left at a phone number listed as Greco’s.

The booth used in the final scene of the “The Sopranos” was put up for auction Wednesday night on eBay, with the highest bid over the first day of the sale exceeding $50,000.

The owners of Holsten’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey – where Tony Soprano and his family dined during the closing minutes of the HBO show’s 2007 finale – decided to part with the Hollywood memorabilia while renovating the old-fashioned ice cream parlor.   

“The dining room that’s there now was installed in the mid-1970s, and it’s just taken a lot of abuse over the years,” owner Chris Carley told NBC. “It’s starting to crack and fall apart and not be as sturdy as it used to be. So, we decided after a long deliberation, to replace the whole dining room, which we knew would mean that we’d lose the original ‘Sopranos’ table.”

The very table that has turned fans of the Emmy-winning mafia series into regulars at the shop over the last 17 years, with many traveling great distances to sit in the booth and take photos.

As the setting for arguably the most memorable and controversial finales in television history, the booth is now for sale in a high-priced bidding war. By Thursday evening – less than 24 hours after the auction began with a starting price of $3,000 – over 150 bids had been made.

“I’m actually shocked that it’s gone up so high considering we started at $3,000,” said Carley, who has co-owned the shop with Ron Stark since the 1980s. “I’m very surprised.”

The auction ends Monday, which is when the shop’s new booths are expected to be installed.

The winning bidder will receive both seats, the table and the divider wall with the plaque that reads, “Reserved for the Sopranos Family.” And a great spot to eat some gabagool.

“We are currently renovating our booths at Holsten’s,” the eBay post reads. “This is your once in a lifetime chance to own the ORIGINAL booth that the Soprano Family sat in for the final scene of the famous show!”

Not included is the table-top jukebox HBO prop that Tony used to put on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” shortly before — spoiler alert — the screen abruptly cut to black, ambiguously leaving viewers to decide for themselves whether Tony was killed or not.

“That was probably one of the biggest questions we had for months and months,” Carley said of the reaction after the episode aired. “People thought we knew something different. Was Tony killed? You saw what I saw.”

But what does the owner of the shop where Tony was last seen actually think happened to him?

“I think he would have lived,” Carley said.

Crew members from the show first visited Holsten’s during the third or fourth season to take pictures of the shop, which is registered with the New Jersey Film Institute, Carley said. He didn’t hear back until the final season.    

“I think [show creator] David Chase having grown up in Clifton had an idea of what he wanted, and when he saw the pictures that was it,” Carley said. “They decided this was where they wanted to shoot the final scene, and we went from there.”

The filming of the roughly five-minute scene was completed over five days, with scenes shot out of sequence to maintain the secrecy of the finale, Carley said.

The two shop owners even landed roles in the scene as chefs flipping burgers at the grill.  

“If you blink, you missed us,” Carley said. “But we were in there.”

The shop’s cameo in the high-profile scene made the already-beloved Holsten’s even more of a local attraction. The Monday morning after the finale aired, all seats were occupied within 20 minutes of opening. 

“We were busy for literally two months, it was non-stop day and night,” Carley said. “Everybody was coming, everybody wanted to sit in the booth.”

And they still do to this day.

“Of course, it’s died off somewhat,” Carley said. “A lot of people come from all over, stopping on vacation. We still get on-location bus tours every week on Saturday.”

That’s why when the announcement of the auction was made on Holsten’s Facebook page, many begged the owners to reconsider. 

“Keep it!!!!” one user wrote. “It’s a great photo op and brought the company business. People want to sit EXACTLY where Tony sat, not a replica/replacement.”

Carley said if it was feasible, they would have kept the booth in place.

“It wasn’t a choice we took lightly or wanted to do, it was something we were sort of forced into doing,” Carley said. “It’s actually not going to look any different. You’d have a hard time realizing that we changed everything.”

The booth will be nearly identical. A new plaque will hang on the divider. The screen-used jukebox will sit atop the table.

Fans will continue to visit, the Soprano family will always be remembered, and more onion rings will be ordered.   

“Even though I’m putting something back that looks exactly like it, it’s not the original, and I’ll never lead people to believe that,” Carley said. “I’ll say it’s been replaced, it’s just part of our history.”

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The letter, obtained by NBC New York, said after an investigation of the May 16, 2023 incident, the NYPD determined the paparazzi acted in a “reckless” manner, though no charges have been filed.

In a statement to NBC News back in May, the couple’s spokesperson said the “relentless pursuit” of the couple, who were leaving an event, lasted for over two hours and resulted in near collisions with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD police officers.

The spokesperson added that the “near catastrophic car chase” came “at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi.”

Julian Phillips, the then-NYPD deputy commissioner of public information, said at the time that officers “assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”

“There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” Phillips said in a statement. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”

In the NYPD’s letter, police said the paparazzi showed a “reckless disregard of vehicle and traffic laws and persistently dangerous and unacceptable behavior.”

The NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office determined there was not enough evidence to arrest anyone involved, but the incident would lead to a change in security for the royals in the future.

The NYPD said it will be “enhancing the security resources afforded to the Duke and Duchess on future visits to the city,” according to the letter, which said the NYPD will add extra resource for the couple’s protection.

The short-term extension is the fourth in recent months, and many lawmakers expect it to be the last for the current fiscal year. House Speaker Mike Johnson said negotiators had completed six of the annual spending bills that fund federal agencies and had “almost final agreement on the others.”

“We’ll get the job done,” Johnson said as he exited a closed-door meeting with Republican colleagues.

The House acted first Thursday. The vote to approve the extension was 320-99. It easily cleared the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Democrats overwhelmingly voted to avert a partial shutdown. But the vote was much more divided with Republicans, 113 in support and 97 against.

The Senate then took up the bill and approved it during an evening vote of 77-13.

“When we pass this bill, we will have, thank God, avoided a shutdown with all its harmful effects on the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said moments before the vote.

Biden called Thursday night’s vote “good news for the American people” but added, “I want to be clear: this is a short-term fix — not a long-term solution.”

Next week, the House and Senate are expected to take up a package of six spending bills and get them to the president before March 8. Then, lawmakers would work to fund the rest of the government by the new March 22 deadline.

At the end of the process, Congress is expected to have approved more than $1.6 trillion in spending for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. That amount is roughly in line with the previous fiscal year and is what former Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with the White House last year before eight disgruntled Republican lawmakers joined with Democrats a few months later and voted to oust him from the position.

Some of the House’s most conservative members wanted deeper cuts for non-defense programs than that agreement allowed through its spending caps. They also sought an array of policy changes that Democrats opposed. They were hoping the prospect of a shutdown could leverage more concessions.

“Last I checked, the Republicans actually have a majority in the House of Representatives, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at our checkbook because we are all too willing to continue the policy choices of Joe Biden and the spending levels of Nancy Pelosi,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

But Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., countered before the vote that shutdowns are damaging and encouraged lawmakers to vote for the short-term extension.

“I want the American people to know, Mr. Speaker, that this negotiation has been difficult, but to close the government down at a time like this would hurt people who should not be hurt,” Fleischmann said.

The split within the GOP conference on spending and their tiny House majority bogged down the efforts to get the bills passed on a timely basis. With the Senate also struggling to complete work on all 12 appropriations bills, lawmakers have resorted to a series of short-term measures to keep the government funded.

Republican leadership said that the broader funding legislation being teed up for votes in March would lead to spending cuts for many nondefense agencies. By dividing the spending bill up into chunks, they are hoping to avoid an omnibus bill — a massive, all-encompassing bill that lawmakers generally had little time to digest or understand before voting on it. Republicans vowed there would be no omnibus this time.

“When you take away Defense and Veterans Affairs, the rest of the agencies are going to be seeing spending cuts in many cases,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. “There are also some policy changes that we pushed through the House that will be in the final product. Of course, some of those are still being negotiated.”

The temporary extension funds the departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and others through March 8. It funds the Pentagon, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the State Department through March 22.

While congressional leaders have said they’ve reached final agreement on what will be in the first package of spending bills voted on next week, there’s still room for an impasse on the second package to be voted on later in the month.

“We are working in a divided government. That means to get anything done, we have to work together, in good faith to reach reasonable outcomes,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The renewed focus on this year’s spending bills doesn’t include the separate, $95.3 billion aid package that the Senate approved for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan earlier this month, with much of that money being spent in the U.S. to replenish America’s military arsenal. The bill also contained about $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Ukraine and other war zones.

Biden summoned congressional leaders to the White House on Tuesday, during which he and others urged Johnson to also move forward with the aid package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the U.S. can’t afford to wait months to provide more military assistance to Ukraine, which is running short of the arms and ammunition necessary to repel Russia’s military invasion.

“We’ve got a lot of priorities before us, but we have to get the government funded and secure our border and then we’ll address everything else,” Johnson told reporters upon exiting his meeting with GOP colleagues.

Democrats urged quicker action on Ukraine as the temporary spending bill was debated.

“Without swift action, the legacy of this Congress will be the destruction of Ukraine, the appeasement of a dictator, and the abandonment of starving children and ailing families,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Police swarmed the Rockaway Avenue subway station, on the C line, after getting a 911 call about the 3:40 a.m. attack. Investigators say he was on the job at the time, performing his duties on a southbound C train. He stuck his head out of the conductor’s cab, and got slashed by an unknown individual, authorities say. The slasher ran off.

The conductor yelled for help over the PA system and luckily a doctor was aboard the train. The conductor was later identified as Alton Scott, who has 24 years of service for the MTA.

