samhexum

A 52-year-old cabbie was found dead in his car Friday night — the third death of its kind in as many months, prompting the union representing the city’s for-hire-vehicle drivers to demand action on Monday. 

Why are New York City taxi drivers dying on the job? 
A 52-year-old cabbie was found dead in his car Friday night — the third death of its kind in as many months, prompting the union representing the city’s for-hire-vehicle drivers to demand action on Monday. 
The union — the NY Taxi Workers Alliance — said that the driver, who it declined to identify out of respect for his family, pulled over after making a drop-off in Manhattan’s West Village between 5 and 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.
“He started work around 2:30 that afternoon and all the friends, they talk to each other, so they inform each other when they’re starting their shift,” said the union’s executive director, Bhairavi Desai, of how he and his other driver friends communicate throughout the day.
“After the rush hour, everyone’s trying to just contact each other, maybe have a break together, and they just couldn’t find him,” she added. “He wasn’t answering.”
The driver’s friends tracked down his cab to where he parked near the corner of 7th Avenue and Charles Street around 11 p.m. Friday night, Desai said. They were able to find him by contacting the broker for his taxi medallion, who used a GPS locator attached to the cab’s meter to trace it to the West Village corner.
“The broker found that he had done a drop between 5 and 5:30, and the car had not moved since then,” she said. “So then the friends drove there immediately and got there around 11, and that’s when they saw that he was just inside the car.”
Desai said the driver’s friends noticed upon arriving that the cab was on with the air conditioning running. She added that they then immediately called 911.
Emergency services personnel arrived and found the driver unresponsive, according to the NYPD. They tried to resuscitate him but were unable to, pronouncing him dead at the scene.
The alliance will hold a memorial for the driver on Tuesday morning at the West Village intersection where he was found.
The driver’s cause of death is still being determined by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, according to the NYPD. However, Desai said, the speculation is that he had a heart attack.
The driver, who lives on Long Island, is survived by his wife and 10-year-old twin children, Desai said. He has been a cabbie for many years, having purchased his taxi medallion with two of his friends in 2023.
The death comes after the union late last month held a vigil to honor one of the other taxi drivers who recently died in their cabs over the summer.
The 73-year-old driver, Gustave Bertrand Adjeli Yao, known in Harlem as 73-year-old Richard Coulibaly, was found by the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to have died from natural causes. Coulibaly died on July 2, during an extreme heat wave, which included the city’s first 100-degree day in over a decade.
The union held a separate memorial this past Friday for the other driver who died in their cab over the summer: Khalifa Siva.
Desai said Siva was diabetic and was found holding his insulin while pulled over inside his cab on the Henry Hudson Parkway near 81st Street in Upper Manhattan in late August.
When it comes to the connection between all three deaths, Desai said she believes they stem from drivers having to make fewer trips over longer hours with less time for breaks.
“They’re just spending less time, even during the shift, taking care of themselves,” she said. “Less time to go to the doctor and get your medicine and just properly take care of yourself. You’re supposed to work the job. The job’s not supposed to work you.”
A fellow cab driver named Wain Chin expressed a similar sentiment in a WhatsApp message shared with amNewYork.
“Too many of us put in long hours of work to cope with the rising cost of operation and living,” Chin said. “The same time app companies are trimming the compensation for our work. It is so much one body can take.”
Desai said the best solution is “comprehensive economic reform” for the industry that can allow drivers to earn more “without working themselves to death.” Additionally, she said they could use more resources for access to health care.

