Latest news with #Brooklyn
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Wexford author Colm Tóibín awarded prestigous honorary degree from Oxford University
On Wednesday, June 25, Tóibín was awarded the honorary degree of Doctors of Letters for his contribution to literature and journalism from the University of Oxford. The degree honours individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of literature, the creative arts, and humanities. The university outlined the long list of accomplishments that made him eligible for the coveted award. "Professor Colm Tóibín, FRSL is an Irish novelist, writer, journalist and academic. He currently serves as the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University. Professor Tóibín's work has been widely recognised and shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. His novel Brooklyn (2009) was also adapted into an Oscar-nominated film. Professor Tóibín is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024 and in 2023 was awarded the Bodley Medal,' they said. Being awarded at the private ceremony alongside him was Dame Jacinda Ardern, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Clive Myrie, Professor Serhii Plokhii, Professor Timothy Snyder, Sir Mo Farah, Professor Robert S Langer and Professor Erwin Neher. On the morning of the ceremony, the heads of colleges, university dignitaries, holders of the Oxford degrees of Doctor of Divinity, Civil Law, Medicine, Letters, Science, and Music, and the honorands assemble, in full academic dress, in one of the colleges, where they enjoy Lord Crewe's Benefaction. They then walk in procession to the Sheldonian Theatre on Broad Street. The University dignitaries enter the theatre in procession; those who are to receive honorary degrees wait in the Divinity School where they sign their names in the Honorary Degrees Book. They are then escorted into the theatre by the Bedels. Once the proceedings have been opened by the Chancellor, each honorand is introduced by the Public Orator with a speech in Latin and admitted to his or her new degree by the Chancellor. The Orator then delivers the Creweian Oration on the events of the past year and in commemoration of the University's benefactors. In alternate years the Professor of Poetry delivers the second part of this speech. For over 100 years All Souls College has hosted a lunch after the ceremony for the honorands, their guests, and other senior members of the collegiate University and the local community. This is then followed by a garden party hosted by the Vice-Chancellor.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Construction company laundered $13M from NYC in school repair scheme: feds
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged the owners of a construction company on Friday with defrauding the nation's largest school district in connection with more than $13.5 million worth of repairs. Dalip Singh, 67, and Gurnirmal Singh, 64, of TEMCO Construction exploited undocumented immigrants without work authorization, falsified payroll records and eventually tried to destroy the evidence, according to the complaint. Both Singhs, who are not related, were arrested Friday, prosecutors announced. 'As alleged, the defendants lied to the [city's Education Department] about using undocumented workers, and deprived those workers — who toiled long days, school holidays and weekends — of proper compensation they had earned, so that they could line their pockets and bank accounts on New York City's tab,' Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. TEMCO Construction, formerly based in Jamaica, Queens, before moving to Long Island, provides masonry, scaffolding and construction services to the city's public schools. Between 2017 and this year, prosecutors say TEMCO used undocumented labor and paid their workers in cash less than the wage required by New York State labor law and school system contracts — all while pocketing the difference. Dalip Singh covered up the scheme on payrolls submitted to the city's Education Department, according to the complaint. On those certified documents, he allegedly listed family members who didn't do the repairs, omitted some workers who were undocumented, and inflated the pay of others. In some cases, employees had their wages docked on non-school-related jobs to offset legal pay, it read. The employers then 'attempted to conceal their fraud,' prosecutors say, telling workers to lie to investigators about their wages and hide or destroy records. If found guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, the company's owners could face up to 20 years in prison, according to a press release announcing the charges. 'New York City Public Schools expects that employees of vendors be paid consistent with contractual requirements — anything less is unacceptable and would be considered a breach of contract,' said schools spokeswoman Jenna Lyle, adding, 'We cannot comment on a pending criminal action.' Attorney information was not readily available for Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh, whose case remained under seal as of early Friday afternoon.
USA Today
7 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Nets waive F Maxwell Lewis prior to June 29 $2.2 million deadline
Lewis, 22, came to the Nets in December as part of a trade from the Lakers. Lewis averaged 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 42.2% from the floor and 38.0% from deep. Brooklyn had until June 29 before Lewis' $2.2 million salary was guaranteed. The Brooklyn Nets came away from the 2025 NBA Draft with five new players being added to the team ahead of the 2025-26 season in which the Nets continue the rebuild. Brooklyn will be heading into the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League with the anticipation of seeing all of the new rookies, but it looks like the roster is already being affected by the many additions. The Nets announced on Friday that they have waived forward Maxwell Lewis, two days before the team had to decide whether to keep Lewis on the roster given that his $2.2 million salary would become guaranteed on that date. June 29 is a pivotal date for Brooklyn since that is when they have to decide whether to extend qualifying offers to their four restricted free-agents and pick up the team options on four other players. Lewis, 22, came to the Nets in December as part of a trade that sent forward Dorian Finney-Smith and guard Shake Milton to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Lewis, guard D'Angelo Russell, and three second-round picks, all from the Lakers. Lewis went on to average 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 42.2% from the floor and 38.0% from three-point land. By waiving Lewis, the Nets will incur a $100,000 dead money cap hit or in other words, 0.1% of the salary cap for the 2025-26 season as a result of the move. As Nets Wire previously mentioned, Brooklyn was running into a roster crunch given that they technically had 23 players prior to Lewis being waived, including the five incoming rookies, restricted free-agents, and forward Terance Mann, who was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in a multi-team trade earlier this week. Now, the Nets have 22 players that are on the roster in some capacity so the numbers crunch is still an issue, but they still have some time to address that. Lewis being waived is the beginning of an offseason in which Brooklyn will have to make some tough decisions, especially since maximizing cap space is still presumably part of the equation for the rebuilding franchise.