“If it wasn’t for the doctor, he’s not sure if he would have made it. We are extremely grateful for the quick thinking and actions of this doctor,” said Demetrius Critchlow, the senior vice president for the Department of Subways.

Scott was treated for his injuries at Brookdale Hospital, getting 34 stitches before later being released. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

“His first words to me were, ‘I love my job, but, you know, I thought I was going to die,'” Critchlow said.

Police said Thursday no arrests have been made.

The slashing comes on the heels of new orange stanchions getting debuted this week to protect the front cabs amid a spike in violence that has seen three homicides in recent weeks. Over the weekend, a woman was followed off a train by a man police say tried to rape her in the subway station. He’s still on the loose.

MTA officials have condemned the string of violence. The Transport Workers Union blasted the MTA after the attack, saying the incident was “a horrific example of the epic, decades-long failure by the MTA and Chairman Janno Lieber to protect transit workers.”

“We stand ready to assist Local 100 as they confront this plague of violence – and transit executives who are either inept or indifferent to the harm inflicted on their own employees day and night,” said TWU President John Samuelsen. “On workplace safety, the MTA has been an abysmal failure. Assaults against transit workers in the subway increased nearly 60% last year. Unlike Lieber, transit workers don’t travel with a dedicated and armed MTA Police squad.”

The union pleaded with the MTA to deploy members of the agency’s 1,000-member police force — officers usually seen on the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad — to start patrolling the subway lines across the five boroughs.

Alina Ramirez, a union spokesperson, stressed that the union did not authorize any official work stoppage or slowdown, despite claims posted on social media.

She said members working on the subway line where the attack occurred reported for work as usual Thursday but remained “on standby” in the hours after the attack until they received safety assurances from transit management, as is typical following such incidents.

Ramirez said workers have since resumed normal operations on the subway line.

Richard Davis, the president of the TWU Local 100, said it was “an attempted murder this morning that was committed, not just a slashing.”

Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.

But NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said “progress” is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system — done in a direct response to a January crime spike — led to a 17% reduction in crime in February, Kemper said.

Though for the year, subway crime is still up 13% compared to 2023, with assaults on the transit system up 11%. NYPD transit police are investigating 86 assaults, up from last year’s 77. And three homicides in the first two months of the year mark a troubling start, especially when compared to 2023 at this time, when there were none.

Are you vehemently opposed to the MTA’s plan of charging vehicles at least $15 to enter Manhattan around midtown and below? Or perhaps excited to see what the influx of funds could do to help your subway commute each day?

Either way, now’s the time to let your voice be heard.

Thursday marks the first of four hearings, virtual and in-person, where the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed congestion pricing plan and suggest amendments before a final vote in the spring. Nearly 200 people signed up to speak — some of whom support the plan, some oppose it.

The hearing kicked off at 6 p.m., and there will be three more held over the course of the next few days:

• Friday, March 1, at 10:00 a.m.  
• Monday, March 4, at 10:00 a.m.
• Monday, March 4, at 6:00 p.m.   

The hearings will be held on the 20th floor of 2 Broadway in Manhattan. There will also be a Zoom option, and they will be streamed on the MTA’s website.

Members of the public who want to speak at the hearings have to register in advance online or by calling 646-252-6777. Registration is now open, and closes 30 minutes after the start of the hearings.

The public can also send a written or audio comment through one of these methods:

Online: https://contact.mta.info/s/forms/CBDTP  
Email: cbdtp.feedback@mtabt.org  
Mail: CBD Tolling Program, 2 Broadway, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10004  
Phone: 646-252-7440  
Fax: Send to (212) 504-3148 with Attention to CBDTP Team.   

“The statute is the law of the land. A lot of work has been done. We are at the five yard line. But a lot of work has been done. The board is going to hear comments and take them into consideration,” said MTA President Richard Davey.

The hearings are set to begin a day after the MTA announced that 95% of its toll readers for its controversial congestion pricing program have already been installed and are ready to go, covering 104 of the planned 110 locations.

Cars will be charged an additional $15 to enter Manhattan at 61st Street and below, while trucks could be charged between $24 and $36, depending on size. As it stands, the collection readers are scheduled to go “live” on or about June 15.

The MTA board overwhelmingly voted to approve the measure in December, saying charging drivers to enter a large swath of Manhattan would contribute millions of dollars to the city’s aging transit system.

The approval came after the Traffic Mobility Review Board delivered its report to the MTA on Nov. 30, laying out the general guidelines for the impending tolls, including costs, when certain prices will be in effect, who gets credits and more.

Here’s a breakdown of everything that was approved in December, and what comes next in the process.

How does congestion pricing work? Who gets charged — and how much?

Congestion pricing would impact any driver entering what is being called the Central Business District (CBD), which stretches from 60th Street in Manhattan and below, all the way down to the southern tip of the Financial District. In other words, most drivers entering midtown Manhattan or below will have to pay the toll, according to the board’s report.

All drivers of cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles would be charged the toll. Different vehicles will be charged different amounts — here’s a breakdown of the prices:

• Passenger vehicles: $15
• Small trucks (like box trucks, moving vans, etc.): $24
• Large trucks: $36
• Motorcycles: $7.50

The $15 toll is about a midway point between previously reported possibilities, which have ranged from $9 to $23.

The full, daytime rates would be in effect from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. each weekday, and 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on the weekends. The board called for toll rates in the off-hours (from 9 p.m.-5 a.m. on weekdays, and 9 p.m. until 9 a.m. on weekends) to be about 75% less — about $3.50 instead of $15 for a passenger vehicle.

Drivers would only be charged to enter the zone, not to leave it or stay in it. That means residents who enter the CBD and circle their block to look for parking won’t be charged.

Only one toll will be levied per day — so anyone who enters the area, then leaves and returns, will still only be charged the toll once for that day.

The review board said that implementing their congestion pricing plan is expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering the area by 17%. That would equate to 153,000 fewer cars in that large portion of Manhattan. They also predicted that the plan would generate $15 billion, a cash influx that could be used to modernize subways and buses.

Do Uber, Lyft and other rideshares get exemptions? What about taxis?

There will be exemptions in place for rideshares and taxis, but much to their chagrin, they won’t get away completely scot-free.

The toll will not be in effect for taxis, but drivers will be charged a $1.25 surcharge per ride. The same policy applies to Uber, Lyft and other rideshare drivers, but their surcharge will be $2.50.

New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said in a statement that the plan is ” a reckless proposal that will devastate an entire workforce.”

Are there any other exemptions to congestion pricing tolls?

Many groups had been hoping to get exemptions, but very few will avoid having to pay the toll entirely. That small group is limited just to specialized government vehicles (like snowplows) and emergency vehicles.

Low-income drivers who earn less than $50,000 a year can apply to pay half the price on the daytime toll, but only after the first 10 trips in a month.

While not an exemption, there will also be so-called “crossing credits” for drivers using any of the four tunnels to get into Manhattan. That means those who already pay at the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel, for example, will not pay the full congestion fee. The credit amounts to $5 per ride for passenger vehicles, $2.50 for motorcycles, $12 for small trucks and $20 for large trucks.

Drivers from Long Island and Queens using the Queens-Midtown Tunnel will get the same break, as will those using the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Those who come over the George Washington Bridge and go south of 60th Street would see no such discount, however.

Public-sector employees (teachers, police, firefighters, transit workers, etc.), those who live in the so-called CBD, utility companies, those with medical appointments in the area and those who drive electric vehicles had all been hoping to get be granted an exemption. But neither the MTA nor the Traffic Mobility Review Board included any such exemptions for those groups.

So what comes next, and when will the tolls go into effect?

As for when the plan could go into effect, the MTA has maintained that the goal is to start charging the toll in late Spring 2024. But it’s likely that will be delayed a bit.

Four public hearings will be held, starting Thursday, as part of a 60-day public response period. The last of those hearings is March 4. Any possible tweaks to the plan (like Mayor Eric Adams’ request for more exemptions, for vehicles such as taxis) could be added before a “final” vote later in March or in April.

That would mean the earliest the tolls would go into effect would be late June 2024, at this point.

There had been fears of a toll as high as $23, but Lieber previously poured cold water on that idea, saying MTA board members were “trying to keep it well lower than that.” He added that in order to keep the standard toll price low, the transit agency would have to keep the number of exemptions low as well.

Any one of the lawsuits filed against congestion pricing could also bring the plan screeching to a halt, depending on how the judges rule. Many of the challenges focus on the environmental impacts of the plan, though proponents have said it will help cut down on emissions.

Lieber said it’s “highly probable” the transit agency will prevail in the lawsuits filed on both sides of the Hudson River, both in New Jersey and in the city, which would give them the green light to begin the program sometime in June barring a surprise ruling from a judge.

On Thursday, restaurants and businesses nationwide will be celebrating the every-four-year phenomenon that adds a 29th day to February with discounts for leap day babies and regular customers alike.

Whether you’re looking to save on your next meal or your next vacation, you won’t want to skip over these leap day deals.

Food

Applebee’s

Applebee’s in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia are offering a promotion for anyone born on Leap Day — any food item today will receive kid’s meal pricing.

Anthony’s

If you have a leap day birthday, you can get 20% off your birthday meal at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings on Feb. 29. Valid for dine-in only and guests must show ID to receive the maximum discount of $20 off.

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse signature dessert — Pizookies — are just $2.29 all day long on Feb. 29 with a $10 minimum purchase while dining in.

BurgerFi

On Feb. 29, BurgerFi will give leap day babies 20% off their entire purchase.

