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Why drone hysteria has taken off

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Dating back a month now, you’ve either seen them in the sky, or you’ve seen them on the news: Drones seem to be everywhere. By all accounts, alleged drone sightings are multiplying exponentially, with more than 5,000 reported in just the past few weeks alone.

But of those 5,000, only a hundred or so have generated actual law enforcement leads.

George Mason University engineering professor Missy Cummings, who has been doing drone research for 25 years, says what most people are actually seeing are likely aircraft, stars, or reflections off of objects, like towers. “Of all of those options, drone is the least likely, because it’s actually pretty hard to pick these out of the sky,” she said.

We heard a similarly ordinary explanation for these extraordinary lights-in-the-sky when we visited New Jersey’s Monmouth County Sherriff Shaun Golden this past week. “The majority of these sightings are probably some type of commercial o recreational manned aircraft,” he said.

In other words, no imminent threat.  As a joint statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the FAA, and the FBI, put it on Tuesday, “[We] do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk.”

Cummings said, “If you’re actually looking at lights from a drone, it means that you’re definitely not looking at a foreign adversary, because they’re sophisticated enough to turn the lights off.”

And yet, some of the American public have been a little on edge.

The best approach for the moment, according to Cummings, is that we should all try to stay grounded: “If I go on the news and tell you, ‘You have something to worry about,’ then you have something to worry about,” she said. “But in this case right now, really, things are operating as usual.”

       
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Story produced by Amiel Weisfogel. Editor: Joseph Frandino.



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Woman dies after being set on fire while sleeping on New York City subway; Person of interest taken into custody, police say

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Person of interest taken into custody after woman lit on fire on Brooklyn train


Person of interest taken into custody after woman lit on fire on Brooklyn train

02:49

NEW YORK — A woman died after she was set on fire while sleeping on a New York City subway car on Sunday morning, according to police.

A person of interest in the attack in Brooklyn was taken into custody later in the day, New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at an early evening news conference.

Police have not yet been able to identify the victim.

Police said the person of interest came to the U.S. from Guatemala in 2018. So far, no charges have been filed, but investigators are still questioning him and trying to determine a motive.  

“I want you to know that this apprehension was another in what has become a series of joint efforts involving different crimes between the police and the public we serve,” Tisch said. “In today’s case, we were able to get incredibly clear and detailed images of the suspect from the initial incident. Then, we asked the media to broadcast those images far and wide so we could use the viewing public as a force multiplier — and New Yorkers came through again.”

Using images obtained from security cameras on the train, police and the public had a very clear picture of the man they were looking for. Tisch credited three high school-aged New Yorkers for seeing the person of interest and calling 911, leading to his capture.

The NYPD had been offering a $10,000 reward for information on the incident.

NYPD describes how the attack happened

The person of interest was described as 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, approximately 25 to 30 years old, and was seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, grey wool hat, paint-splattered pants and tan boots at the time of the attack.

Tisch said the man boarded an F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at around 7:30 a.m., approached the sleeping woman, and then lit her on fire with what was believed to be a lighter, adding the victim’s clothes became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds.

Police said there appeared to be no interaction between the victim and her attacker before she was lit on fire.

3268-24-homicide-photo-of-male-3.jpg
An image from New York City police of a man suspected of lighting a woman on fire as she slept in a subway car and killing her on Dec. 22, 2024. 

NYPD


Tisch said nearby officers saw and smelled smoke and immediately went over to investigate and with the help of an MTA worker used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. EMS arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced the woman dead on the train.

The person of interest stayed at the scene and was spotted sitting on a bench on the platform just outside the train car. He was later apprehended without incident on another train that was stopped at Herald Square, Tisch said.

The person of interest was found with a lighter in his pocket, Tisch added.

“This is amazing work done by the public and the police working together. Once again, someone saw something, we got it out through technology in numerous ways, and we were able to make a quick arrest on this nothing less than heinous crime that occurred in our subway system,” NYPD Chief of Transit Joseph Gulotta said.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.





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Workers divided over sale of U.S. Steel as fate of deal is unclear

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Workers divided over sale of U.S. Steel as fate of deal is unclear – CBS News


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U.S. Steel workers are divided over the possible sale of the company to Japanese manufacturer Nippon Steel. President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have both voiced opposition to the deal, and Mr. Biden may signal an official stance on trying to block the deal as early as Monday. Erica Brown reports.

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How toy libraries cut down on waste of spending

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How toy libraries cut down on waste of spending – CBS News


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With the holidays fast approaching, some are turning to toy libraries for their gifting needs. Toy libraries look much like toy stores, but the items are there to be borrowed instead of bought. Natalie Brand takes a closer look at how they work.

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