NYC Archives - WPTF-AM

Times Square ball takes final test for New Year’s Eve

NEW YORK (AP) — The crystal-covered ball that descends down a pole in Times Square to ring in the new year was taken for a test run, as New York City officials laid out their plans for the iconic New Year’s Eve event. Officials flipped a switch to light up the the dazzling geodesic sphere — weighing almost 6 tons and featuring 2,688 crystal triangles — which then successfully ran up and down a 139-foot pole atop the One Times Square skyscraper. Monday’s rehearsal was just one of many pre-ball drop promotional even… Continue Reading

Back trouble and brain fog bothered suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing, his posts show

Social media posts from Luigi Mangione show the man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson underwent successful back surgery last year that alleviated debilitating chronic pain. He repeatedly posted on Reddit about his recovery and offered words of encouragement for other people with similar conditions. But notably absent from the posts are explicit concerns about corporate greed within the health insurance industry. Those appear to have surfaced only later: in the handwritten manifesto recovered this week by police. Despite recent revelations about a potential motive, Mangione’s descent into rage and violence remains largely a mystery.… Continue Reading

Suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggles, shouts while entering courthouse

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — Court records show New York prosecutors have charged a man with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. Luigi Nicholas Mangione is being held without bail Tuesday in Pennsylvania after he was arrested and arraigned on gun, forgery and other charges the day before. He is expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether the 26-year-old Mangione has an attorney who can comment on his behalf. Authorities say he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a McDonald’s customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in security-camera photos that New York police had publicized.… Continue Reading

Man in custody had a gun, mask and writings tying him to killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, police say

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says police have arrested a 26-year-old with a weapon “consistent with” the gun used in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Thompson died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference from his hotel to the company’s annual investor conference across the street. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Luigi Nicholas Mangione was taken into custody Monday. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said said at a news conference that Mangione was taken into custody after police got a tip that he had been spotted at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.… Continue Reading

Veteran Daniel Penny is acquitted in NYC subway chokehold case over Jordan Neely’s death

NEW YORK (AP) — A Marine veteran who put an agitated subway rider in a chokehold on a New York subway has been acquitted in the man’s death. A Manhattan jury cleared Daniel Penny on Monday of criminally negligent homicide charges. The verdict came after a more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed because the jury deadlocked on that count. The case arose from Jordan Neely’s May 2023 death and became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism. The 26-year-old Penny gripped Neely around the neck for about six minutes.… Continue Reading

Search for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer yields evidence, but few answers

NEW YORK (AP) — As the search for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer stretches into a fourth day and beyond the New York City limits, investigators are reckoning with a tantalizing dichotomy. They have troves of evidence, but the shooter remains an enigma. Retracing his steps using surveillance video, it now appears he left the city on a bus soon after the shooting Wednesday morning outside the New York Hilton Midtown. He was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later. The FBI announced late Friday that it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Late Saturday, police released two additional photos of the suspected shooter that appeared to be from a camera mounted inside a taxi.… Continue Reading

Police believe gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — Police officials believe the gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of Wednesday’s shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, the chief of detectives told CNN on Friday. The police commissioner said investigators believe he left New York City. The gunman made sure to conceal his identity with a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras. The reason for the killing remains unknown.… Continue Reading

Ammunition used in CEO’s killing had ‘Deny,’ ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ written on it, AP source says

NEW YORK (AP) — A law enforcement official says a masked gunman who stalked and killed the leader of one of the largest U.S. health insurance companies on a Manhattan sidewalk used ammunition emblazoned with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose.” The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke Thursday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The words on the ammunition may have been a reference to strategies insurance companies use to try to avoid paying claims. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson died in a dawn ambush Wednesday as he walked to the company’s annual investor conference.… Continue Reading

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lights up in New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty-thousand multi-colored lights are shining on Rockefeller Center’s iconic Christmas tree, with crowds gathering to witness the annual New York City tradition. The giant Norway spruce, which this year hails from a tiny Massachusetts town, is also topped with a Swarovski star crown featuring 3 million crystals. The annual ceremony, held Wednesday night, came hours after a gunman killed the CEO of United Healthcare about five blocks away. Security was tight at the tree-lighting ceremony and on the subway. The 74-foot-high tree was cut down last month in West Stockbridge and trucked to Center Plaza last month. It was originally spotted by the Rockefeller Center’s head gardener in 2020. Now lighted, it will be on display until mid-January.… Continue Reading

UnitedHealthcare CEO is killed in a ‘targeted shooting’ outside a New York hotel, officials say

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was a “brazen, targeted attack.” Jessica Tisch made the comments during a news conference Wednesday. The 50-year-old Thompson was set to speak at an investor meeting when he was gunned down around 6:45 a.m. outside the New York Hilton Midtown by a shooter who fled on foot and then a bicycle, according to the New York Police Department. Though officials said the attack appeared to be targeted, they did not yet have a motive for the shooting.… Continue Reading