Burger King

On Feb. 29, members of Burger King’s Royal Perks rewards program can score four times the points (aka Crowns) on up to three orders that are placed online or in-app. The offer is valid at participating Burger King restaurants.

Chuck E. Cheese

Children under 52 inches tall who visit fun centers with Chuck E. Cheese Trampoline Zones can get free All-Day Jump Passes for maximum fun.

Chipotle

No worries about guac being extra. Chipotle rewards members can get free guacamole on Feb. 29 when they place an order in the chain’s app or website and use the code EXTRA24.

Dog Haus

Dog Haus app and loyalty users can get four times the points on every purchase on Feb. 29.

Duck Donuts

Get a cinnamon sugar donut and medium hot coffee or cold brew combo for just $2.29 on Feb. 29.

Hardee’s

Hardee’s customers can get 29% off their app or online order on Feb. 29. There’s a minimum $1 purchase (before taxes, fees, etc.) and a maximum $29 discount. The offer is limited to one per registered user per order and is available at participating restaurants. It can’t be combined with other offers and isn’t available in-restaurant or with third-party vendors or delivery partners.

Hickory Tavern

Buy a $50 gift card for $29 at Hickory Tavern on Feb. 29. In-store only.

Hungry Howie’s

Between Feb. 26 and 29, Hungry Howie’s customers can get a large pizza for 29 cents with the purchase of another on takeout orders.

Insomnia Cookies

Between Feb. 26 and March 3, Insomnia Cookies customers can get one free classic cookie when they purchase any pack of six or dozen cookies.

If you have a leap day birthday, you’ll get six free classic cookies in-store on Feb. 29 when you show your ID.

Jeremiah’s Italian Ice

Jeremiah’s Italian Ice rewards members can order small Gelati and Ices for just $0.96 on Feb. 29 at all locations.

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme customers can score an Original Glazed dozen for just $2.29 with the purchase of a regularly priced dozen for one day only on Feb. 29.

If you have a leap day birthday, you can also get a free original glazed dozen (no purchase required) when you show an ID.

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Krystal

Krystal customers who make any purchase online on Feb. 29 using the code LEAPDAY will receive a free Krystal.

La Madeleine

La Madeleine customers can take advantage of a BOGO offer on the bakery’s oatmeal raisin and chocolate chunk cookies in-store on Feb. 29.

Legal Sea Foods

Get 2 lobsters for $29 on Feb. 29. Plus, enroll with Legal Net Rewards on Feb. 29 and receive 229 bonus points worth over $10 in reward value.

Long John Silver’s

Long John Silver’s has a leap day offer valid between Feb. 26 — 29. The online exclusive gives customers a free piece of fish or chicken with an order of $5 or more.

Marco’s Pizza

Between Feb. 26 and March 3, Marco’s Pizza customers can get 29% off all menu-price pizzas at participating locations using the code LEAP29 while ordering online and in the Marco’s app.

Milk Bar

Leap Day babies can get a free full-sized birthday cake in-store on Feb. 29. Must show government ID to redeem.

McDonald’s

Check the app for a Double Cheeseburger deal at participating locations on Feb. 29.

Noodles & Company

Noodles & Company rewards members will get 29% off orders of $29 or more on Feb. 29.

Papa Murphy’s

Papa Murphy’s is offering customers 29% off with a $20 online purchase using the code LEAP24 on Feb. 29.

Perdue Farms

When you spend $99 or more on Perdue Farms’ website on Feb. 29 you can get 29% off your order. The offer is valid through Feb. 29 using the code LEAP29.

Pincho

Pincho customers can score a free order of fries with the purchase of any burger on Feb. 29.

Potbelly

Potbelly Perks members can get a free cookie with the purchase of an entrée on Feb. 29 in restaurants or on the Potbelly app/website.

Shipley Do-Nuts

Shipley Do-Nuts loyalty members will get 500 extra points when they place an order on Feb. 29.

Starbucks

Select accounts will have a BOGO leap year deal – Free handcrafted drink when you buy one, or get a handcrafted drink for $3. The offers are valid until March 3, 2024.

Taco Bell

Taco Bell Rewards Members can get a Crunchwrap for $2.29 on Feb. 29 when ordering through the app.

Taziki’s Mediterranean Café

If you have a leap day birthday, you can get a free dessert (a pack of cookies, a piece of baklava or a piece of baklava cheesecake) while dining in at Taziki’s on Feb. 29.

The Greene Turtle

The Greene Turtle is offering up 29-cent wings (any flavor) and $2.29 domestic pints all day on Feb. 29 while customers dine in at select locations. The deal can’t be combined with other offers and there’s a limit of 20 wings per customer.

Tiff’s Treats

If you were born on Feb. 29 and live in a Tiff’s Treats delivery zone, you can enter for the chance to be randomly selected for a gift card from the cookie delivery service.

Tiff’s Treats will also have a buy one, get one free double dozen deal online and on the company’s website in delivery zones for all customers on Feb. 29 using the code LEAPDAY.

Yogurtland

Yogurtland rewards members can score triple points when they make any food or beverage purchase in-store or online on Feb. 29. The offer excludes third-party delivery orders, gift cards and merchandise purchases.

Wendy’s

Wendy’s is serving up free Cinnabon Pull-Aparts on Feb. 29, during breakfast hours. To score the deal, you can order in the restaurant, online or in the Wendy’s app. Customers are limited to one offer per transaction at the drive-thru or in-restaurant and can’t take advantage of the offer via third-party apps.

Wings and Rings

On leap day, Wings and Rings customers can get five bonus wings free with the purchase of 10 wings. The offer is available for in-store and takeout orders at participating locations and is limited to two per customer.

Zaxby’s

When Zaxby’s rewards members spend $5 or more at participating locations on Feb. 29, they’ll get a free funnel cake. Customers can redeem the offer online or in the restaurant’s app while supplies last.

Travel

Circle K

During a three-hour period on Thursday, Feb. 29 — California residents can get 40 cents off per gallon of fuel from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. PT at select Circle K locations.

Great Wolf Lodge

Great Wolf Lodge is offering a one-day-only sale. Book a stay for $29 per person per night for groups of 3 or greater. The deal is good for standard suites on stays from Feb. 29 to June 13. 

Must book on Feb. 29 using the code LEAP.

PLAY

Icelandic airline, PLAY, announced a leap day deal with $99 flights to Iceland and $129 flights to Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Berlin and Dublin.

PLAY’s leap day deal includes the airline’s Basic Bundle, a budget travel option with a small personal item included in their discounted fare. The deal runs today through March 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Staples

If you plan on doing some international travel, you’re going to need a passport. Luckily, Staples is offering free passport photos to 29,000 people.

To redeem the offer you’ll need to join Staples’ Easy Rewards Program and download the app. Log in on Feb. 29 to see the free passport photo offer right in the app. In addition, you can also earn 29x points when you spend $29 or more in-store or online.

Entertainment

Build a Bear Workshop

Anyone at any age celebrating a Leap Day birthday can get a Build a Birthday Treat Bear for the special price of $4.

Available in-store only on Feb. 29.

The Strat Hotel

If your birthday is on leap day, the Strat Hotel in Las Vegas is offering a complimentary SkyJump on Feb. 29. Additionally, all SkyJumpers on leap day will receive a free shot of liquid courage at 108 DRINKS. 

An earlier version of this article incorrectly included The Habit Burger Grill, whose deal expired Feb. 28.

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According to police, the suspect, seen in the surveillance image above, followed the 20-year-old victim off a Queens-bound F train at 169th Street shortly after midnight on Saturday. Once in the mezzanine area, he punched her in the face multiple times and knocked her to the ground, where cops say he tried to take off her clothing in a sex assault.

The victim struggled and yelled as she fought back, alerting an MTA transit guard who intervened, officials say. Witnesses said the attacker ran off in the direction of 168th Place. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment of her injuries.

“Thank goodness there was a transit guard who was alert, concerned, and in a position to safely intervene on behalf of a New Yorker in an awful situation,” said NYC Transit President Richard Davey.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

The attack comes amid a rash of high-profile cases of subway violence, including three homicides. Earlier Thursday, an on-duty subway conductor was slashed in the neck at a station in Brooklyn. He’s expected to be OK.

The MTA has condemned the violence. The NYPD’s transit chief says an influx of 1,000 officers in response to a January spike in crime is showing progress driving down the numbers.

The grisly find came a day ago, shortly after noon, when Lakewood Township Police got word about an unconscious man inside the trunk of a car parked near Fairview Court. Responding officers found the man dead.

Prosecutors described the investigation as “active and ongoing.” They said there is no known danger to the public, and additional information will be released as it becomes available.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Olga Brylevskaya of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-929-2027, extension 4105, or Det. Austin Letts of the Lakewood Township Police Department at 732-363-0200.

The MTA announced Wednesday that 95% of the toll readers for its controversial congestion pricing program have been installed, covering 104 of the planned 110 locations.

Cars will be charged an additional $15 to enter Manhattan at 61st Street and below, while trucks could be charged between $24 and $36, depending on size. As it stands, the collection readers are scheduled to go “live” on or about June 15. MTA

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said Wednesday it’s “highly probable” that MTA will prevail in lawsuits on both sides of the Hudson and that the tolling program can begin as scheduled.

The MTA update comes a day before the first of four hearings, virtual and in-person, where the public will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed plan and suggest amendments before a final vote in the spring.

• Thursday, Feb. 29, at 6:00 p.m. 
• Friday, March 1, at 10:00 a.m.  
• Monday, March 4, at 10:00 a.m.
• Monday, March 4, at 6:00 p.m.   

