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  • E-Cigarettes Pose Plenty Of Their Own Risks, Expert Says

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    MIDDLESEX, N.J. (WCBS 880) — The health risks of cigarettes are well-known, and now the new trend among teens is vaping – using e-cigarettes that contain nicotine and other chemicals.

    E-cigarettes employ liquid chemicals turn into a vapor that people inhale, and many are now warning that they have plenty of their own risks – particularly for teenagers.

    E-cigarette manufacturer JUUL says it will spend $30 million to keep its products away from underage users, just as the Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown of underage use of vaping devices.

    Dr. Indra Cidambi is a leading addiction expert and the founder of the Center for Network Therapy – New Jersey’s first state-licensed ambulatory detoxification treatment facility. She told WCBS 880 Producer Neil A. Carousso that the push JUUL is not a victory in any way.

    “It’s not at all, because this understanding; this belief, I would say, that e-cigarettes are safer – it is not. Nicotine is highly addictive, and it can prime the brain’s reward system for addiction to other drugs. So e-cigarettes to graduating to the use of other drugs is quite possible,” she said. “So if you really look at the statistics, it says one in four teenagers who reported e-cigarette use eventually progressed to smoking pot; smoking marijuana, as compared to one in 12 of teenagers who did not use e-cigarettes.”

    Cidambi also noted that some teens are “dripping,” that is, pulling an e-cigarette apart and placing e-liquid drops that contain nicotine and flavoring agents directly onto the heated coil while inhaling quickly. The practice creates a thicker vapor, enhances the flavor, and creates a stronger “throat hit” – the pleasurable sensation that that inhaling the vapor brings about in the throat.

    “We need to look more into this,” she said. “The dripping is really bad.”

    Cidambi said some e-cigarettes can deliver 20 times the nicotine of one cigarette. She explained that the nicotine goes into the bloodstream and stimulates the adrenal gland – a process that in turn releases epinephrine. The epinephrine stimulates the central nervous system and increases blood pressure, the heart rate, and the rate of breathing.

    The stimulation also results in an increase of dopamine, which goes to the brain’s reward system. The reward system is also stimulated by food, sex, and other drugs.

    “Once that gets triggered, the plain old addictive cycle starts out,” Cidambi said.

    Cidambi also said even among adult users, many are switching from regular cigarettes to e-cigarettes – but are not using them as a tool to stop altogether.

    “It’s not like, ‘I used e-cigarettes for a little bit and got off the thing’ – no, not at all. Instead of cigarettes, now they’re smoking e-cigarettes. That’s the only positive thing that we can say,” she said.

    But e-cigarettes have their own health risk, Cidambi emphasized. Their vapor has been found to contain some carcinogens, and some brands contain high levels of metals such as nickel and chromium that are “not healthy,” she said.

    In dripping, low levels of cadmium are also involved and can cause breathing problems, she said.

    “I don’t think this is in the right direction – like, we shouldn’t promoting any of these. Smoking is bad, you know,” Cidambi said. “Leading a healthy life is important.”

    Meanwhile, Harvard Medical School recently published data showing that nicotine poisoning from e-liquid has skyrocketed. Between the flavoring and attractive packaging, there has been a 1,500 percent increase in accidental ingestions of e-liquid among toddlers and young children over the past three years, the study said.

    Cidambi said rationalizing that e-cigarettes are relatively safer than regular cigarettes is the wrong road to go down.

    “It’s disheartening to see how our culture is changing now. Our community is accepting those ideas – started comparing all the time what you hear from people who are smoking, they would always say, ‘Smoking weed is not as bad as alcohol use,’ so it’s always a comparison. And, ‘Oh, e-cigarettes are better than cigarettes,’” she said. “So it’s the same – ‘This is not as bad as that.’ That’s not a good comparison. I always say to my patients, ‘Why don’t you compare yourself to people being totally abstinent and not using anything?’ And then they just keep quiet.”

    Cidambi also emphasized that pregnant women should not be using e-cigarettes or smoking anything at all, and prescription medications also may be risky for pregnant women.

     

     

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  • After 100 Days In Office, Westchester County Executive Says Budget Is Top Concern

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — George Latimer is marking 100 days in office as Westchester County Executive.

