Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

A7
U.S. NEWS Tuesday 23 July 2019

NYC mayor calls for probe as

many wait for power to return

NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor
Bill de Blasio called for an
investigation Monday of
power outages that came
at the end of this week-
end’s oppressive heat, say-
ing he no longer trusts utility
Con Edison after it decided
to turn off power to thou-
sands of customers.
Around 30,000 customers
This June 10, 2019, file photo shows an outside view of the Pulse in Brooklyn were taken off
nightclub temporary memorial before a news conference to power Sunday, so the util-
introduce legislation that would designate the Pulse nightclub ity could make repairs and
site as a national memorial in Orlando, Fla.
Associated Press prevent a bigger outage,
de Blasio had said earlier.
Ex-candidate admits On Monday, he offered People line up to get dry ice from a Con Edison truck in a
neighborhood without power in the New York borough of
Brooklyn, Monday, July 22, 2019.
lying about operating a blistering assessment of statement that it was work- crippled the heart of Man-
Associated Press
that decision.
on Pulse survivors “This should not have hap- hattan, knocking out pow-
pened,” he told reporters, ing to restore power to ev-

By MIKE SCHNEIDER Democratic primary for “and we need to make eryone by the afternoon, er businesses and residents
sure it doesn’t happen but as of 5 p.m. Monday, for more than three hours
Associated Press a Florida House seat that again.” about 10,800 customers along a 30-block stretch.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A covers suburban Orlando. De Blasio said the private remained without power, “I’m extremely disappoint-
former candidate for the In a letter to elections of- company is “not account- mostly in Brooklyn. ed with Con Ed,” the mayor
Florida Legislature ac- ficials, she cited “profes- able to the public in a way Like much of the East said. “They have been giv-
knowledged to state inves- sional obligations” as her a public agency would Coast, New York City ex- ing us consistently inconsis-
tigators that she lied when reason for withdrawing. be.” perienced temperatures tent information over these
she said she was a medical The seat currently is held by “Con Ed is very haughty in the high 90s over the last days.”
doctor who had removed a Republican and state re- about this,” the mayor said. weekend — and felt much Gov. Andrew Cuomo said
77 bullets from 32 victims of cords show McCarthy had “They don’t give real an- hotter with the humidity. he deployed 200 state
the Pulse nightclub shoot- raised only $1,500 by the swers, and they don’t feel Temperatures were start- troopers, 100 genera-
ing in 2016. time she withdrew. they have to.” ing to fall Monday, and city tors and 50 light towers to
The Florida Department Reached by telephone on The company defended its emergency management Brooklyn, as well as person-
of Health last week issued Monday, McCarthy said decision, saying in a state- officials warned of thun- nel and command vehicles
a cease and desist order she couldn’t talk because ment to The Associated derstorms. “It’s still hot and from the state Office of
against Catherine “Eliza- of the cease and desist or- Press that it was “necessary people have a right to be Emergency management.
beth” McCarthy, ordering der. Online state records to prevent longer outages frustrated. We’re pushing He urged New Yorkers to
her to stop holding herself show she had led two busi- to the impacted customers Con Ed to get power back check on neighbors, espe-
out to be a medical doc- nesses in the past decade, that would have occurred as fast as possible,” De Bla- cially the elderly.
tor. In a report accompa- C.A.R.E. For Women Foun- as a result of additional sio tweeted. Cuomo also said he di-
nying the order, McCar- dation Inc. and Encore equipment damage.” De Blasio said that New rected the state Depart-
thy apologized to a state Events, but both enterprises “We are completely fo- York City emergency man- ment of Public Service
health department investi- were dissolved. cused on getting custom- agement was adding per- to widen its investigation
gator, saying she “wanted McCarthy had represented ers back in service, and we sonnel on the ground in into last week’s blackout
to be somebody in the herself as a medical doctor regret the distress they are southeast Brooklyn, includ- in Manhattan to include
community.” at two political forums this under,” spokesman Allan ing at nursing homes and Sunday’s outages in Brook-
“I’m sorry that I gave any year and was confronted Drury wrote in an email. adult care facilities, to re- lyn. Equipment failure, not
impersonation,” McCarthy about her credentials by De Blasio’s remarks came spond to emergencies and heat, caused the roughly
said in the report. “I knew a reporter for Florida Poli- as Con Ed was working to keep people safe. five-hour blackout July 13
it was wrong and I should tics website after one of restore power to about De Blasio told reporters that affected a 40-block
have stopped.” those events, according to 19,000 customers, many of the city still does not have stretch of Manhattan, in-
Earlier this month, McCar- the Department of Health them in southeast Brooklyn. answers in the wake of cluding Times Square and
thy withdrew from the 2020 report.q The utility said in an emailed outages a week ago that Rockefeller Center.q