The hearings will be held on the 20th floor of 2 Broadway in Manhattan. There will also be a Zoom option.

Members of the public who want to speak at the hearings have to register in advance online or by calling 646-252-6777. Registration is now open, and closes 30 minutes after the start of the hearings.

The public can also send a written or audio comment through one of these methods:

Online: https://contact.mta.info/s/forms/CBDTP  
Email: cbdtp.feedback@mtabt.org  
Mail: CBD Tolling Program, 2 Broadway, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10004  
Phone: 646-252-7440  
Fax: Send to (212) 504-3148 with Attention to CBDTP Team.   

The hearings will be streamed on the MTA’s website.

The MTA board overwhelmingly voted to approve the measure in December, saying charging drivers to enter a large swath of Manhattan would contribute millions of dollars to the city’s aging transit system.

The approval came after the Traffic Mobility Review Board delivered its report to the MTA on Nov. 30, laying out the general guidelines for the impending tolls, including costs, when certain prices will be in effect, who gets credits and more.

Here’s a breakdown of everything that was approved in December, and what comes next in the process.

How does congestion pricing work? Who gets charged — and how much?

Congestion pricing would impact any driver entering what is being called the Central Business District (CBD), which stretches from 60th Street in Manhattan and below, all the way down to the southern tip of the Financial District. In other words, most drivers entering midtown Manhattan or below will have to pay the toll, according to the board’s report.

All drivers of cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles would be charged the toll. Different vehicles will be charged different amounts — here’s a breakdown of the prices:

• Passenger vehicles: $15
• Small trucks (like box trucks, moving vans, etc.): $24
• Large trucks: $36
• Motorcycles: $7.50

The $15 toll is about a midway point between previously reported possibilities, which have ranged from $9 to $23.

The full, daytime rates would be in effect from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. each weekday, and 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. on the weekends. The board called for toll rates in the off-hours (from 9 p.m.-5 a.m. on weekdays, and 9 p.m. until 9 a.m. on weekends) to be about 75% less — about $3.50 instead of $15 for a passenger vehicle.

Drivers would only be charged to enter the zone, not to leave it or stay in it. That means residents who enter the CBD and circle their block to look for parking won’t be charged.

Only one toll will be levied per day — so anyone who enters the area, then leaves and returns, will still only be charged the toll once for that day.

The review board said that implementing their congestion pricing plan is expected to reduce the number of vehicles entering the area by 17%. That would equate to 153,000 fewer cars in that large portion of Manhattan. They also predicted that the plan would generate $15 billion, a cash influx that could be used to modernize subways and buses.

Do Uber, Lyft and other rideshares get exemptions? What about taxis?

There will be exemptions in place for rideshares and taxis, but much to their chagrin, they won’t get away completely scot-free.

The toll will not be in effect for taxis, but drivers will be charged a $1.25 surcharge per ride. The same policy applies to Uber, Lyft and other rideshare drivers, but their surcharge will be $2.50.

New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said in a statement that the plan is ” a reckless proposal that will devastate an entire workforce.”

Are there any other exemptions to congestion pricing tolls?

Many groups had been hoping to get exemptions, but very few will avoid having to pay the toll entirely. That small group is limited just to specialized government vehicles (like snowplows) and emergency vehicles.

Low-income drivers who earn less than $50,000 a year can apply to pay half the price on the daytime toll, but only after the first 10 trips in a month.

While not an exemption, there will also be so-called “crossing credits” for drivers using any of the four tunnels to get into Manhattan. That means those who already pay at the Lincoln or Holland Tunnel, for example, will not pay the full congestion fee. The credit amounts to $5 per ride for passenger vehicles, $2.50 for motorcycles, $12 for small trucks and $20 for large trucks.

Drivers from Long Island and Queens using the Queens-Midtown Tunnel will get the same break, as will those using the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Those who come over the George Washington Bridge and go south of 60th Street would see no such discount, however.

Public-sector employees (teachers, police, firefighters, transit workers, etc.), those who live in the so-called CBD, utility companies, those with medical appointments in the area and those who drive electric vehicles had all been hoping to get be granted an exemption. But neither the MTA nor the Traffic Mobility Review Board included any such exemptions for those groups.

So what comes next, and when will the tolls go into effect?

As for when the plan could go into effect, the MTA has maintained that the goal is to start charging the toll in late Spring 2024. But it’s likely that will be delayed a bit.

Four public hearings will be held, starting Thursday, as part of a 60-day public response period. The last of those hearings is March 4. Any possible tweaks to the plan (like Mayor Eric Adams’ request for more exemptions, for vehicles such as taxis) could be added before a “final” vote later in March or in April.

That would mean the earliest the tolls would go into effect would be late June 2024, at this point.

There had been fears of a toll as high as $23, but Lieber previously poured cold water on that idea, saying MTA board members were “trying to keep it well lower than that.” He added that in order to keep the standard toll price low, the transit agency would have to keep the number of exemptions low as well.

Any one of the lawsuits filed against congestion pricing could also bring the plan screeching to a halt, depending on how the judges rule. Many of the challenges focus on the environmental impacts of the plan, though proponents have said it will help cut down on emissions.

Lieber said it’s “highly probable” the transit agency will prevail in the lawsuits filed on both sides of the Hudson River, which would give them the green light to begin the program sometime in June, barring a surprise ruling from a judge.

A fast-moving wildfire burning through the Texas Panhandle has now become the largest blaze in state history after churning through a total of 1,075,000 acres across Texas and Oklahoma, forcing evacuations and triggering power outages as firefighters struggled to contain the widening swath of flames growing with alarming speed.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said Wednesday morning the sprawling blaze known as the Smokehouse Creek fire remained uncontained and had doubled in size overnight to nearly 800 square miles, or roughly 500,000 acres. By Wednesday afternoon, the fire was estimated to have spread to more than 1 million acres with 3% containment.

Texas A&M Forest Service said officials have responded to 56 wildfires burning more than 1,256,328 acres since Sunday.

As of Thursday morning, there are three additional active wildfires in the Texas panhandle: the Grape Vine Creek Fire in Gray County at 30,000 acres and 60% contained; the Windy Deuce Fire in Moore County at 142,000 acres and 30% contained; and the Magenta Fire in Oldham County at 2,500 acres and 65% contained.

“Strong winds and warm temperatures have resulted in grasses drying across many portions of Texas,” said Wes Moorehead, Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief. “As firefighters continue to suppress active fires, we urge Texans to be cautious with any outdoor activity that may cause a spark.”

Authorities warned that the damage to communities on the high plains could be extensive as flames blackened the landscape across a vast stretch of small towns and cattle ranches.

City of Borger Public Information Officer Brandon Strope confirms there has been one fatality from the Texas wildfires. No other information including the county was given.

With huge plumes of smoke billowing hundreds of feet in the air, officials warned residents of potentially large property losses.

Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain as being “like a moonscape. … It’s just all gone.”

Kendall said about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost inside the community.

“We started getting those losses in the dark, so we didn’t really know what we had until this morning until we could see,” he said.

The town of Fritch, with a population of less than 2,000, lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire and appeared to be hit hard again.

The people in that area are probably not “prepared for what they’re going to see if they pull into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas said in a social media livestream. She compared the damage to a tornado.

The town remained unsafe for people to return, she said.

Tresea Rankin videotaped her own home in the town of Canadian as it burned.

“Thirty-eight years of memories, that’s what you were thinking,” Rankin said of watching the flames destroy her house. “Two of my kids were married there … But you know, it’s OK, the memories won’t go away.”

Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes. Near Borger, a community of about 13,000 people, emergency officials at one point late Tuesday answered questions from panicked residents on Facebook and told them to get ready to leave if they had not already.

“It was like a ring of fire around Borger. There was no way out … all four main roads were closed,” said Adrianna Hill, 28, whose home was within about a mile of the fire. She said a northern wind that blew the fire in the opposite direction “saved our butts.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties. The encroaching flames caused the main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal to pause operations Tuesday night, but it was open for normal work on Wednesday.

The blazes tore through sparsely populated counties on the vast, high plains that are punctuated by cattle ranches and oil rigs. The main fire, known as the Smoke House Creek Fire, had grown to more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. It is five times larger than on Monday when it began.

The weather forecast provided some hope for firefighters — cooler temperatures, less wind and possibly rain on Thursday. But for now, the situation was dire in some areas.

Sustained winds of up to 45 mph (72 kph), with gusts of up to 70 mph (113 kph), caused the fires that were spreading east to turn south, threatening new areas, forecasters said. But winds calmed down after a cold front came through Tuesday evening, said Peter Vanden Bosch, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Amarillo.

“Fortunately, the winds have weakened quite significantly,” Vanden Bosch said Wednesday. Breezy conditions were expected again Friday, and fire-friendly weather could return by the weekend, he said.

As the evacuation orders mounted Tuesday, county and city officials implored residents to turn on emergency alert services on their cellphones and be ready to evacuate immediately.

The Pantex plant, northeast of Amarillo, evacuated nonessential staff Tuesday night out of an “abundance of caution,” said Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production office at Pantex. Firefighters remained in case of an emergency.

The plant has long been the main U.S. site for both assembling and disassembling atomic bombs. It completed its last new bomb in 1991 and has dismantled thousands since.

Pantex tweeted early Wednesday that the facility “is open for normal day shift operations” and that all personnel were to report for duty according to their assigned schedule.

