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Two Serie A clubs confirm positive Covid-19 tests

Four Sampdoria players, including one who had previously recovered, and three from Fiorentina have tested positive for coronavirus, the two Serie A clubs announced on Thursday.




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City star Walker believes he is being 'harassed'

Kyle Walker claims he is being "harassed" after admitting that he breached lockdown rules to visit his sister and parents.




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Son proves a sharpshooter during national service

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min will return to London next week after completing a three-week stint of national service in South Korea, where his aim with a rifle proved just as good as accurate as his shooting on the field.




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A Multi-Risk SIR Model with Optimally Targeted Lockdown -- by Daron Acemoglu, Victor Chernozhukov, Iván Werning, Michael D. Whinston

We develop a multi-risk SIR model (MR-SIR) where infection, hospitalization and fatality rates vary between groups—in particular between the “young”, “the middle-aged” and the “old”. Our MR-SIR model enables a tractable quantitative analysis of optimal policy similar to those already developed in the context of the homogeneous-agent SIR models. For baseline parameter values for the COVID-19 pandemic applied to the US, we find that optimal policies differentially targeting risk/age groups significantly outperform optimal uniform policies and most of the gains can be realized by having stricter lockdown policies on the oldest group. For example, for the same economic cost (24.3% decline in GDP), optimal semi–targeted or fully-targeted policies reduce mortality from 1.83% to 0.71% (thus, saving 2.7 million lives) relative to optimal uniform policies. Intuitively, a strict and long lockdown for the most vulnerable group both reduces infections and enables less strict lockdowns for the lower-risk groups. We also study the impacts of social distancing, the matching technology, the expected arrival time of a vaccine, and testing with or without tracing on optimal policies. Overall, targeted policies that are combined with measures that reduce interactions between groups and increase testing and isolation of the infected can minimize both economic losses and deaths in our model.




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Electricity and Firm Productivity: A General-Equilibrium Approach -- by Stephie Fried, David Lagakos

The lack of reliable electricity in the developing world is widely viewed by policymakers as a major constraint on firm productivity. Yet most empirical studies find modest short-run effects of power outages on firm performance. This paper builds a dynamic macroeconomic model to study the long-run general equilibrium effects of power outages on productivity. The model captures the key features of how firms acquire electricity in the developing world, in particular the rationing of grid electricity and the possibility of self-generated electricity at higher cost. Power outages lower productivity in the model by creating idle resources, by depressing the scale of incumbent firms and by reducing entry of new firms. Consistent with the empirical literature, the model predicts that the short-run partial-equilibrium effects of eliminating outages are small. However, the long-run general-equilibrium effects are many times larger, supporting the view that eliminating outages is an important development objective.




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Immigration, Innovation, and Growth -- by Konrad B. Burchardi, Thomas Chaney, Tarek Alexander Hassan, Lisa Tarquinio, Stephen J. Terry

We show a causal impact of immigration on innovation and dynamism in US counties. To identify the causal impact of immigration, we use 130 years of detailed data on migrations from foreign countries to US counties to isolate quasi-random variation in the ancestry composition of US counties that results purely from the interaction of two historical forces: (i) changes over time in the relative attractiveness of different destinations within the US to the average migrant arriving at the time and (ii) the staggered timing of the arrival of migrants from different origin countries. We then use this plausibly exogenous variation in ancestry composition to predict the total number of migrants flowing into each US county in recent decades. We show four main results. First, immigration has a positive impact on innovation, measured by the patenting of local firms. Second, immigration has a positive impact on measures of local economic dynamism. Third, the positive impact of immigration on innovation percolates over space, but spatial spillovers quickly die out with distance. Fourth, the impact of immigration on innovation is stronger for more educated migrants.




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Optimal Regulation of E-cigarettes: Theory and Evidence -- by Hunt Allcott, Charlie Rafkin

We model optimal e-cigarette regulation and estimate key sufficient statistics. Using tax changes and scanner data, we estimate relatively elastic demand and limited substitution between e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes. In sample surveys, historical smoking declines for high- and low-vaping demographics were unchanged after e-cigarettes were introduced; this demographic shift-share identification also suggests limited substitution. We field a new survey of experts, who report that vaping is almost as harmful as smoking cigarettes. In our model, these results imply that current e-cigarette taxes are far below the social optimum, but Monte Carlo simulations highlight substantial uncertainty.