Long before Ozone Park became the neighborhood we know today, the area around what is now 95th Avenue was the heart of a thriving community known as Woodhaven Village. At its center stood a massive factory that employed hundreds, attracted immigrants from across Europe and helped transform a rural Queens hamlet into a growing industrial community.
This October, Woodhaven and Ozone Park will mark the 150th anniversary of the event that nearly destroyed that factory, and the remarkable rebuilding effort that followed. At the center of that story is Florian Grosjean, a Swiss immigrant whose vision and determination helped shape the future of both communities.
Born on Jan. 12, 1824, in the tiny Swiss village of Saule, Grosjean’s journey took him first to France and then, in 1850, to New York City. There, he launched a business importing French goods. Before long, however, he realized that manufacturing those goods locally would be far more profitable.
Grosjean opened a factory in lower Manhattan, but as his business expanded, he needed more space. His search eventually brought him to Woodhaven Village, a small hamlet surrounded by the rolling hills and farmland of Queens.
Located south of Atlantic Avenue and centered along what is now 95th Avenue in present-day Ozone Park, the village offered Grosjean the room he needed. He purchased a failing chisel factory from John Sharp & Co. and transformed it into the LaLance & Grosjean Manufacturing Company.
The factory’s location near the Atlantic Avenue railroad was crucial, providing an efficient way to transport raw materials and finished products. Under Grosjean’s leadership, the company flourished. By the mid-1860s, more than 300 people worked there, a remarkable number for a village of just over 1,000 residents.
The factory became the economic engine of Woodhaven Village, attracting workers and their families and helping the community grow. Then, on Feb. 21, 1876, disaster struck.
A fire broke out at the factory, fueled by vats of molten horse fat used in the tin-plating process. The wooden structure, saturated with grease, quickly became an inferno. Despite having its own volunteer fire department, the blaze consumed the entire complex.
Grosjean’s losses were staggering, estimated at half a million dollars, a fortune at the time. But the destruction meant more than the loss of a business. Hundreds of workers were suddenly unemployed, and many feared for the future of Woodhaven Village.
Grosjean, however, refused to abandon the community. He placed all his workers on half-salary during the rebuilding process, ensuring they would not have to leave the area in search of work. Within just a few months, the factory reopened. Its new centerpiece was a magnificent stone clock tower, visible for miles and serving as a symbol of resilience and hope.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the fire and rebuilding of the Grosjean factory.
To commemorate the anniversary, the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society will lead a free walking tour of the former factory grounds and Old Woodhaven Village, where much of Woodhaven’s population lived and worked in the late 1800s. The 90-minute tour will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, with participants meeting on Atlantic Avenue at the base of the clock tower (the tour will end approximately in the same spot where we started).  in other words, across from Burger King
Today, the area is known as Ozone Park, but in its heyday, it was the center of Woodhaven Village. Much of the village’s activity took place along University Place, now 95th Avenue. The community’s first bank and post office were located there in the old Wyckoff building, which still stands at the corner of 93rd Street.
University Place was once a bustling commercial center lined with businesses, hotels and saloons serving the many French immigrants who lived and worked in the area. Among the hotels were the Hotel de Paris, the Eagle Hotel and Theuret’s Hotel, opened by French immigrant Antoine Theuret in 1865. Theuret’s became a popular stopping place for travelers well into the early 20th century. The original building, now more than 170 years old, still stands and retains many of its architectural details.
It is easy to pass through this section of Ozone Park without realizing how much history surrounds us. The streets that seem so familiar today were once the center of a vibrant village filled with factories, businesses, hotels, saloons and working families.
And towering above it all was the Grosjean factory and its clock tower.

The 150th anniversary of the fire offers an opportunity to remember not only the disaster that destroyed the factory, but also the remarkable rebuilding effort that followed, and the immigrant entrepreneur whose determination helped ensure that Woodhaven survived and continued to grow.
For Woodhaven and Ozone Park residents today, it is a chance to look beyond the modern neighborhood and rediscover the community that came before it.
 

An American Treasure, Bob was. His renderings, omg, they communicated so much to the teams of people that put their hands to making the 3-D goods to be worn, as well as to the performer to be wearing them. Genius, embodied in a persona that everyone liked. 💔

If it's anything like the production in Provincetown a few years back, save your money. In my opinion it was as lame as lame can be.

a holiday presumably named for those of us who look like we're in our fourth trimesters.

Hasan Piker's hotter, & more extreme in his views, than either.




 

Off-topic but related. During the pandemic after the Australian Government closed our borders, Qantas cancelled all international tickets issued. They issued a travel credit for the ticket I had bought to travel to the Palm Springs gathering in 2020, a not inconsiderable amount of money (for me, at least). Initially they indicated that it would carry the usual conditions, that it had to be used within 12 months and all on one ticket purchase. Given the uncertainly about when international travel would resume, this was a matter of some controversy at the time, and a not insignificant amount of anger at the airline.
Eventually, they relented, removed both the time limit and the restriction on how the credit could be drawn down, and I used it to buy my ticket to the 2023 event. So I had my money back and the for me issue was closed.
After that a class action was launched against Qantas for its handling of the matter and a settlement has been reached under which Qantas will pay, without admitting liability, $AU105m between passengers who had been affected. I ignored the notifications I received as I had recovered my money, but they kept coming and were explicit is stating the settlement was available to all affected passengers whether or not they had been paid the money owed, with a minimum settlement of $AU50.
Soooo, I've submitted my claim to the law firm, and await the outcome.

