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Explained: New York City declares poliovirus a public emergency disaster

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Why NYC's fallout shelters won't protect you from nuclear attack

This summer, New York City officials released a public service announcement about what people should do in case of nuclear Armageddon. But if an atomic bomb does explode in the city, experts advise...

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Plants and satellites can predict flash droughts weeks in advance

Our planet is heating up. One needs only to look at the summer of 2022 as proof.A group of wildfires burned hundreds of parched acres in the normally lush forests of the Shawangunk Mountains in New...

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Army Corps proposes $52 billion storm surge barriers for New York-New Jersey...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a report Saturday detailing their proposed $52 billion plan to protect the New York City metropolitan area from storm surges and coastal flooding. It marks a...

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NYC women more likely than men to develop Long COVID: City Council Hearing

The City Council convened a hearing on Thursday to recognize Long COVID’s disproportionate impact on women and gender minorities. Health experts testified that women are more likely than men to face...

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A decade after Sandy, volunteer historians restore a Queens neighborhood's...

It all started with an old film reel of Jackie Robinson, found in the wreckage of a Breezy Point house a couple of days after 350 other homes were leveled by floods and fire in a single night during...

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‘Hard to walk away:’ What Staten Island’s retreat from flood zones can teach...

For retired transit worker Frank Mosczynzski, Ocean Breeze on Staten Island’s eastern shore was the perfect place to raise a family and grow old. He had called the area home since the age of two when...

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NYC has almost eliminated monkeypox. An NYU biology prof on what the city...

As New York City gains control over the monkeypox outbreak, advocates are warning that vulnerable groups still remain at risk.Cases citywide began dropping late this summer: After a daily average of 74...

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The legacy of 'Sandy cough' and why mold is still a major problem after storms

Dr. Mitchel Rosen was across the country for a work conference when Sandy slammed his New Jersey home. He remembers watching TV reports on the damage as he waited for intermittent phone calls from his...

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The Brooklyn barber whose home has become a haven for Venezuelan migrants

In the heart of Bushwick is a Venezuelan barber who for years has opened his Brooklyn home to friends, acquaintances and strangers arriving from his native country. Juan Sanchez, a 51-year-old father...

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NJ is suing Big Oil for causing the climate crisis. What would it take to win?

New Jersey is the latest state to sue some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, alleging they deceived the public for decades about the role fossil fuels play in exacerbating human-caused...

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A Long Island village is prepping for months without internet. Is NYC ready,...

As people fret over the potential demise of Twitter, the Long Island town of Lynbrook is thinking bigger.The Nassau County village laid out a contingency plan earlier this year in case the internet...

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What forced psychiatric hospitalization is like in New York City, as Mayor...

Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams made a speech about how he refused to ignore people living on the street who appear to be struggling with mental health issues. He acknowledged the...

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EPA delays cleanup of Brooklyn’s toxic Newtown Creek Superfund site until 2032

The Newtown Creek is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the nation, fouled by more than a century of sewage overflows, oil spills and industrial waste. The coastline of this 3.8-mile waterway,...

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EPA begins monitoring Brooklyn's newest Superfund site for potentially toxic...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has begun monitoring the soil and air around New York City’s most recent Superfund site – the Meeker Avenue Plume in northern Brooklyn – for chemical levels...

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NYC health commish on surviving the tripledemic of RSV, flu and COVID-19

As the holiday season ramps up, New York City and the rest of the nation are in the throes of a three-headed hydra of infectious disease.Flu season has spiked early across the U.S., and COVID-19 is...

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Wastewater can predict COVID-19 surges, but NYC’s data remains elusive

Since early 2020, New York City has become a pioneer of wastewater surveillance, a method of tracking diseases in sewage that gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic. But city agencies are not...

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Why coyotes aren't leaving New York City anytime soon

Wildlife ecologist Dr. Chris Nagy never goes hunting for coyote scat, also known as poop, without his trusted and loyal assistant, Ethan, a 10-year-old Norwegian Elkhound.On an unseasonably warm...

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Long Island City residents raise environmental concerns with proposed ferry...

A plan to demolish and relocate the ferry dock at Hunters Point South Park is drawing the ire of Queens residents who say the proposal would release toxic pollution and block waterfront views. The...

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New York Harbor School charts expansion as it teaches next generation of...

As a boat horn pierces an overcast Monday morning on Manhattan’s South Street, a stampede of teenagers rushes toward the 8 o’clock ferry bound for Governors Island – carrying backpacks, headphones and...

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Major climate bill revived by NY legislators to charge Big Oil for greenhouse...

A New York bill could force fossil fuel companies to pay for what lawmakers — and studies — say is their share of the mess they’ve made in the atmosphere.A pair of Democratic New York state lawmakers,...

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New York bans beauty products containing mercury, a neurotoxin long used in...

New York has become the third state to ban the distribution or sale of cosmetics and personal products that contain mercury. The law was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in late December — to little fanfare...

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Bald eagles are returning to New Jersey

The bald eagle was on the verge of taking flight from the Garden State. By 1982, their numbers had dwindled down to one nesting pair that was unable to successfully hatch an egg for six years in a...

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Norovirus, a gross stomach bug, appears to be hitting NYC. Good luck finding...

Stomach illness is rising in New York City. The number of New Yorkers visiting hospital emergency rooms due to vomiting or diarrhea has risen about 50% from December to mid-February, according to the...

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Overdose prevention centers save lives but remain in legal limbo, as NYC...

On Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams announced an ambitious goal of reducing drug overdose deaths in New York City by 15% by 2025. It’s part of a broad plan the mayor laid out to improve mental health and...

