Shark sightings force some New York beaches to close on busy July 4 weekend
Millions of Americans celebrated Independence Day on Friday, with many opting to hang out at the beach. New Yorkers who wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather may have been disappointed to find Rockaway Beach in Queens was closed after shark sightings.
New York City Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry alerted the closures in an X post Friday afternoon.
Daughtry said two sharks were spotted near Beach 32nd Street shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET.
He said 'one marine animal' was also seen at Beach 144th Street and the latest sighting was at Beach 30th Street.
'These sightings were very close to beachgoers. But thanks to drone tech, lifeguards, and the dedicated professionals at [NYC Emergency Management], we're keeping everyone safe as they enjoy the holiday.'
Beach 30th Street was only closed for an hour on Friday, according to Daughtry.
New York takes shark monitoring seriously. Lifeguards continuously patrol the water and beach police and staff use drones to spot 'dangerous marine life,' such as sharks, and large schools of fish that may attract them, according to a recent press release from Governor Kathy Hochul 's office.
The Empire State has increased its surveillance capabilities this summer, which includes six new drones, marking 28 drones total, and training eight new drone operators for a total of 48 operators.
New York also gave beach police one large 'enterprise drone' with thermal imaging, among other capabilities. The drone can also drop personal flotation devices into the water in emergencies.
'Our Long Island State Park beaches are cherished by New Yorkers and visitors alike — perfect places to get offline, get outside and enjoy the outdoors,' Hochul said in Wednesday's release.
She continued: 'We are continuing to strengthen our shark surveillance capabilities and safety tactics at these beaches to help protect these treasured summertime traditions. I encourage all beachgoers to stay safe, stay alert and always follow the direction of lifeguards and park staff.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Diddy received 'standing ovation' from fellow inmates after shock court victory
Sean ' Diddy ' Combs received a 'standing ovation' from fellow inmates when he returned to jail after winning acquittals on charges that carried a life sentence. The disgraced music mogul's, 55, attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said inmates cheered Combs on for 'beating' a high-profile federal case. 'They all said: "We never get to see anyone who beats the government,"' Agnifilo told The Associated Press in a weekend interview, days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs remains jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn after his conviction Wednesday on prostitution-related charges, which could put him in prison for several more years. Any sentence will include credit for time already served. Currently, that's almost 10 months. Agnifilo also recalled how after federal agents raided Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024, he advised the hip-hop star that sex trafficking charges were imminent. 'I said: "Maybe it's your fate in life to be the guy who wins,"' he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. 'They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart.' The verdict came after a team of eight defense lawyers led by Agnifilo executed a trial strategy that resonated with jurors. Combs passed lawyers notes during effective cross-examinations of nearly three dozen witnesses over two months, including Combs' ex-employees. The lawyers told jurors Combs was a jealous domestic abuser with a drug problem who participated in the swinger lifestyle through threesomes involving Combs, his girlfriends and another man. 'You may think to yourself, wow, he is a really bad boyfriend,' Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May opening statement. But that, she said, 'is simply not sex trafficking.' Agnifilo said the blunt talk was a 'no brainer.' 'The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn't think it was something it wasn't,' he said. Combs and his lawyers appeared deflated Tuesday when jurors said they were deadlocked on the racketeering count but reached a verdict on sex trafficking and lesser prostitution-related charges. A judge ordered them back to deliberate Wednesday. 'No one knows what to think,' Agnifilo said. Then he slept on it. 'I wake up at three in the morning and I text Teny and say: "We have to get a bail application together," he recalled. "It's going to be a good verdict for us but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let's try to get him out."' He said he 'kind of whipped everybody into feeling better' after concluding jurors would have convicted him of racketeering if they had convicted him of sex trafficking because trafficking was an alleged component of racketeering. Agnifilo met with Combs before court and Combs entered the courtroom rejuvenated. In less than an hour, the jury matched Agnifilo's prediction. Combs mouthed 'thank you' to jurors and smiled as family and supporters applauded. After he was escorted from the room, spectators cheered the defense team, a few chanting: 'Dream Team! Dream Team!' Several lawyers, including Geragos, cried. 'This was a major victory for the defense and a major loss for the prosecution,' said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer who worked with Agnifilo as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey over two decades ago. He credited 'a dream team of defense lawyers' against prosecutors who almost always win. Agnifilo showcased what would become his trial strategy - belittling the charges and mocking the investigation that led to them - last September in arguing unsuccessfully for bail. The case against Combs was what happens when the 'federal government comes into our bedrooms,' he said. During an eight-week trial, Combs' lawyers picked apart the prosecution case with mostly gentle but firm cross-examinations. Combs never testified and his lawyers called no witnesses. Ironically, Agnifilo expanded the use of racketeering laws as a federal prosecutor on an organized crime task force in New Jersey two decades ago, using them often to indict street gangs in violence-torn cities. 