Dozens of bodies were found stored in rented trucks and vans on the street outside of a Brooklyn funeral home on Wednesday. Police had responded to calls from concerned neighbors, who reported an overwhelming odor and liquid dripping from the vehicles parked outside Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in the Flatlands neighborhood.
After police responded, employees could be seen moving the bodies into a refrigerated truck that it was able to acquire later in the day, according to the Associated Press. The funeral home was ultimately cited for failing to control the odor.
The city has not confirmed whether the deceased were coronavirus victims, but the scandal at the funeral home is illustrative of broader problems impacting New York City’s death care infrastructure amid the global coronavirus pandemic. In spite of a substantial jump in morgue capacity thanks to refrigerated trucks bought by the city and acquired from FEMA, the onslaught of death has prompted the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to cut down on the time it will hold onto remains before burying the unclaimed in mass graves on Hart Island. At the height of the crisis, morgues and crematories experienced backlogs of up to two weeks.
Caught between brimming morgues and backed-up cemeteries are the funeral directors who have had to take on higher volumes of business despite staff shortages related to social distancing and illness. When deaths peaked in early April, one Brooklyn funeral director told the Associated Press his home was handling on average three times the volume of remains daily as it would typically pre-pandemic.
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A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
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