As the fires raged Tuesday, evacuations were ordered in several towns in a swath northeast of Amarillo.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire spread from Texas into neighboring Roger Mills County in western Oklahoma, where officials encouraged people in the Durham area to flee. Officials did not know yet how large the fire was in Oklahoma.

An unrelated fire in Ellis County, Oklahoma, on the Oklahoma-Texas state line, led Tuesday to the evacuations of the towns of Shattuck and Gage. The evacuation order was lifted hours later, according to county Emergency Management Director Riley Latta. The fire had unknown origins and burned an estimated 47 square miles, according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

The weather service issued red-flag warnings and fire-danger alerts for several other states through the midsection of the country, as winds of over 40 mph (64 kph) combined with warm temperatures, low humidity and dry winter vegetation to make conditions ripe for wildfires.

In central Nebraska, a mower sparked a prairie fire that burned a huge swath of grassland roughly the size of the state’s largest city of Omaha, state officials said Tuesday.

TEXAS WILDFIRES

Wildfires Feb 28

Wildfires in Texas Panhandle continues to grow

LARGEST WILDFIRES IN TEXAS HISTORY

• Smokehouse Creek of 2024, burning 1,000,000+ acres (active fire)
• East Amarillo Complex of 2006, burning 907,245 acres
• Big Country of 1998, burning 366,000 acres
• Perryton of 2017, burning 318,156 acres

2011 TEXAS WILDFIRES

In April 2011, during an extreme drought, four out-of-control wildfires burning in close proximity to each other were dubbed The Possum Kingdom Complex Fire. The fires scorched 126,000 acres of parched Texas ranch land and destroyed 168 homes and two churches.

Senior Meteorologist David Finfrock said in the NBC 5 docu-series Inside the Storm: Texas Burning, that at that time the period from August 2010 to July 2011 was the driest 12 consecutive months on record.

Later that summer, in August, a second fire erupted near the lake called the PK 101 Ranch fire. That fire burned more than 6,000 additional acres on the south side of the lake and destroyed nearly 40 more homes.

On Sept. 4, 2011, a massive wildfire erupted in Central Texas. The Bastrop County Complex Fire, east of Austin, became the most destructive wildfire in Texas history. More than 1,600 homes and structures were destroyed when 32,000 acres were scorched, including 96% of the 6,565-acre Bastrop State Park. Two people died in the fires.

During that 2011 fire season, the Texas A&M Forest Service said more than 31,000 fires burned more than four million acres across the state and destroyed 2,947 homes.

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Jurors deliberated for a little more than two hours before sending a note to the judge requesting to rehear the testimony from Troconis’ friend, Carla “Petu” Duperron.

The judge brought the jury back into the courtroom and Duperron’s 38 minutes of testimony was played for them.

Jurors spent the rest of the afternoon deliberating on Wednesday but went home for the day without reaching a verdict. They will continue their deliberations Thursday at 10 a.m.

On Tuesday, the jury heard two different tales of the 49-year-old Troconis as the prosecution and defense made their closing arguments.

The six-member panel began deliberations later that afternoon on charges including conspiracy to commit murder, evidence tampering and hindering prosecution. After pausing for the evening, jurors were set to continue Wednesday. Troconis has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Jennifer Dulos, 50, went missing on May 24, 2019, and has never been found. Prosecutors told the jury her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, attacked her at her New Canaan home and drove off with her body. They were battling over their divorce and custody of their five children at the time, and Troconis was Fotis’ Dulos girlfriend and living with him at another home.

Prosecutors Michelle Manning and Sean McGuinness told jurors Troconis was angry and fed up with the divorce case and had called Jennifer Dulos disparaging names.

“Jennifer is dead, and Fotis and Michcelle Troconis intended that to happen,” Manning said. “They agreed to work together to make it happen, and unfortunately they were successful in making it happen. But they got caught. This trial is very simple. It’s about a conspiracy and a coverup.”

Troconis did not testify during the 27-day trial. Her lawyer, Jon Schoenhorn, said the prosecution did not prove any of their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt, including whether Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos or even if he was in New Canaan that morning.

“She did not know that Fotis Dulos planned to harm her,” Schoenhorn told the jury. “The state has made, what I would suggest, are unfounded and unfair assumptions and have speculated that Michelle Troconis had to know what was going on because she was romantically linked with Fotis, that she was somehow involved in this nefarious, murderous plot.

“But that’s not reality,” he said. “That’s more like one of these cable TV movies, scripted movies. It’s not based on the facts that you heard during this trial.”

In fact, a TV movie was made about the case, Lifetime’s “Gone Mom,” as the case drew widespread attention.

Jennifer Dulos was a member of a wealthy New York City family and a niece by marriage of fashion designer Liz Claiborne. Although her body has never been found, a medical examiner concluded suspected blood spatter in her garage and other evidence indicated she could not have survived. A state judge declared her officially dead in October.

Fotis Dulos was a luxury home builder originally from Greece. He killed himself in January 2020, shortly after being charged with the murder of Jennifer Dulos. He had denied the charge.

Troconis is a dual American and Venezuelan citizen who once had her own TV production company in Argentina and hosted a snow-sports show for ESPN South America.

The Dulos’ five children, who ranged from 8 to 13 years old when their mother disappeared and include two sets of twins, have been in the custody of Jennifer Dulos’ mother, Gloria Farber, 88, in New York City ever since.

Prosecutors alleged Troconis must have known about the plot beforehand, because she answered Fotis Dulos’ cell phone on the morning of May 24 when he allegedly was in New Canaan — suggesting she helped him with an alibi. He had left his phone at their home in Farmington, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) away near Hartford, prosecutors said.

Later that day, Troconis accompanied Fotis Dulos to Hartford, where he disposed of several garbage bags in random locations — a trip partially recorded by surveillance cameras.

Police found some of the bags and said they contained clothing, zip ties and other items containing Jennifer Dulos’ DNA. Some of the items, including a shirt and bra, had blood-like stains on them. Some items had Fotis Dulos’ DNA on them, and a portion of one bag tested positive for Troconis’ DNA, a state forensics expert testified at the trial.

Schoenhorn said Troconis had no idea what Fotis Dulos was doing or what was in the bags. He also said Fotis Dulos could have touched her and spread her DNA to one of the bags.

The prosecutors also said Troconis helped Fotis Dulos write up a timeline of their activities to prepare for potential police questioning. Troconis told police she only did that at the request of Fotis Dulos and his lawyer. And she also went with him when he had the employee’s truck cleaned and detailed at a car wash, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said Troconis lied to police during the first of her three interviews with them in 2019 when she said Fotis was at their home the morning of May 24. They say she acknowledged in a subsequent interview that she hadn’t seen him.

Schoenhorn said there could have been miscommunications because the interviews were in English instead of Troconis’ primary language, Spanish. A defense expert also testified that traumatic events, such as being interviewed by police, can affect people’s memory and recall of events.

Watch full episodes of “Inside the Trial of Michelle Troconis”

Watch the full episodes of “Inside the Trial of Michelle Troconis” here.

The ultrawealthy are looking for a better lifestyle and strong investment when it comes to buying their next home, according to a new study.

One-quarter of American ultra-high-net individuals, or those worth $30 million or more, plan to buy a residential property this year, according to the Douglas Elliman and Knight Frank Wealth Report. The average ultra-high-net-worth individual already owns four homes, according to the report. One-quarter of their residential portfolio is outside their home country.

When it comes to priorities for their next big purchase, the ultrawealthy ranked “lifestyle” and “investment” at the top of the list, followed by taxes and safety.

Sign up to receive future editions of CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank.

While luxury real estate has been buffeted by many of the same pressures as the rest of the market — low supply, slow sales, rising prices — the ultra-high-end has fared slightly better. Last year in the U.S., there were 34 sales over $50 million, down from 45 in 2022 but still way up from the pre-pandemic years.

With interest rates stabilizing and possibly falling this year, real estate experts say there are early signs that luxury supply may be growing, which could lead to more sales.

“If we do see a pivot to lower rates, or at least more confidence that inflation is going in the right direction, I think you will begin to see inventory building up again,” said Liam Bailey, partner and global head of research at Knight Frank.

The report forecasts that the best-performing U.S. luxury market this year for price growth will be Miami, with an expected increase of 4%, according to the report. New York ranked second in the U.S., with expected price growth of 2%, followed by Los Angeles with 1% growth.

Globally, the top market for luxury real estate is expected to be Auckland, New Zealand, with projected price growth of 10% in 2024. Mumbai ranks second, at 5.5%; followed by Dubai (5%); Madrid (5%); Sydney (5%); and Stockholm (4.5%).

Last year, the world’s top 100 luxury real estate markets posted a solid 3% gain on average price. The best-performing luxury real estate market in the world was Manila, Philippines, with 26% growth, fueled in part by investors fleeing Hong Kong and China. Dubai came in second place, at 16% price growth, followed by the Bahamas at 15% and the Algarve region in Portugal at 12%.

Among the worst performers last year were New York, with prices down 2%, and San Francisco, basically flat at 0.5%. The biggest decline in the world among prime markets was Oxford, in the U.K., down 8%.

Bailey said ultrawealthy American buyers are increasingly venturing overseas. He said U.S. buyers are now the leading foreign purchasers of ultraprime London properties — those priced above $10 million. They are also increasingly active in Europe.

“They’ve become quite a big presence, so much more noticeable now in Italy, France and Portugal particularly than they were,” Bailey said. “I think the American buyers have become much happier to explore and kind of think about alternatives.”