'I knew the weak points in the statute,' he said. 'The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are.' He said prosecutors had 'dozens of fail points.' 'They didn't have a conspiracy, they just didn't,' he said. 'They basically had Combs' personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants.' Some personal assistants, even after viewing videos of Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura — who was seen for the first time since the verdict over the weekend — had glowing things to say about Combs on cross examination. For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed as he works on personal demons, likely reentering a program for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest. 'He's doing OK,' said Agnifilo, who speaks with him four or five times daily. He said Combs genuinely desires improvement and 'realizes he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on.' 'He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there's no amount of fame and no amount of fortune that can erase them,' he said. 'You can't cover them up.' Cassie, the prosecution's star witness in Combs' case, went through weeks of gut-wrenching testimony as she alleged that she was coerced into marathon 'freak off' sexual performances during her relationship with the producer. Cassie - who was heavily pregnant as she took the stand and has since given birth - claimed that Combs often beat and abused her during their 11-year relationship. During cross-examination, Diddy's defense attorneys brought up text messages from their relationship where Cassie wrote that she 'loved' the freak offs. The messages undercut the prosecution's argument, and a jury on Wednesday was not swayed by her testimony as it rejected the top charges against Combs in a stunning verdict. While Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government will seek a 20-year maximum for Combs on charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, his defense tried to fight for less and requested he be freed on a $1 million bond. That request was denied, meaning he must remain in custody until his sentencing hearing on October 3. Cassie has since given birth with her husband Alex Fine. While she was not in attendance when the jury delivered the verdict on Wednesday, her attorney was. Following the verdict on Wednesday, Cassie's attorney praised her for 'paving the way' for the bombshell trial against one of the music industry's most powerful men.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
ICE agents blasted for arresting migrants at LA car wash on July 4
Liberal Los Angeles residents were outraged as ICE agents with bulletproof vests spent the Fourth of July holiday continuing to carry out Donald Trump 's mass deportation promise. One video showed a raid at a West Hollywood car wash, showing a man who alleged to have been in the country for 30 years. His son, who had been alerted to the raid, was left asking: 'Why? My dad is not a criminal. He was working at a car wash on 4th of July.' 'My dad came to work today on the Fourth of July. He loves his country. We've been here as long as I've been around,' the son, who wouldn't identify himself, added. The owner of the Santa Palm Car Wash was reportedly in the bathroom when the raid happened and enraged that he had not been informed. They told NBC Los Angeles that they arrested several people who have worked at the car wash for decades in the span of ten minutes at around 11am. Another employee was seen being tackled in a nearby alley. The city of West Hollywood issued a statement criticizing federal officials for the holiday raid. 'On a day meant to honor the ideals of liberty, democracy, and freedom from oppression, we instead confront a deeply troubling reminder of federal overreach. Independence Day should be a time for reflection and reverence, not fear and persecution,' they said. Federal agents arrested around 1,600 people for deportation in Southern California over the holiday, The LA Times said. The mayhem Friday broke out just hours before the President signed his so-called 'big, beautiful bill' into law - a sweeping $150 billion package that boosts funding for the border wall, ICE enforcement and deportations, while slashing Medicaid. The massive tax and spending bill passed by the House on Thursday includes huge infusion of funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tripling its annual budget for an agency that is under fire by Democrats. 'ICE gets $45 billion more to supercharge their kidnapping and disappearing of people of all legal statuses,' progressive Rep. Pramilla Jayapal, D-Wash., warned on Thursday after the bill passed. The additional ICE funding represents a nearly threefold increase in the agency's 2024 budget of around $10 billion, though additional funds were also provided to other border security efforts, like completing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted on Thursday that 'a deportation machine will be unleashed on steroids' under the new legislation. The extra funding for ICE will help grow its migrant detention centers, boost its deportation efforts, and hire an estimated 10,000 additional agents. ICE raid West Hollywood car wash on 4th of July—arrest man working there 30 years. Agents waited until owner went to the restroom & then blocked driveway—4 workers were detained in 10 minutes. "Why? My dad is not a criminal. He was working at a car wash on 4th of July," son of… — LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) July 5, 2025 'With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined,' Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the left-leaning American Immigration Council posted on X. Republicans, however, were jubilant about the increased border security funding. 