    The Democrat was elected last fall, unseating two-time popular incumbent Republican Rob Astorino. Latimer is a lifetime Westchester resident — born in Mount Vernon, a product of public schools, and a graduate of Fordham in the Bronx. He was a marketing executive for two decades before jumping into politics. He has served in various roles in city, county and state government along the way, and he has never lost an election.

    He ran for county executive on promises to hold the line on taxes, fight to preserve the environment, build up urban centers, increase opportunities for minorities and women in business, and increase investment in mental health and fight the opioid crisis.

    During an appearance Wednesday morning on WCBS Newsradio 880, Latimer told Wayne Cabot and Paul Murnane that the budget is a top concern.

    A full audit is underway, but an early look shows the county has a budget gap that will likely grow.

    “The state comptroller came in to the fiscal review, identified that some revenues were overestimated — sales tax, state aide. And we know already that we have a major union contract that’s gone seven years unresolved and that’s accumulating a pretty hefty prospective charge if we’re able to close it off,” Latimer said.

    The county executive said he’ll try to encourage villages to share some services as a way to cut costs.

    “What we have to do at the county level is try to give them incentives to combine or work with the county on the delivery of services,” Latimer said. “We’re obviously concerned about how can identify shared services, ways of restructuring how we deliver shared services — police, sanitation — things that we’ve come to understand can be done by every local municipality but now we have to look at doing them in some combination of delivery.”

    A caller also expressed concerns about what will happen to the communities that stand to lose revenue when the Indian Point Nuclear Plant closes in the coming years.

    Latimer said the goal is to repurpose the land that the plant sits on.

    “Part of it is going to always remain to house the spent fuel rods but the rest of the land sits on the Hudson and if it can be repurposed productively, and that’s open-ended. That’s a question economic development and how we incentivize that,” Latimer said.

    He favors creating an enterprise zone “where we can give some special tax discounts that would allow us to bring something else into that land.”

    “I don’t know that you’re going to get the same economic boon that you had with Indian Point but I think we can help offset it until the economy restructures itself in that area,” Latimer said.

    The county executive also addressed a question from a caller who asked why a new Westchester County police commissioner has yet to be appointed.

    “We haven’t found the right person yet,” Latimer said. “Public safety is an important position and we want to make sure we make the right decision. We’re not into hiring and firing and rehiring.”

    Another caller asked Latimer about lighting on the Bronx River Parkway.

    “All the lights on the parkway work in the Bronx section but none of them seem to work on the Westchester side,” the caller said.

    The issue comes down to money. The project has to be funded through the capital budget.

    “Everybody says,. ‘Well let’s keep our taxes low, don’t spend anymore money, don’t raise my taxces,’ but there are capital needs,” Latimer said.

    The county executive doewsn’t sound optimistic this will happen anytime soon.

    “I hope by the time I say goodbye in this position both he and I will be able to drive the Bronx River fully lit,” Latimer said.

     

    Neil A. Carousso produced WCBS Newsradio 880’s live-to-tape interview on the WCBS Opening Bell Report on Wednesday, April 11, 2018. 

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  • Prosecutor: Mexican Drug King, Alleged Underlings Brought Enough Fentanyl Into NYC To Kill Millions

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Mexican drug kingpin and five others were indicted Tuesday in an alleged drug smuggling conspiracy, which authorities said brought enough fentanyl into New York City to kill 10 million people.

    In the indictment filed by the New York City Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Francisco Quiroz-Zamora, 41 – also known as “Gordo” – was charged with operating as a major trafficker, conspiracy, and criminal sale of a controlled substance.

    An indictment alleged Quiroz-Zamora, of the Sinaloa Cartel, was the Mexican-based source of a recent large shipments of fentanyl to New York City, and alleged that

    A resident of San José del Cabo, Mexico, Quiroz-Zamora allegedly arranged for narcotics to be smuggled from Mexico to Arizona and California on trucks and cars and with drug couriers. He allegedly communicated directly with New York City drug customers, and arranged for members of his trafficking network to conduct drug deals, prosecutors said.