Still, $1 million doesn’t buy what it used to in the U.S. and abroad. In Monaco, the world’s most expensive real estate market, $1 million gets you 172 square feet of prime real estate, according to the Wealth Report. In Aspen, you get 215 square feet, while in Hong Kong, you get 237 square feet, which makes New York look like a bargain with 367 square feet.

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In mid-February, Kirk Tanner, the new CEO and president of Wendy’s, shared with analysts that they would be rolling out new plans to improve company profits, including digital menu boards that will be more easily able to change the prices of items, as well as testing dynamic pricing and daypart offers, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

Tanner explained that they plan to invest about $20 million to “roll out digital menu boards to all U.S. company-operated restaurants by the end of 2025 and approximately $10 million over the next two years to support digital menu board enhancements for the global system.”

The digital boards are meant to improve order accuracy and increase sales by upselling certain menu items.

By 2025, the fast food restaurant chain will begin testing dynamic pricing, which is a time-based pricing strategy that companies use to increase or decrease prices for their services or items depending on the time and demand.

While initially compared in the media (including here on TODAY.com) to the concept of “surge pricing” on the Uber app when prices rise as drivers are scarce, Wendy’s clarified how the company plans to use “dynamic pricing” in a statement on Feb. 27.

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“To clarify, Wendy’s will not implement surge pricing, which is the practice of raising prices when demand is highest. We didn’t use that phrase, nor do we plan to implement that practice,” a spokesperson said in an email to NBC News. They added there are “no plans” to raise prices at high-demand times.

“We said these (digital) menu boards would give us more flexibility to change the display of featured items. This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most,” the Feb. 26 statement reads. “Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members. Digital menu boards could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day.”

A Wendy’s spokesperson had initially confirmed the digital menus, as well as dynamic pricing, in a Feb. 26 statement to TODAY.com, noting the company’s future ability to change prices at different times of day. The initial statement did not say the fast food chain would only lower prices with the new “dynamic pricing” model.

“As we’ve previously shared, we are making a significant investment to accelerate our digital business. In addition to evolving our loyalty program, we are leveraging technology even more with the rollout of digital menu boards in some U.S. restaurants,” the statement read. “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing a variety of enhanced features on these digital menu boards like dynamic pricing, different offerings in certain parts of the day, AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling based on factors such as weather.”

The statement adds that “dynamic pricing can allow Wendy’s to be competitive and flexible with pricing, motivate customers to visit and provide them with the food they love at a great value. We will test a number of features that we think will provide an enhanced customer and crew experience.”

In the meeting with analysts, Tanner noted that they have already rolled out its “Wendy’s Fresh AI” in many restaurants, “where we see ongoing improvement in speed and accuracy.”

The digital menus will help reflect the fluctuating prices throughout the day. Tanner said the new rollouts will “plays a key role on our restaurant team, enabling the crew to focus on what matters: preparing fresh high-quality Wendy’s favorites and building customer relationships to bring them back time and again.”

Back in 2023, NBC’s Sam Brock told TODAY that dynamic pricing was creeping into restaurants, movie theaters, bowling alleys and more.

“Experts say more businesses are tracking consumer spending habits to determine when and even what to charge more for,” Brock said, adding that to avoid dynamic pricing check online for promo codes, discounts, loyalty programs and more.

Additionally, the CEO said to analysts that the company will also be investing more money to advertise its new breakfast menu offerings. They recently teamed up with Cinnabon for a new breakfast item and added two additional breakfast offerings: English muffin sandwiches and a breakfast burrito.

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the company is also testing “saucy nuggets” with flavors like honey-barbecue, Buffalo, garlic-parmesan and ghost pepper in a small number of restaurants in Ohio.

EDITOR’S NOTE (Feb. 28, 2024, at 8:19 a.m. ET): This story has been updated with a clarification from Wendy’s that “dynamic pricing” will not include price increases at high-traffic times.

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The first part of the doc aired on Feb. 24, which followed Wendy Williams after her daytime talkshow “The Wendy Williams Show” ended in June 2022.

Part one featured candid moments about the state of her health, including her addressing her struggles with alcohol and drug abuse as well as how lymphedema has effected her mobility.

It also featured those close to her, including tense moments with her manager, Will Selby, her publicist, Shawn Zanotti, and her only child, Kevin Hunter Jr.

Fans took the opportunity to share their unfiltered thoughts about the documentary on social media, with one fan calling the project “exploitative” given that Williams was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia in 2023.

“I hope that Wendy Williams gets the help she needs and maybe this show will help with that but something about this isn’t sitting right with me,” one user wrote on the social media site X. “She can’t consent to being on camera like this. It feels exploitative.”

Another fan wrote in a tweet, “That Wendy Williams documentary is SAD.”

“I’m not sure who greenlit #WhereIsWendyWilliams.. in my opinion it wasn’t a good idea,” one fan added.

Another viewer agreed, writing on X, “I’ve seen enough clips of #WhereIsWendyWilliams to know that this should NEVERRRRRRR have aired. It’s disgusting that they’ve captured this lady’s most vulnerable moments like this.”

Williams has a court-appointed legal guardian to oversee her money and health conditions. Just days before the premiere of the documentary, her court-appointed guardian filed a sealed lawsuit against Lifetime’s parent company, A&E Television Networks, but the network confirmed the doc would air as scheduled.

Fans had varied reactions to the people surrounding Williams in the documentary, with several viewers taking to X to call out her seemingly cruel behavior towards her team.

“Dementia or not, it is unacceptable to treat people this way. Period,” one user wrote. “Being unkind to assistants is simply terrible.”

However, some fans defended Williams’ behavior due to the state of her health, with one viewer writing, “How are people saying ‘dementia or not, she needs to show respect.’ Like do you know what dementia is?”

Viewers also shared their concern for the former talk show host, questioning her team’s motives on social media.

One fan shared a video of an interaction between Williams and her publicist talking about a trip to California, writing, “She is surrounded by ENABLERS and she is indenial and deluded into thinking she is still in control.”

Another moment in part one of the documentary that caused an uproar on social media was related to Williams’ finances, with one fan writing on X, “The name of the this should be ‘Where is Wendy William’s MONEY.’”

In 2022, NBC News reported that Williams’ bank, Wells Fargo, had frozen her accounts while awaiting a guardianship ruling.

Some viewers called out Williams’ son, who was questioned for charges to his mom’s account for tens of thousands of dollars. Hunter said in the doc that he never spent his mom’s money without her consent.

“This #WendyWilliams doc is all over the place. Her son is paying 80k in rent? $100k on Uber eats?” a viewer wrote on X. “This anonymous court appointed guardian that’s running her dry, Wells Fargo withholding her $, AND this sketchy a– lying ‘manager’..I’m giving EVERYONE the side eye at this point.”

One fan defended Williams and her son, writing, “Wendy Williams worked her a– off to provide for her child and to secure his future… Children usually inherit their parents’ property. There’s nothing ‘suspicious’ about him using her money.”

Even amid the controversy of the series, fans still praised Williams for her legacy in pop culture and media and sent her well wishes.

“I hope #WendyWilliams is celebrated for the career that she built,” one fan wrote. “Let’s honor the force that she is and was, and not fret about where she is now. So many stand on her shoulders.”

Wendy Williams always used her platform to help put me in a position to win,” actor Tami Roman wrote. “This documentary saddens me. Wendy you will forever be loved & respected by me & I haven’t stopped praying for you… the Queen of Media!”

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What happened in Flaco’s final hours is top of mind for his fans across the city, who cheered him on as he defied the odds by fending for himself despite a life in captivity. Police are still seeking to arrest whoever let him out of his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo a year ago.

Flaco had been in good physical shape, the necropsy found, succeeding in catching prey even though he had no experience hunting because he came to the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier. According to the necropsy report released Saturday, the owl weighed 1.89 kilograms (4.1 pounds), just 2% less than when he was last measured at the zoo.

Flaco was found dead Friday on a sidewalk after apparently hitting a building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“The main impact appears to have been to the body, as there was substantial hemorrhage under the sternum and in the back of the body cavity around the liver,” the report said.

The Central Park Zoo put the blame squarely on the person who cut open Flaco’s enclosure. But they’re investigating illness as a possible factor, and plan to release an update in around two weeks.

“This will include microscopic examination of tissue samples; toxicology tests to evaluate potential exposures to rodenticides or other toxins; and testing for infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus and Avian Influenza,” the zoo’s statement said.

Eulogies from his admirers poured in over the weekend. So did speculation about which of the many urban threats to wildlife may have contributed to his death.

Flaco fans who listened for his nightly hooting in on the Upper West Side reported he’d gone quiet in the days before his death, and theorized that he may have been ill.

The Centers for Disease Control say positive tests for norovirus in the Northeast have reached almost 14% in recent weeks. That’s the highest number in the United States.

The city’s Department of Health website does not have specific numbers on cases, but does track symptoms reported during emergency room visits. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have visited the ER for vomiting and diarrhea in the past few months, according to data from the city’s Health Department.

Norovirus is a common stomach virus that is highly contagious, and can be spread through food and person to person contact. Sharing eating utensils, changing diapers, consuming contaminated food or drinks, or touching infected surfaces or objects can lead to infections, the Health Department says.

In addition to vomiting and diarrhea, common symptoms include nausea, stomach cramps, fever, chills, aches and tiredness.

Doctors say the best way to avoid the virus is to wash your hands often. While it is called gastroenteritis or the “stomach flu,” noroviruses are not related to the flu, a.k.a. influenza.

Mount Sinai says symptoms can start within one to two days after infection, but typically will last only one to three days.