'I speak on behalf of the entire agency when I say that ICE is grateful to President Trump for putting in the hard work necessary to get the Big Beautiful Bill across the finish line — but the real win is for the American people,' acting ICE Director Todd Lyons wrote in response to the bill's passage. 'The unprecedented funding for ICE will enable my hard-working officers and agents to continue making America safe again by identifying, arresting, and removing criminal aliens from our communities.' Though not all of the funds are going directly to ICE, a significant portion will support ICE-related projects, particularly migrant detention and removal operations. Under the new legislation, $45 billion is earmarked to expand migrant detention capacity to more than 100,000 beds. Approximately $52 billion is allocated for the construction and maintenance of the border wall and related Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities. The bill also authorizes $10 billion in grant funding to reimburse states for border security expenses incurred during the Biden administration. Up to $6.2 billion is approved for enhanced border surveillance technology and vetting systems. Additionally, the bill includes $4.1 billion to hire more Border Patrol agents and $2 billion for retention and signing bonuses. The increased funding will help authorities process and deport the estimated 10 million migrants who entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration. 'The Big Beautiful Bill has officially passed! Here's what it means for CBP and the American people: 701 miles of new, modern border wall, 3,000 new Border Patrol agents to defend our borders, 5,000 new Customs officers to secure our ports of entry,' CBP posted on X.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Boy fights off girl's Muslim parents who tried to strangle her
A teenage boy has described how he saved his girlfriend's life as her parents allegedly tried to strangle her in an 'honor killing'. Ihsan Ali, 44, and his wife Zahraa Subhi Mohsin Ali, 40, are charged with second-degree attempted murder and attempted kidnapping after the attack on October 18. The girl, 17, who can't be named, ran away from home to Timberline High School in Lacey, Washington, after her parents tried to put her on a plane to Iraq. 'Her father had recently been threatening her with honor killing for refusing an arranged marriage with an older man in another county,' the girl told police. Video showed Ihsan on the ground with his daughter in a chokehold outside the school, while classmates desperately tried to free her. Ihsan and Zahraa both pleaded not guilty and are expected to go on trial in July. The girl met her boyfriend at the school after she fled her home and school officials arranged for her to stay at a women's shelter. However, the school did not arrange transport there, so the couple went outside to catch a bus, and spotted Ihsan's pickup truck in the car park. The teenage boy explained to police in an interview on November 6 that a friend told him Ihsan had seen them and was heading their way. '[The girl] was scared, shaking, and had a tremble in her voice,' Detective Julie Mullen wrote in a report obtained by The boy stood between his girlfriend and her father as they tried to get to the bus as it arrived, and attempted to separate them when Ihsan tried to pull her away. Ihsan then allegedly punched him in the head and he remembered falling down and everything going black. '[He] said when he got up [the girl's] dad was "choking" her and [two other students] punched [Ihsan] in the face and people were yelling to call 911,' Mullen wrote. 'He started punching her dad in the face but he continued to choke [the girl] and said others were trying to pull her out while he continued to punch her dad in the head. 'He continued to punch Ishan until his "head got soft" and he got knocked out.' The boy then helped his girlfriend off the ground, but she 'couldn't breathe' and didn't know what was going on. Just as he was helping her to his feet, he alleged Zahraa and the girl's eldest sister Haneen, 21, came up behind them and pushed him out of the way to get to her. He told police he tried to 'fight them off' by putting up his arm up and pushing them away, and in the melee the girl and Zahraa were pushed to the ground. 'Once [the girl] and her mom were on the ground, her mom put her arm around her neck and started choking her,' Mullen wrote. He said that as he tried to pull the girl away from Zahraa, Haneen yelled 'what are you doing this?' at him. The boy was eventually able to pull his girlfriend to her feet and then away from Haneen when she allegedly grabbed her, and fled towards the school. The teenager suffered a 'boxer's fracture' to his finger as he tried to get Ishan off his girlfriend, and bruises and scratches on his head and face. He wasn't diagnosed with a concussion but had symptoms such as sensitivity to light and headaches when he tried to watch TV or play video games. His mother told police it 'took him several days to talk about the incident without crying'. The boy also told police about an earlier incident at the school with Zahraa on September 16 last year where she attacked him. The girl also detailed her father's alleged threats to kill her for dating an American boy, and refusing an arranged marriage. 'If I could kill you, I would kill you, but I can't do that. I can't do that because there's cops and CPS people involved right now because of you,' she claimed he said. 'And I can't touch you because you will immediately go to the school.' The girl told police Ihsan another time told her he wanted to 'hurt her so badly but there are cops here' but also told her how he would 'kill her no matter what happens' and he 'did not care if anyone saw him'. Police bodycam footage obtain by showed officers arriving at the school and arresting Ihsan, who demanded to speak to his daughter. 'Just let me tell her to come home - not like that. If I tell her to go home, she will go home,' he insisted, but police ignored him. Officers then had to deal with Zahraa and Haneen, who were hysterical and only left after Zahraa was allowed to speak to Ihsan.