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Woman struck and killed by hit-and-run driver in Brooklyn

The victim, believed to be in her 40s, was hit at the intersection of Atlantic Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. in East New York about 4:30 a.m., cops said.




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NYPD tow truck driver’s death in Brooklyn crash blamed on medical problem

The on-duty driver was heading south on Flatbush Ave. near Avenue R in Marine Park around 6 p.m. when he lost control of his truck, said police.




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Defense lawyer, in closing arguments for 2016 slaying of beloved Brooklyn pizzeria owner, insists prosecutors failed to prove their case

Attorney Javier Solano, in his final jury address Friday, insisted there was a “piece that didn’t fit” in the prosecution’s presentation against murder suspect Andres Fernandez in the June 30, 2016, shooting of Louis Barbati.




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Off-duty NYPD cop charged in fatal two-car Brooklyn crash; second driver flees scene

A driver abandoned his wrecked vehicle and left one of his passengers to die after a drunken off-duty cop in a muscle car t-boned his vehicle in Brooklyn early Sunday, police said. NYPD Officer Rohan Shaw was driving a white 2019 Nissan GT-R, zooming east on Foster Ave. just before 5 a.m., when a black 2016 Mazda 6 rolled through a stop sign on E. 55th St. and right into the cop’s path, police said.




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‘She was a pleasure to be around... you never expect this:' distraught dad grieves for daughter, killed by off-duty NYPD cop in car wreck

Instead of waking up to wish his daughter the best on her 23rd birthday, Collin Dixon got the phone call every parent dreads.




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South Brooklynites are fed up with spotty R and D train service: report

The survey of more than 700 people in Sen. Andrew Gounardes’ district — which stretches from Bay Ridge to Manhattan Beach — found that half of those who take the subway to work need to transfer at least once during their commutes.




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SEE IT: Home invader with knife walks through sleeping man’s home in Brooklyn

Creepy video of an intruder with a knife roaming through a sleeping man’s kitchen in Brooklyn was released by police Sunday night.




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Suspect with knife captured on video in sleeping man’s home may have also slipped into Brooklyn building: police

Cops are looking into the possibility a man who stalked through a Brooklyn home with a knife may have trespassed through another nearby location the night before.




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Brooklyn teen accused of swiping more than $1 million from dozens of victims in cryptocurrency scam

Yousef Selassie, 19, pleaded not guilty to first-degree grand larceny, identity theft and other charges at his Manhattan Supreme Court appearance for the lucrative scheme that operated from January through May this past year.




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Vision uh-oh: Two more pedestrians killed by vehicles in Manhattan and Brooklyn, capping off deadly three days across NYC

The Friday morning deaths capped off a deadly three days across the city.




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Brooklyn assault suspects get welcome reprieve under new reforms: No bail despite alleged violent offenses in separate cases

Two men accused of violent crimes were freed without bail from Brooklyn Criminal Court on Thursday amid growing concern about the state's new bail reform laws.




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SEE IT: Boy violently struck by car in Brooklyn, then gets up and walks away

The frightening incident happened Wednesday around 8 a.m., on 55th St. between 14th Ave. and New Utrecht Ave. in Borough Park, according to Ezra Friedlander, who shared the video on Twitter.




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Church desecration suspect in custody after Brooklyn priest, altar are splashed with juice during Sunday morning service

A 14-second video captured the unsettling scene inside St. Anthony of Padua Church in Greenpoint as the Rev. Jossy Vattothu presided over the 9:30 a.m. Mass, with the man strolling casually inside the house of worship with a container of juice in his right hand.




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Trinitarios takedown nabs seven reputed high-ranking gang-bangers

The defendants were linked in a 15-page Manhattan court filing with a cornucopia of crimes committed between 2010-19, from murder to robbery, wire fraud to kidnapping, and drug dealing to identity theft.




