Brooklyn

Taxi driver Nicolae Hent, wearing a protective mask, poses for a photograph before before starting work in New York, Monday, April 6, 2020. A taxi driver's job was already tougher in recent years with the arrival of ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft. The empty streets during the coronavirus pandemic have made things more difficult. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A city under siege: 24 hours in the fight to save New York

Apr. 9, 2020 5:49 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Brooklyn is dark except for the streetlamps when Carla Brown’s alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m. -- much too early for an average Monday. But with the coronavirus laying siege to New York, today looms as anything but ordinary. Brown runs a meals-on-wheels program for elderly shut-ins and...

South Carolina guard Jair Bolden (52) defends Auburn guard J'Von McCormick (5) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)

South Carolina guard Bolden leaving program for final season

Apr. 9, 2020 4:08 PM EDT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina guard Jair Bolden is leaving the men's basketball program and will play his final season elsewhere. The school confirmed Bolden's departure. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound point guard from Brooklyn, New York will join his third school as a graduate transfer and be eligible to...

Funeral director Jesus Pujols is photographed in one of the funeral homes he works with during his second shift of the day, Monday, April 6, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Pujols is sleeping in the same minivan he uses to transport bodies, just hoping he can keep up with the demand for his undertaking services as the new coronavirus ravages his city. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

A funeral director fights for New York's coronavirus dead

Apr. 9, 2020 10:06 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Jesus Pujols has fetched the deceased from emergency rooms. He has stepped over bodies in refrigerated trailers. The funeral homes he serves are storing remains by the dozen, often in chapels chilled by cranked-up air conditioners. The 23-year-old funeral director is sleeping some nights...

This undated photo provided by Sister Maria Mabel Spagnuolo shows her, left, with Sister Maria Ortensia Turati. On March 16, 2020, Turati, who was the former mother general of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity in Tortona, Italy, died at age 88 as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (Courtesy Sister Maria Mabel Spagnuolo via AP)

Dreaded uptick worldwide of dead spiritual leaders

Apr. 8, 2020 9:14 PM EDT

The Louisiana pastor who preached courage from his deathbed. The nun who always insisted that her order “get down to brass tacks,” and help people. The rabbi who made sure his students did not lack clothes or books. Even as parishioners, followers and the faithful seek solace and strength from...

In this Dec. 7, 2019 photo provided by The Tablet, the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay stands with congregants during a Migration Day Mass at St. Brigid Church in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Ortiz-Garay died on March 27, 2020, from coronavirus-related complications and is now the first known priest in the U.S. to have died from the virus. (Courtesy of The Tablet via AP)

A sad Holy Week after virus death of 1st Catholic priest

Apr. 8, 2020 2:06 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — “Animo!” Courage! In life, the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay would repeat the word in Spanish when he encouraged teenagers to stay in school, when he fed the homeless, when he consoled those who lost loved ones. Now, parishioners repeat his favorite word to pay homage to the...

US prosecutors allege bribes in 2018, 2022 World Cup votes

Apr. 7, 2020 12:29 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors revealed new details of alleged bribes paid to FIFA executive committee members to gain their votes for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup and charged a pair of former 21st Century Fox executives with making illegal payments to win broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022...

Funeral director Tom Cheeseman loads a body into his van after making a house call, Friday, April 3, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The Associated Press spent a day on the road with Cheeseman, who is overwhelmed by demand due to the coronavirus outbreak. Cheeseman is picking up as many as 10 bodies per day. Most bodies come from homes and hospitals. “We took a sworn oath to protect the dead, this is what we do,” he said. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The Last Responder: A day with an NYC funeral director

Apr. 6, 2020 5:33 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Cheeseman's phone rang at 3 a.m. Friday, soon after returning home from one of the worst days he's seen in 30 years as a Brooklyn funeral director. He just chauffeured the deceased for 12 hours — some coronavirus victims, some not — between houses, hospitals and funeral...

Pat Marmo, owner of Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, is interviewed in his body holding facility, hoping for assistance in handling the overflow of clients stemming from COVID-19 deaths, Thursday, April 2, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Like many funeral homes in New York and around the globe, Marmo's business is in crisis.

'Surreal': NY funeral homes struggle as virus deaths surge

Apr. 5, 2020 12:10 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Pat Marmo walked among 20 or so deceased in the basement of his Brooklyn funeral home, his protective mask pulled down so his pleas could be heard. “Every person there, they’re not a body,” he said. “They’re a father, they’re a mother,...

In this Sunday, March 29, 2020 photo, Rev. Steven Paulikas decorates an altar with palm fronds for Palm Sunday, which will be commemorated virtually this year, at All Saints' Episcopal Church in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The global coronavirus pandemic is upending the season's major religious holidays, forcing leaders and practitioners across faiths to improvise. (AP Photo/Emily Leshner)

Virus alters Holy Week celebration worldwide, not the spirit

Apr. 4, 2020 12:51 PM EDT

For Pope Francis at the Vatican, and for Christians worldwide from churches large and small, this will be an Easter like none other: The joyous message of Christ’s resurrection will be delivered to empty pews. Worries about the coronavirus outbreak have triggered widespread cancellations of Holy Week...

In this March 16, 2020 file photo, a woman walks through a lightly trafficked Times Square in New York, March 16, 2020. As of Sunday, nearly 2,000 people with the virus have been hospitalized in the state of New York and 114 have died, officials said. More than 15,000 have tested positive statewide, including 9,000 in New York City. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A gentler Gotham? NYers anxiously wait out coronavirus

Apr. 4, 2020 12:20 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — To a casting director, he might have seemed the perfect impatient New Yorker — broad, bald and with a booming voice, tattoos on his neck and hands visible under his construction jacket. Justin Hunter stood in line outside the Park Slope Food Coop, one of several dozen shoppers spaced...

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