    “Kingpin or major trafficker charges carry a life sentence, and that’s important because he had direct dealings from Mexico with a distribution network in New York City and with an undercover officer, and he was responsible for sending to New York City at least 50 pounds of fentanyl, which is charged in the indictment,” New York City Special Prosecutor Bridget Brennan told WCBS 880 Producer Neil A. Carousso. “And you know, fentanyl is so deadly. It’s viewed to be responsible for what will probably turn out to be a record-breaking number of overdose deaths here in New York City in 2017.”

    Quiroz-Zamaroa was charged in connection with a bust that netted 44 pounds of fentanyl at the Umbrella Hotel in the Bronx on June 19 of last year, and on Central Park West on Aug. 4 of last year, prosecutors said.

    He received about $22,500 from an undercover officer through a Western Union wire transfer, and came to New York City on Nov. 27 of last year to collect more money from the undercover officer, prosecutors said. But agents tracked Quiroz-Zamora’s movements as he took a circuitous route from Texas to Connecticut by plane, down to Delaware, and then to New York on an Amtrak train, prosecutors said.

    Quiroz-Zamora was arrested at Penn Station on Nov. 27 and was originally charged in a complaint in Manhattan Criminal Court. He has been in custody since Nov. 29.

    Prosecutors said they also busted a stash house on Central Park West at 105th Street, which was receiving the drugs that were being supplied by the defendants.

    “What we found there was it was basically a packaging location; that the people inside that location were packaging many, many thousands of little glassines that were being filled with fentanyl or heroin, and some kind of other substance, and then ultimately, the stuff was headed for street distribution, and that was in a lovely Central Park West apartment with many other people living inside, and when you think about it, it’s a very dangerous situation,” Brennan said.

    Five other defendants were also charged in the indictment. Prosecutors alleged that Carlos Ramirez, 27, of Colorado, was caught in a bust with an undercover officer; Jesus Perez-Cabral, 20, maintained the Central Park West drug stash along with Johnny Beltrez, 33; David Rodriguez, 32, was seen carrying suspected narcotics into a car outside the Central Park West building; and Richard Rodriguez, 43, was an Uber driver who drove off with the drugs.

    Brennan emphasized that her office is cracking down on fentanyl, with overdoses having reached an all-time high of 1,400 deaths in 2017. Seizures also spiked by a factor of more than 12, from 35 pounds in 2016 to 491 in 2017.

    Brennan explained that fentanyl is about 50 times more potent than heroin, and is also cheaper to wholesalers – making dealing in it an attractive proposition for drug traffickers.

    “Because it’s a synthetic drug, it’s probably a tenth of the cost of heroin. And so, what we are seeing is that the cartel is sending to the U.S. fentanyl in place of heroin sometimes, or it’s sending up a load that mixes fentanyl with heroin. Heroin being much more expensive, the fentanyl allows them to make a whole lot more money, since when the buyers are buying the little packages in the street, they don’t know whether it contains fentanyl or heroin – it could be either – but they’re going to be paying the same price regardless,” Brennan said. “So it really enhances their ability to make a buck.”

    Brennan emphasized that millions could have been killed with the amount of fentanyl the drug traffickers brought to the city.

    “Millions, I mean, if they were people who were not tolerant of opioids; who hadn’t been using for some time, it would kill many, many people, because the amount of fentanyl which would kill someone who is not accustomed to any kind of opioid really would fit on the tip of your little finger, so think about it – we seized 400-plus pounds; nearly 500 pounds,” she said. “Think of how much damage that would do.”

    Brennan added that her office will be going after everyone in the chain of distribution of such dangerous drugs, but will not stop until finding and prosecuting the top suppliers. She emphasized how dangerous – and how disturbingly commonplace – fentanyl has become.

    “Fentanyl is now being mixed in with cocaine. It’s being pressed into counterfeit pills. And so anything on our city’s black market could be tainted with this stuff, and it could kill you. So people have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I think prevention messages are very important. I think people need to become educated and recognize that this stuff can’t be played with.”

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  • NYC Steps Up Fight Against Opioid Crisis

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced $22 million more will go to fight opioid overdoses in New York City.

    That brings total funding for the HealingNYC program, which was estabished last March, to $60 million.