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New York ‘ready’ to snuff coronavirus when it lands thanks to training, technology and ‘secret shoppers'

New York health agencies says they're prepared for the coronavirus.




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Knife-wielding straphanger slashes face of woman whose child vomited on Brooklyn bus

A Brooklyn woman was slashed in the face with a knife by an enraged passenger after her child threw up on a city bus.




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Brutal ‘Bushwick Crew’ member pleads guilty to murdering thieves who tried to rob drug stash

The last suspect in the grisly gang-related Brooklyn murders of two men whose bodies were burned after they were tortured and killed pleaded guilty Friday.




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Staten Island man, 72, files Child Victims Act suit over alleged 1960s abuse by Poly Prep teachers

Rubin, now a genteel 72-year-old Staten Island resident, alleges in a newly-filed Child Victims Act lawsuit that he was sexually abused on a weekly basis between 1960-65 by a cabal of five predatory teachers at the prestigious school.




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Dozens of Brooklyn assistant DAs quit over new state law that adds to workloads

The new law requires prosecutors to hand over most evidence in criminal cases to defense lawyers within 15 days of suspects’ arraignments. Because of the law, lawyers who once clocked out in the early evening are now working late into the night, say multiple sources in the Brooklyn DA’s office.




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‘I’m still building, still paving the way’: Brooklyn entrepreneur launches black-owned champagne brand

Marvina Robinson was inspired to create Stuyvesant Champagne, named after Bedford-Stuyvesant where she grew up, while drawing up plans for a champagne bar set to launch in the neighborhood later this year.




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Brooklyn subway surfer recovering at hospital after doctors amputate crushed foot

Ulises Rivera, 32, had stitches above his right eye and a blood-soaked sheet wrapped around his right leg at Elmhurst Hospital — but otherwise seemed in healthy condition.




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Man wrongly convicted in 1995 Brooklyn gang murder sues the state for $100 million

Christian Pacheco, 42, was wrongly convicted in the racially-motivated Latin Kings killing of Lemuel Cruz, who died in December 1995 at a Brooklyn club called El Sabor Latino. Pacheco was nabbed by cops as he was trying to save Cruz's life. “I don’t regret helping him — honestly, I don’t. That’s the kind of person that I am," Pacheco told reporters Thursday.




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19-year-old Brooklyn stabbing victim asked for his mom in his last breaths

Mamadou Bah, 19, an immigrant from Senegal who dreamt of playing pro basketball, died after he stumbled into Gentlemen’s Quarters Salon on Church Ave. near Ocean Ave. in Flatbush just before 10 p.m. Tuesday.




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Mom wants justice for Mexican son shot by ICE on vacation visit to Brooklyn

“Those people shot him to kill him. It’s a miracle that my son is alive,” Carmen Cruz said of the Feb. 6 incident in which her son, 26-year-old Erick Diaz-Cruz, was wounded in a confrontation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Gravesend.




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Boy, 7, walking to Brooklyn school with mom killed in crosswalk by driver with suspended license — sixth NYC pedestrian death in five days

The 8:15 a.m. crash at Pennsylvania and Blake Aves. in East New York happened just paces from three neighborhood schools and about two miles from where a 10-year-old girl was fatally struck by a school bus Tuesday, officials said.




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Brooklyn man whose murder conviction was overturned will be retried for 1992 killing

Emmanuelle Cooper, 54, spent 27 years in prison for the 1992 murder of MTA employee Andres Barretto, who was fatally shot in an East New York subway station after two men forced their way into a booth and robbed the token clerks inside.




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Brooklyn teen, 16, revealed sexual abuse at family dinner, mom recounts at teacher’s trial

Mervyn Affoon, who taught at the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism at hospitality at Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, is accused of sexually abusing the teen about 15 times between March 2017 and June 2017.