CBS News
7 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
11 charged in major Medicare fraud bust, including Brooklyn business owner
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have now charged 11 people in one of the largest Medicare fraud busts in history, including the owner of a local business. CBS News New York first reported on the man and a slew of connected Medicare fraud complaints last year. Brooklyn business collects taxpayer dollars through alleged Medicare fraud In February 2024, CBS News New York investigative reporter Tim McNicholas went looking for the owner of G&I Ortho Supply in Gravesend. Dozens of Better Business Bureau complaints revealed G&I was collecting taxpayer dollars for catheters under the names of Medicare members who never requested them. The search led McNicholas to Staten Island, where one man said he'd recently sold the company to another man who was allegedly using a fake Texas ID. However, prosecutors said the name the buyer used was real: Kevin Valdhans. A second man — Jonathan Vaz, of Fort Lauderdale — said Valdhans also bought his company, but didn't remove him from their billing system after the sale. Vaz said at the time, he saw that Valdhans had billed about $7 million worth of catheters in just one week. Suspects received $41 million from Medicare, investigators say A federal indictment unsealed Thursday says Valdhans was part of a criminal organization based in Eastern Europe that bought more than 30 legitimate companies, then used them for Medicare fraud. Prosecutors say the group's leader was based in "Russia and elsewhere." Eight of the people charged are Estonian citizens, one is a United States citizen, and Valdhans is from the Czech Republic. The indictment accuses the group of "stealing the identities and personal identifying information of more than 1 million Americans." Investigators say the group submitted $10 billion worth of bogus Medicare claims and actually received $41 million from Medicare, plus $900 million from Medicare Supplemental Insurers. Prosecutors say the operation lasted until September. Similar fraud complaints at Queens-based business A Queens business has also been connected to Medicare fraud complaints, but that medical supply shop is not mentioned in the indictment. Some of the claims connected to that business were submitted as recently as this month. As far as we know, there is no direct connection between that business and the Russia-based organization, but it is a similar pattern in the sense that a man said he recently sold the Queens business and then started learning of fraud complaints.
Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Brooklyn Beckham 'snubs' David Beckham after hospital dash amid family feud
David Beckham has been suffering a family fallout with his eldest son Brooklyn Beckham for weeks after he chose to snub his 50th birthday celebrations lats month Brooklyn Beckham has delivered the ultimate public snub by failing to address his dad's injury online after his dad David Beckham was rushed to hospital. The former footballer, 50, is recovering in hospital with wife Victoria by his side and has since been discharged. His dash to get medical help comes amid the family fallout that has affected the Beckham family. David's eldest son Brooklyn, 26, has distanced himself from his parents and siblings after skipping all of the football icon's birthday celebrations last month. The rift continued as Brooklyn and wife Nicola stayed away from the parties despite being in the UK at the time. Brooklyn has since reportedly cut contact with his famous family and has publicly shown his support to his wife instead. In a series of blows, Brooklyn failed to celebrate David's long awaited knighthood or Father's Day. Earlier today, he promoted his sauce brand but at the time of writing, has yet to post about David's injury. Victoria has given fans an update. Victoria was the first to raise concern about David as she shared a snap of him lying in a hospital bed, with his arm in a sling. "Get well soon, Daddy," she wrote over the snap of him smiling while wearing a hospital gown. She also gave him a friendship bracelet made with white beads to form 'Get Well Soon'. The couple have yet to reveal what happened to the former England star. However, it has since been reported that David underwent secret surgery to repair a broken wrist that he sustained 22 years ago – during a friendly football match against South Africa in 2003. David recently revealed his long-running career left him with multiple injuries and years of "wear and tear". He said: "Certain parts of my body were a real mess." As Brooklyn chose to stay silent on his family in recent weeks, he has been keen to show the love for wife Nicola. In a recent post on social media, Brooklyn teased in the caption that she's his world. He wrote "my" alongside an emoji depicting the globe. Beside a heart emoji, he also commented over the photo: "My absolute angel." However, a few hours later, he returned to his page to share a message to David's mother Sandra. In the first reference to his own family in weeks, he marked his grandmother's birthday with a post that included a photo of him beside her. Brooklyn wrote: "Happy birthday nanny xx love you so much." David also shared a gushing post of his own to celebrate his mother's birthday, and made sure to give Brooklyn a nod. He captioned the tribute post: "Happy birthday mum we love you so much I hope u have the best day. "Thank you for always being there for us all Love you x @sandra_beckham49 @lynnebeckhambriggs1972 @jo_jo_beckham_ @victoriabeckham @brooklynpeltzbeckham @romeobeckham @cruzbeckham #HarperSeven." Despite snubbing his own dad and mum's birthdays this year on social media, Brooklyn made sure to wish Nicola's father, Nelson, a happy birthday in a sweet post shared on his Stories this week. "Happy birthday, Nelson, we love you," he wrote.