Cases in the Northeast have been climbing since mid-November, according to CDC data. Over the last two years, norovirus cases have spiked in February and March.

Trump went into the primary with a huge polling lead and the backing of the state’s top Republicans, including Sen. Tim Scott, a former rival in the race. Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, has spent weeks crisscrossing the state that twice elected her governor warning that the dominant front-runner, who is 77 and faces four indictments, is too old and distracted to be president again.

In all but one primary since 1980, the Republican winner in South Carolina has gone on to be the party’s nominee. But Haley has repeatedly vowed to carry on if she loses her home state, even as Trump positions himself for a likely general election rematch against President Joe Biden.

Trump’s backers, including those who previously supported Haley during her time as governor, seemed confident that the former president would have a solid victory on Saturday.

“I did support her when she was governor. She’s done some good things,” Davis Paul, 36, said as he waited for Trump at a recent rally in Conway. “But I just don’t think she’s ready to tackle a candidate like Trump. I don’t think many people can.”

Trump has swept into the state for a handful of large rallies in between fundraisers and events in other states, including Michigan, which holds its GOP primary Tuesday.

He has drawn much larger crowds and campaigned with Gov. Henry McMaster, who succeeded Haley, and Scott, who was elevated to the Senate by Haley.

Speaking Friday in Rock Hill, Trump accused Haley of staying in the race to hurt him at the behest of Democratic donors.

“All she’s trying to do is inflict pain on us so they can win in November,” he said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

In some of those rallies, Trump has made comments that handed Haley more fodder for her stump speeches, such as his Feb. 10 questioning of why her husband — currently on a South Carolina Army National Guard deployment to Africa — hadn’t been campaigning alongside her. Haley turned that point into an argument that the front-runner doesn’t respect servicemembers and their families, long a criticism that has followed Trump going back to his suggesting the late Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, wasn’t a hero because he was captured.

That same night, Trump asserted that he would encourage countries like Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” against NATO member countries who failed to meet the transatlantic alliance’s defense spending targets. Haley has been holding out that moment as evidence that Trump is too volatile and “getting weak in the knees when it comes to Russia.”

After one of Haley’s events, Terry Sullivan, a U.S. Navy veteran who lives in Hopkins, said he had planned to support Trump but changed his mind after hearing Haley’s critique of his NATO comments.

“One country can say whatever it wants, but when you have an agreement, among other nations, we should join the agreements of other nations, not just off on our own,” Sullivan said. “After listening to Nikki, I think I’m a Nikki supporter now.”

Haley has made an indirect appeal to Democrats who in large numbers sat out their own presidential primary earlier this month, adding into her stump speech a line that “anybody can vote in this primary as long as they didn’t vote in the Feb. 3 Democrat primary.”

Some of those voters have been showing up at her events, saying that although they planned to vote for Biden in the general election, they planned to cross over to the GOP primary on Saturday as a way to oppose Trump now.

In any other campaign cycle, a home state loss might be detrimental to a campaign. In 2016, Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out shortly after losing Florida in a blowout to Trump, after his campaign argued the political winds would shift in his favor once the campaign moved to his home state.

And Haley’s campaign can’t name a state in which they feel she will be victorious over Trump. “The primary ends tonight and it is time to turn to the general election,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said Saturday.

But in a speech this past week in Greenville, Haley said she would stay in the campaign “until the last person votes,” arguing that those whose contests come after the early primaries and caucuses deserved the right to have a choice between candidates.

Haley also used that speech — which many had assumed was an announcement she was shuttering her campaign — to argue that she feels “no need to kiss the ring,” as others had, possibly with prospects of serving as Trump’s running mate in mind.

“I have no fear of Trump’s retribution,” Haley reiterated. “I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern.”

___

Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

A little over one year after he was freed from his cage at the zoo in a criminal act that has yet to be solved, Flaco appears to have collided with an Upper West Side building, the zoo said in a statement.

“The vandal who damaged Flaco’s exhibit jeopardized the safety of the bird and is ultimately responsible for his death,” the statement said. “We are still hopeful that the NYPD which is investigating the vandalism will ultimately make an arrest.”

Staff from the Wild Bird Fund, a wildlife rehabilitation center, responded to the scene and declared Flaco dead shortly after the collision. He was taken to the Bronx Zoo for a necropsy.

“We hoped only to see Flaco hooting wildly from the top of our local water tower, never in the clinic,” the World Bird Fund wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Flaco’s time in the sky began on Feb. 2, 2023, when someone breached a waist-high fence and slipped into the Central Park Zoo. Once inside, they cut a hole through a steel mesh cage, freeing the owl that had arrived at the zoo as a fledgling 13 years earlier.

Since the zoo suspended efforts to re-capture Flaco in February 2023, there has been no public information about the crime.

Until now, Flaco had defied the odds, thriving in the urban jungle despite a lifetime in captivity. He became one of the city’s most beloved characters. By day he lounged in Manhattan’s courtyards and parks or perches on fire escapes. He spent his nights hooting atop water towers and preying on the city’s abundant rats.

He was known for turning up unexpectedly at New Yorkers’ windows and was tracked around the Big Apple by bird watchers. His death prompted an outpouring of grief on social media Friday night.

One of Flaco’s most dedicated observers, David Barrett, suggested a temporary memorial at the bird’s favorite oak tree in Central Park.

There, fellow birders could “lay flowers, leave a note, or just be with others who loved Flaco,” Barrett wrote in a post on X for the account Manhattan Bird Alert, which documented the bird’s whereabouts.

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation wrote, “We are saddened by the news of the death of Flaco, the Eurasian eagle-owl, and send our thoughts to @TheWCS and to all New Yorkers who helped make him feel at home in our parks.”

___

Associated Press Writer Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.

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“I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).  Let me say, wow!” Williams said in the statement. “Your response has been overwhelming. The messages shared with me have touched me, reminding me of the power of unity and the need for compassion. I hope that others with FTD may benefit from my story.”

“I want to also thank the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration for their kind words of support and their extraordinary efforts to raise awareness of FTD,” Williams’ statement continued. “I continue to need personal space and peace to thrive.  Please just know that your positivity and encouragement are deeply appreciated.”

Wendy Williams Feb 4

Lifetime to air ‘unfiltered' Wendy Williams documentary with nearly 2 years of footage

Williams’ first public comments since her diagnosis became public came shortly after it was revealed that the upcoming Lifetime documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?” will air as scheduled after a New York court rejected an attempt to block the broadcast.

The order signed Friday by a New York appellate judge says blocking the documentary from airing would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

The ruling clears Lifetime’s two-night broadcast plan for “Where is Wendy Williams?”, which includes footage of the former talk show host and interviews. Friday’s order comes a day after Williams’ care team issued a statement saying the former host has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.

A lawyer who serves as Williams’ guardian sued to block the broadcast on Thursday, although most details about the case are under seal. An attorney for the guardian did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday.

“Lifetime appeared in court today, and the documentary ‘Where is Wendy Williams?’ will air this weekend as planned,” the network said in a statement.

In 2022, Williams’ self-titled daytime talk show ended because of her ongoing health issues. Sherri Shepherd, who filled in for Williams as a guest host, received her own show.

Williams said in 2018 that she had been diagnosed years before with Graves’ disease, which leads to the overproduction of thyroid hormones and can cause wide-ranging symptoms that can affect overall health. Thursday’s statement from Williams’ care team said Williams’ dementia diagnosis happened in 2023.

People magazine reported in a cover story on Williams this week that some family members say they don’t know where she is and cannot call her themselves, but she can call them.

The article said the Lifetime documentary crew, which set out in 2022 to chronicle Williams’ comeback, stopped filming in April 2023 when, her manager “and jeweler” Will Selby says in footage for the film, she entered a facility to treat “cognitive issues.” Her son says in the documentary that doctors had connected her cognitive issues to alcohol use, People reported.

Friday’s ruling was first reported by the entertainment industry news website Deadline.

The fire broke out around 2 p.m. on the third floor of the building on St. Nicholas Place near 149th Street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood, according to the FDNY. Crews responded to the scene in three minutes, seeing people on fire escapes of the six-story building.

Smoke and fire was blowing into the hallways of the building, shutting off a way out for some residents living on higher floors. A woman can be heard on cellphone video taken from the street yelling “Don’t jump” up to those seen in windows, desperate to get out on the alley side of the building.

FDNY officials described it as a “very challenging” fire to fight, saying it was “so dangerous, firefighters had to make three rope rescues, which something very unusual for us to do at one fire.” Another fire official said the department typically only performs one or two of those kinds of rescues a year, so three in one incident is very uncommon.

Three victims were found unconscious in the upper floors of the building and were rushed downstairs to receive help from EMS.

One person was killed in the blaze and another 17 were hurt, four of whom were in critical condition at the hospital, fire officials said at a Friday evening news conference. Three of those saved in the rope rescues were said to be among those in critical condition.

A total of 12 people were hospitalized, officials said, one of whom died from their injuries.

FDNY officials did not say what may have sparked the deadly fire.

It wasn’t clear how the boy fell, but he landed on a balcony on the ninth floor of the East 131st Street building between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, officials said.

It happened around 11 a.m.

No criminality is suspected. Police say their investigation is ongoing.

United Airlines is raising the price to check bags, becoming the latest carrier this year to hike a fee that generated more than $5 billion for airlines in the first nine months of 2023 alone.

United economy passengers who book domestic tickets starting Feb. 24 will pay $40 for a first checked bag, or $35 if they prepay online at least 24 hours before their flight, an increase of $5. A second checked bag will cost $50 at the airport, or $45 in advance, up $5 for both options.