    “We are expanding things that are working and we are also adding some new interventions,” New York City Health and Human Services Deputy Mayor Dr. Herminia Palacio tells WCBS Newsradio 880 Producer Neil A. Carousso. “This is a complex problem and as we learn things we’re adding things to help address it.”

    City officials say more New Yorkers die from drug overdoses than suicides, homicides and car crashes combined.

    Palacio says HealingNYC aims to reduce opioid overdose deaths 35 percent by 2022.

    “We’re starting to see a flattening across the city, from 2015 to 2016 we saw a very rapid increase in the number of opioid deaths by about 50 percent — this increase was largely related to the rapid introduction of fentanyl into the drug supply system and after we initiated HealingNYC we’re very optimistic that we’ve seen a flattening,” Palacio said. “The increase from 2016 to 2017 was only about 5 percent so we still have much, much work to do but we are hopeful that some of our work is really starting to get some traction.”

    The next step is more access to naloxone, the life-saving drug that opens receptors in the brain that close when someone uses a drug like heroin. People stop breathing when the brain’s receptors close.

    The city Health Department is visiting independent pharmacies throughout the five boroughs over the next month to encourage them to offer naloxone, also known as narcan.

    “We have already distributed 100,000 naloxone kits through HealingNYC,” Palacio said. “We have good partnerships with many of the chain pharmacies but in New York City, especially in the boroughs, there’s many independent pharmacies that are still very vibrant parts of the communitiy and through this next initiative the Department of Health is working with approximately 800 independent pharmacies to make sure that they’re aware of the commissioner’s order to make sure that they feel comfortable giving naloxone to people who seek it without a prescription.”

    Palacio says the goal of this HealingNYC initiative is to put the life-saving drug in the hands of regular people who can save a life before medics can get to the person.

    “So that people can protect themselves, protect their friends, protect their family members. We can’t get you to treatment if you suffered a fatal overdose,” Palacio said. “So this is really about saving a life.”

    Individuals seeking support or treatment for themselves or their loved ones can contact NYC Well by calling 1-888-NYC-WELL, texting “WELL” to 65173 or going to nyc.gov/nycwell.

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  • Scams To Watch Out For This Tax Season

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    NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The IRS has released its updated 2018 list of the top 12 or “dirty dozen” tax scams.

    Will Cheung, assistant special agent at the Internal Revenue Service New York Field Office, recently told WCBS Newsradio 880 Producer Neil A. Carousso how to protect your personal information when it has become increasingly difficult.

    ‘Dirty Dozen’ List Of Tax Scams For 2018

    Among the scams to watch out for this year are phone scams, phishing schemes, identity theft, fake charities, and false income.

    Phone scams are especially common, with people getting calls from someone purporting to represent the IRS and sometimes threatening taxpayers with police arrest, deportation, or license revocation.

    “The thing is we do call people, but we will never threaten somebody, and we will never demand payment. So how these scams work is you get an unsolicited call from a person purporting to be an IRS official, and they demand money, and they want you to pay them right away, and they have this sense of urgency to get you to pay,” Cheung said.

    Cheung noted that the first attempt to contact someone will be by postal mail.

    “Our first contact will usually be by IRS notice, so it will be sent to your mailing address that you have on file with the IRS,” he said.

    If people have mistakes on their returns, they should call the IRS themselves rather than taking a call from someone claiming to represent the organization. Scammers can even manipulate phone numbers on caller ID to make it appear as if the call is from the IRS – a practice called spoofing.

    “A lot of these scammers are very tech savvy, so they’re able to do this, and to make it look like it’s really coming from the IRS,” Cheung said. “But again, be wary of these phone calls that you get. I mean, most people know, but you know, even though most people know, there are a percentage of people who don’t know. For example, since October 2013, there’s been 12,716 victims that paid over $63 million as a result of these scams.”

    Another common scam involves people posing as charities and taking advantage of the fact that people might want a tax deduction based on giving to a charity. Cheung reminds the public never to give out personal information – especially over the phone.

    “There is a list of charities that we recognize. I would say it’s probably a good practice not to give donations to somebody who calls you over the phone. I mean, there may be charities that are going to solicit you over the phone, but I would not give it over to them over the phone,” Cheung said. “I mean, if you are interested in donating to that charity, so, the first thing you should do is probably look them up and see if they are an official 501(c)(3) charity.”