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Should NYC compost its tons of dog poop? One neighborhood is trying it.

Last year, New York City gave out 92,000 dog licenses, but community surveys conducted by the city health department have suggested the actual number of canines is usually five times higher than this...

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Toxic fumes detected at popular Brooklyn shuffleboard club for past 2 years

Click "listen" to hear an audio feature for this story, and visit Gothamist for the full details.The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation took a year to alert Gowanus Canal residents...

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3 years after NYC’s first COVID death, grievers find support with one another

3 years after NYC’s first COVID death, grievers find support with one another

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Health workers in NYC describe confusion, errors in early days of asylum...

A medical company contracted by New York City to bring thousands of migrants up to date on vaccines struggled to train staff on how to choose doses and interpret international vaccine records in the...

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COVID-19 upended NYC’s nursing workforce. 3 years later, hospitals are trying...

As New York City hospitals continue to grapple with staffing shortages three years into the pandemic, competition for nurses has become fierce – and many who remain in full-time jobs said they now feel...

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NYC is behind in meeting its solar energy goals. Can it catch up?

New York City has pledged to reach 1,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2030 — enough energy to power 250,000 homes, according to the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Justice. But state data shows that...

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Missing funding, real estate competition are slowing NY’s weed rollout,...

Limited access to state funding and real estate are among the problems slowing down the launch of New York’s recreational cannabis industry, according to lawyers and advocates working with businesses...

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Electric vehicles make up 1% of NYC cars. Will an EPA emissions crackdown...

New federal emission standards for cars are poised to spur electric vehicle production over the next 10 years. But if history is an indicator, densely populated cities like New York, where parking is...

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‘A layer cake of environmental pollution’: Greenpoint struggles with rezoning...

It's been 18 years since New York City rezoned Greenpoint's waterfront, and local residents are still waiting for the green spaces they were promised. The city’s vision of replacing a contaminated...

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NYC offers nearly 100 free fitness classes. We tried a few to see what...

New York City is flush with fitness classes, from spin to yoga to crossfit. But these specialty workouts can be expensive– and popping into a new one you’ve never tried before can be a bit daunting....

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Why bacon, egg and cheese prices have doubled and more convos in Bronx bodegas

Few places capture the essence of New York City like a bodega.Every New Yorker has their favorite corner store, where they can grab a sandwich in a hurry, pick up a roll of toilet paper or catch up on...

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As NYC ban on dirty fuel looms, building owners struggle with pivot to clean...

Landlords of roughly 2,800 buildings still use No. 4 heating oil, a major source of air pollution in New York City. But some building owners say they don’t feel prepared to pivot to cleaner...

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Today's Air Quality Update

WNYC's health and science editor Nsikan Akpanbrings the latest on the area's air quality as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to blanket the Northeast and beyond. Plus, Elizabeth Kim, reporter...

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NYC health advisory extended for ‘unhealthy’ air

New York City’s air quality is improving, but it’s still classified as ‘unhealthy,’ according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s thanks to Canadian wildfires that have brought...

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Bronx’s first overdose prevention center delayed over NIMBYism, lack of...

St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction in Longwood is working to open the first overdose prevention center in the Bronx – but the plan is facing delays amid the quest for community buy-in and funding.Year...

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Migratory waterbirds love New York Harbor islands, but humans are forcing...

New York Harbor is a dating hotspot for migratory birds.About 40 islands dot the waters around New York City, but only a handful become a hotbed for bird breeding from the end of April to mid July....

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How to stay safe during NYC's first heat wave of the summer

It's about to get hot in New York City. The region is preparing for its first official heat wave — three or more days of temperatures in the 90's — of the season. City cooling centers will be open...

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South Asian calls to NYC domestic violence hotline double in summer months

As temperatures climb across New York City, domestic violence survivor groups are raising awareness about a surge in incidents that they witness among South Asian communities during the...

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Fireflies are under threat, so NY scientists are trying to count how many are...

While the most infamous New York insect is the cockroach, some locals are lucky enough from early May to early August to encounter a more enchanting bug: the firefly. That luck, however, is at risk of...

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NYC had one of the world's deadliest COVID outbreaks in 2020. What lessons...

About 23,000 New Yorkers died during the city’s first wave of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.That's according to a new analysis from the Empire Center, which revealed that New York City's initial surge...

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Maimonides evicts current and former hospital workers from buildings...

Owen Denoon left his job at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan to become a nurse at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn’s Borough Park in 1989. He said he was still finding his footing in the city...

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What to know before you try psychedelic ketamine therapy in New York City

If you live in New York City, you’ve likely passed or heard of a clinic where ketamine — a hospital anesthetic and psychedelic party drug — is used as a mental health treatment.Locations now operate in...

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Hundreds attend NYC buildings hearing about softened enforcement for major...

Hundreds virtually attended a Department of Buildings hearing on Tuesday to weigh in on the fate of Local Law 97, which requires New York City’s biggest carbon polluters — buildings over 25,000 square...

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How an 8-acre green roof atop the Javits Center is boosting NYC’s biodiversity

It’s migratory bird season, and ecologists are cataloging the large number of birds that stop and refuel in New York during journeys that can reach up to 1,000 miles. On a recent Thursday afternoon at...

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How Citymeals on Wheels and other senior services are prepping for NYC's next...

On a recent Friday morning, workers at Citymeals on Wheels’ massive food distribution warehouse in the Bronx were packing cardboard boxes with shelf-stable items like canned vegetables, pouches of tuna...

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