The changes apply to most flights throughout North America, a United spokeswoman said.

In 2020, United raised the price to check a bag at the airport by $5 to $35 but kept it steady at $30 if travelers paid for the service in advance.

Certain credit card holders, frequent flyers with elite status, active military and travelers in top-tier classes can still check a bag for free, United said.

Earlier this week, American Airlines raised its fee to check a first bag on domestic flights to $35 if purchased in advance and $40 at the airport. Both options were previously $30. A second checked bag will go up from $40 to $45.

Airlines and other companies have been grappling with how to grow profits while reining in costs, such as new labor contracts, while pricing power has waned.

JetBlue and Alaska Airlines have also raised bag fees this year.

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One of the 12 annual full moons, the Snow Moon is seen each February. Here’s what to know about the Snow Moon and how to see it:

Why is it called the Snow Moon?

February’s full moon was called Snow Moon by many Native American cultures due to the typically heavy snowfall that occurs during these days.

According to the National Weather Service, February is the United States’ snowiest month.  

There have also been other names used for February’s full moon such as Hungry Moon, which the Cherokee used to call it, describing the time of food scarcity during the late winter period. It has also been called the Storm Moon, Wolf Moon and Candles Moon, according to NASA.

What is special about this Snow Moon?

This year, the moon will be a “micromoon,” meaning that it will be at its farthest point from the Earth. February’s full Moon is about 252,225 miles from us, making it look a bit smaller than other full moons.

When can you see the full Snow Moon in 2024?

Save some time to look at the sky to see February’s full Snow Moon this Saturday, Feb. 24.

What time will the Snow Moon be visible?

It’ll reach its peak illumination during the daytime in North America, so for the best view of this moon, look for it starting just after moonrise on Saturday night.

In NYC, that will be at 5:55 p.m.

It’s expected to drift above the horizon in the east around sunset and reach its highest point in the sky around midnight.

Which full moon comes next?

March’s full Worm Moon will appear on the nights of Sunday, March 24, and Monday, March 25.

That will be the first full moon of the spring season.

What would you do if you discovered everything your spouse told you was a lie?

Well, TikToker ReesaTeesa has captivated fans with her 50-part story chronicling her relationship with a man she says had lied about his entire life.

“I’m going to tell the story of how I met, dated, married and divorced a real pathological liar,” she began the lengthy video series. “I’m going to be truthful, even if it makes me look bad.”

Ultimately, she recounted the events, which she said took place between March 2020 and December 2021, in 52 nearly 10-minute videos as part of a series called “Who TF Did I Marry?!?”

“Whether you agree with me and my decisions or not,” she told NBC News in an interview published Feb. 22. “I wanted it to create conversation about the things that we ignore because we want what we want or we’re in a hurry.”

“I’ve started giving myself grace as I’m reading messages from other women who’ve gone through the same thing,” Reesa noted. “Because for the longest time after the story was released, it did feel like I was the only one who fell for this.”

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Keep reading for a breakdown of the series that has TikTok seated with popcorn.

Who is ReesaTeesa?

Reesa — who requested NBC News not use her full name for safety reasons — began sharing her expansive story about her ex on the social media platform Feb. 14. After the videos went viral, Reesa reflected on her decision to post the story online and doesn’t regret it.

“I already knew this story was not going to always make me look good at all,” she told NBC News. “But I also felt like the story was bigger than me in a way. In other words, it was worth some embarrassment. But it was cathartic and it was also very emotional, and very hard at times.”

E! News reached out to Reesa and did not hear back.

How did ReesaTeesa meet her ex-husband?

Reesa’s ex-husband did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

Reesa said she met her ex-husband, whom she referred to using the pseudonym Legion in the videos, in March 2020 on Facebook’s dating site.

She explained that he quickly wowed her by coming to her rescue when she was stranded at a gas station after her tire blew on the way to their first date. “He showed up at the gas station, and he changed my tire,” she admitted, “which I just thought was the sexiest thing in the world.”

And when they reached the restaurant, Legion shared what he was looking for in a relationship.

“He was like, ‘I want marriage, family, a house,'” Reesa recalled. “‘As a man, I’m ready to get married, but I want it to be for real because the first time it really hurt me when she cheated on me.'”

What did Reesa think she knew about her ex-husband?

Reesa said that when they began dating, Legion told her he’d worked for Apple in California before moving to Atlanta to become vice president of production at a condiment company. He also told her he had gone to college in San Diego and played arena football professionally, which left him with substantial funds in an off-shore account.

And when it came to his family life, Reesa said Legion claimed to have several siblings — including two brothers, two sisters and two half-brothers — and shared he’d been married once previously.

The couple’s relationship turned serious not long after their first date and they chose to quarantine together at the start of the pandemic. That May, Reesa says she learned she was pregnant but sadly miscarried the following month.

Reesa and Legion went on to tie the knot in January 2021. However, not long after their marriage, she said she began to worry something was off due to his behavior during their house-hunting journey. She said her husband often came up with excuses while putting in offers they would eventually pull, ranging from inspections taking too long or waiting for approval for money transfers.

When did Reesa learn what she says is the truth about her ex?

Throughout the course of their relationship, Reesa acknowledged that she picked up on some of his lies. For instance, in June 2020, she said a house that she believed they had closed on had been taken off the market and was actually purchased by another couple.

“There is no house. He’s going to have to get out of this lie somehow,” she explained in part five. “Keep in mind, I was pregnant. I had a decision to make. You’re about to have a baby with this man. He’s paying all the household bills. Let him get out of the lie.”

After catching him in what she says were multiple lies, including discovering he was using a false social security number while applying for their marriage license in December, Reesa shared she began sleuthing into his past.

She said that after obtaining his real social security number for a background check for her new job, she learned he had lied about several aspects of his life — including that he wasn’t an executive but instead was a forklift operator. She also discovered he had been convicted of criminal trespassing and impersonating a police officer.

After getting into contact with his family, Reesa explained she discovered he didn’t have several siblings as he’d claimed and that he was estranged from his two brothers over his lying. While doing more digging, she says, she also discovered that he was married twice.

When did Reesa’s marriage end?

In addition to lying about many aspects of his life, Reesa alleged he cheated on her and that she discovered his infidelity in June 2021 after seeing text evidence of his affair. She says she quickly kicked him out of the house and filed for divorce, which was obtained by NBC News.

Reesa says he continued to contact her for months and that August, she moved out of her house. She finally received her divorce decree in December.

Reflecting on her decision to post her story years later, Reesa said she hopes she can prevent someone else from making the same mistakes she had made.

“I can honestly tell you, being single sucks, in my opinion,” she said in her final video. “But being married to the wrong person is a type of hell no one should have to go through.”

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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Who better to honor actors than, well, actors?

The 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards are just days away, meaning Hollywood’s biggest film and TV stars will soon come together to celebrate the year’s best performances, from the silver screen to the small screen.

It should come as no surprise that Barbie and Oppenheimer lead the film categories with four nods each. Plus, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr. each received individual noms. (See the full list of 2024 nominees here.)

When it comes to the best in TV, the fourth and final season of “Succession” earned the drama series and its stars—like Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Matthew MacFayden and Brian Cox—half a dozen nods.

Fans can also expect a very special appearance by one of Hollywood’s most celebrated legends during this year’s SAG Awards ceremony. Barbra Streisand will also be honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, which is given annually to an actor who exemplifies the “finest ideals of the acting profession.”

As for who will present Streisand with the prestigious honor? None other than SAG Award winner Jennifer Aniston.

Best SAG Awards Red Carpet Looks of All-Time

Keep reading to find out how you can watch the 2024 SAG Awards, plus all the details on E! News’ red carpet experience.

When are the 2024 SAG Awards?

The 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles.

How can I watch the 2024 SAG Awards?

The 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will air live Saturday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Netflix.

What time are the 2024 SAG Awards?

The two-hour 2024 Screen Actors Guild ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT.

Who is hosting the 2024 SAG Awards?

While there is no official host for the ceremony, two-time SAG Award winner Idris Elba will open the show. Additional presenters will include iconic stars such as Jessica Chastain, Billie Eilish, America Ferrera, Taraji P. Henson, Naomi Watts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Glen Powell and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, plus many more.

Who is nominated at the 2024 SAG Awards?

The casts of “Abbott Elementary,” “Barry,” “The Bear,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Ted Lasso” are all up for Comedy TV Ensemble while the nominees for Drama TV Ensemble include “The Crown,” “The Gilded Age,” “The Last of Us,” “The Morning Show” and “Succession.”

In addition to blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” other notable film nominees include Danielle Brooks of “The Color Purple,” Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Paul Giamatti of “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things” star Emma Stone. (See all the full list of nominations here.)

When does E!’s 2024 SAG red carpet begin?

Live From E!: SAG Awards kicks off on E! at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT co-hosted by Laverne Cox, Loni Love and Keltie Knight. The two-hour experience will feature interviews with this year’s top nominees and an in-depth look at the night’s most talked-about styles. Plus, E!’s Glambot returns to capture Hollywood’s finest fashion moments in slow motion as all the stars arrive.

E!’s social coverage of the SAG Awards will take place throughout the day on E! News’ Instagram, X/Twitter and Facebook. And fashion lovers can catch every must-see outfit on @einsider on Instagram.

SAG Awards 2023: Red Carpet Fashion

And don’t miss E! News on Monday, Feb. 26, at 11 p.m. for a full recap of every must-see moment and winner.