They were the first black women to perform at the grand old Opry. Anita had had a bad break up and stayed up all night, listening to sad songs and by the morning she had written something that wound up winning them their first Grammy and the invitation to perform at the Opry, where people were shocked that the song was sung by black women. 

They were incredibly versatile vocalists. Pop, R&B, gospel, country, jazz — they could sing it all.

I remembered what POINTERed me in this musical direction... when this popped up on my YouTube feed.  I think it's so much fun:
This was during the period when June was asked to leave the group and go to rehab.  Bonnie left soon after. All the sisters had substance abuse problems at times (except maybe Anita), but June's were the worst and she never was able to stay clean for long.  During this binge I've been on, I've read about them a lot... June had been gang-raped before they were famous and never got over it, which was probably a big part of her drug use.
 

Well you are truly a fan! Saw them in concert back in the '80's with Billy Ocean (Caribbean Queen, etc.) as the opening act. Great show. My favorite was Neutron Dance. "Lord have mercy!!!...."

I was always a fan and had a few of their albums.  I don't know what set it off, but I've been listening to them a lot the last week or two.  All these years later and I think my appreciation has grown even more.  The gals could really sing.

No, it's not on the top ten list of songs that made me want to throw the radio out the window.  Somewhere in the 15-20 range, probably.

That's the amount I got so yeah they do whatever payment method you initially chose. With that facebook second distribution they actually just loaded the second amount onto the same card as the first payment.

I remembered what POINTERed me in this musical direction... when this popped up on my YouTube feed.  I think it's so much fun:
This was during the period when June was asked to leave the group and go to rehab.  Bonnie left soon after. All the sisters had substance abuse problems at times (except maybe Anita), but June's were the worst and she never was able to stay clean for long.  During this binge I've been on, I've read about them a lot... June had been gang-raped before they were famous and never got over it, which was probably a big part of her drug use.
 

Cher, Tina Turner, and KATE SMITH sing the Beatles.  God bless America!
 

Hasan also has a cute dog named Kaya.

It was legit. I went right onto the official prepaid center website and entered the code to redeem the funds and I got my $50 rewards card.

So this is really weird but I got an email today from the Wheat Thins one that now gave me an almost $50 credit card. I wonder if they are redistributing funds that weren't claimed the first time? But that seems like a huge amount to get.

David Mitchell is a brilliant comic mind, and I'm dying to begin season 2!!

The magic has worn off. I used to play the lottery a few times a year but it's been a fairly long while since I felt like throwing five dollars away. But today I did, and among other things I made four 50 cent plays on win four, which I had never played before, using  numbers from the show... 1410, 1221, 1919, and 2481.  Of course I was going to win, because everything about the show is magical, right?  Nah...

The good news:
Finished the six episode season one of Ludwig and LOVED it.  It has a very Only Murders in the Building vibe in terms of the atmosphere and music.
The bad news:
Season two is not available to watch until next month.

https://qns.com/2026/07/assault-liberty-ave-head-injury-s-richmond-hill/
Man assaulted by perp with a pizza on Liberty Avenue sustaining head injury in South Richmond Hill attack

That must've been SOME thick crust!

Swimming Child Hit in Head By SUV Crashing Into Pool and Pulled Underwater by Tire
  A boy having fun near a resort pool was trapped underwater after a vehicle suddenly crashed through the fence and landed in the water. The single-car crash occurred on Monday, July 13, at around 3:30 p.m. local time at the popular Smuggler’s Notch Resort in Vermont. The 9-year-old child, Joseph Sage, said the dark blue SUV hit him in the head while he was swimming before he was pulled below the water by one of the car’s tires.
Boy was trapped underwater by a car tire during wild crash
“I just heard a bang and a car went there,” the boy told NBC 5. “It hit my head and pulled me under.”
the most infuriating thing about the story is that the SUV had just eaten ten minutes before and shouldn't even have gone swimming for another 20 minutes