    At that point, anyone who wants to donate is advised to do so through the charity’s website rather than over the phone, he said.

    “There’s too many people trying to take advantage of maybe, like, the elderly, or somebody who wants to do the right thing, but over the phone, it’s just too common right now,” Cheung said, “so I wouldn’t do it over the phone.”

    Meanwhile, identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the U.S., and the IRS says it has made significant progress combating tax return identity theft. But the problem remains severe enough to watch out for.

    “Right now, because there’s so much information out there and there’s so many data breaches, people are selling your information – like your Social Security number – on the dark web,” Cheung said. “So people can get your Social Security number and file a tax return, and they would often do it early in the filing season. So when you actually go to file your actual return, that’s when you find out somebody already filed a return in your name when your return gets rejected, because there’s already been a return filed.”

    Cheung said such identity theft practices remain a major problem at the IRS, but it is not as big of a problem as it was back in 2015, when there were 677,000 reports of identity theft. In 2016, it went down to 400,000, and in 2017, it dropped to 242,000.

    “But that’s still affecting a lot of people, so my advice is really, you have to be careful how you store your personal information,” Cheung said.

    He advised that people should carry their Social Security cards in their wallets, and should treat their Social Security numbers as if they were cash.

    “That’s exactly what it is for somebody who gets their hands on your Social Security number, because they could sell it for cash, and they could try to open credit cards under your name. They could file a tax return under your name and get as refund,” he said.

    Cheung said people also need to recognize phishing emails when they come in.

    “If you get an email, and you don’t know where that email is coming from, don’t click on any attachments or click on the links,” Cheung said. “You should just delete that email.”

    Cheung said identity thieves can wreak havoc in particular if they get their hands on a Social Security number and a date of birth.

    “I think people have to realize certain information is very valuable to the criminal, and one of the most important pieces of information that you should keep secure is your Social Security number and your date of birth,” he said. “If they get those two items, they have so much information on you, and they can go through social media. So let’s say you like to post on social media. They could get your address where you’re posting from; where you like to visit. So you know, I would just be careful mainly with those two items – your Social Security number and your date of birth.”

    Cheung advised that people should look at their credit reports, which everyone is allowed to do annually for free. If someone does become the victim of identity theft, Cheung advised that people should notify the Federal Trade Commission at identitytheft.gov, set up a fraud alert with the credit bureaus, and contact financial institutions to close any fraudulent accounts.

    Those who have a tax return fraudulently filed in their name might get an IRS notice, and still must respond to it.

    “You can call the number that’s provided in that notice, and then the IRS has a form 14039 – it’s an identity theft affidavit,” he said.

    If someone has already had a tax return fraudulently filed in their name and their real return gets reject, Cheung advised that even though the victim cannot file electronically again, they can still file a paper return and attach the identity theft affidavit.

    Cheung also weighed in on tax preparation. A couple of years ago, the IRS reported that 90 percent of taxpayers seek help in preparing their returns, and the tax law has become more complicated since then.

    “I don’t know the numbers, but I know a lot of people do rely on a tax preparer to prepare their tax returns, because they don’t understand everything that they need to do, and they want to make sure they have a professional help them,” he said. “There’s also tax software, a lot of people do that… tax software will ask you all these questions, and I know they’ve been advertising on television how easy it is to use the tax software.”

    For those specifically looking for a return preparer, Cheung had some advice.

    “I would say avoid those fly-by-night preparers, like a preparer that just popped up and he’s just preparing for the first time, because they might not be there next year in case you get audited. They won’t be there to help you,” Cheung said. “You should also avoid preparers who are going to guarantee that they could give you a larger refund than other preparers, because basically, if your tax returns are prepared correctly, any preparer should arrive at a very similar number.”

    Also to be avoided are preparers who charge a fee based on the amount of the refund the taxpayer will receive, Cheung said.

    Preparers should also be asked if they have an IRS tax identification number, and should sign and identify themselves as preparers, Cheung said.

    When a taxpayer receives a return back from a preparer, they should check their names, Social Security numbers, and all the other information, “because ultimately, if there is false identification on that tax return, you are going to be responsible for it.”

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