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‘This is a celebration of homecoming.’ Mourners gather for funeral of 7-year-old boy fatally struck by unlicensed driver in Brooklyn

More than 200 mourners filed into the Love Fellowship Tabernacle church in East New York Thursday night for Payson Lott’s wake and funeral. The youngster was struck and killed by an unlicensed driver as he crossed a street in his neighborhood.




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Brooklyn Supreme Court worker tests positive for coronavirus, officials say courthouse will remain open

The employee, who works at 320 Jay St. in Downtown Brooklyn, tested positive for the illness Thursday night, prompting the Vera Institute to tell a majority of their employees to work from home.




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’Flatten the curve, go home!’ New Yorkers bellow coronavirus warnings from their windows in Brooklyn

As New Yorkers take to staying indoors to combat the spread of the coronavirus, these residents are taking a different approach.




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Brooklyn man suspected of murdering love triangle rival and burning corpse took victim’s seat in church

The murder may have happened outside the city.




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Coronavirus threat leads Diocese of Brooklyn to close all 186 parishes, after two priests and more congregants infected

The diocese made the dramatic announcement after confirming positive coronavirus tests for two priests: One at a church in Queens, the other at a church in Brooklyn.




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Brooklyn judge, three others test positive for coronavirus in borough’s courts: officials

The judge, whose name was not released, was last in the courthouse on Mar. 12, officials said.




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State pulls liquor license of Queens restaurant that flouts governor’s no dining in order

The operators of the New Oriental Guyana Restaurant on Liberty Ave. in Jamaica shut its front gates — but in a Prohibition-era move, they let dozens of customers in through an alley door so they could wine and dine the night away, the State Liquor Authority said.




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Brooklyn’s McCarren Park bustles even as state goes ‘on pause’ over coronavirus

Friends played touch football and shared sweaty exercise equipment while others kept their distance from others




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Brooklyn fiddler serenades neighbors stuck in coronavirus lockdown

“It’s about the power of music and bringing music to people to get through very difficult times. I think we all really need to do that and really step up for each other," said Dr. Kari Groff.




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Social distancing to prevent coronavirus spread isn’t happening in NYC courts

While an increasing number of criminal suspects are being arraigned by video to prevent the spread of coronavirus, defendants’ families often sit on crowded courthouse benches waiting for their relatives’ arraignments.




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Patients denied take-home doses at packed Brooklyn methadone clinic, sparking fears of coronavirus transmission

Patient Jessica Ellision recalled how she broke down and sobbed Monday when she finally received her medication after a three-hour wait — much of it in the crowded hallway where she feared the other patients might be infected. “It was so intense and so stressful, and you feel like you worked so hard not to be sick, but this is it now — this is how it happens,” said Ellison, 39, of the Bronx.




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Two NYC Education Dept. employees who shared building with principal who died of coronavirus also hospitalized: sources

Rona Phillips, the principal of KAPPA V High School in Brownsville, is in intensive care with pneumonia, officials said. “Our thoughts are with Principal Phillips and her family for a speedy recovery, and we’ll support the school community in every way we can,” said Education Department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot.




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Streets will open to pedestrians around the city to give coronavirus-cooped New Yorkers more open space

City officials called the street closings planned starting Friday are an “initial pilot,” and that more sites may be added to the program in the coming days. De Blasio said on Tuesday he’d like to open “up to two streets per borough.”




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Beloved Brooklyn pastor dies from coronavirus at age 49 — first Catholic priest killed by disease in the U.S., officials say

The beloved 49-year-old priest, born in Mexico City, passed away Friday evening at the Wyckoff Medical Center in Brooklyn, the diocese said. Father Jorge, as he was known to worshippers, served as the diocesan coordinator of the ministry for Mexican-Americans among his other duties.




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‘This is for real’: Videos show bodies loaded into trucks outside coronavirus-struck NYC hospitals

Disturbing videos posted online paint a grim picture on how hospitals seem to be struggling to deal with bodies as they battle against the wave of coronavirus patients.




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No coronavirus release for former Mexican top cop Garcia Luna, accused of taking millions in bribes from cartels

A Brooklyn federal magistrate denied Genaro Garcia Luna release from prison due to coronavirus, saying he was a flight risk.