English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in New York City, NY

A beloved waiter at a popular Lower Manhattan diner is among the latest to get caught up in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The Long Island father of two is now in another state, awaiting a hearing.

Long Island father being held at ICE detention center in Texas

Luis Fernandez, 50, was arrested during a June 24 visit to a Long Island immigration office, as first reported by the Tribeca Trib.

Fernandez immigrated to the United States from Ecuador 35 years ago, say his longtime coworkers at the Square Diner in Lower Manhattan.

"It really makes no sense," said one worker who wanted to remain anonymous. "We're hoping he's going to be back soon."

An ICE spokesperson told CBS News New York Fernandez is "an illegal alien with two prior convictions," both for driving while intoxicated, from 2003 and 2014.

Fernandez is now sitting in a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, awaiting a court date and possible deportation.

"They're trying their best to keep him in this country, his country"

ICE has been directed by the Trump administration to expand immigration efforts, using more aggressive and controversial tactics that have triggered outrage and confrontations.

"We've been hearing about all these stories about people going for a court hearing or whatever, and then they get arrested once they're done," one coworker said. "It was hard to believe it, but now that we're actually going through it, it's true. It's going on. It's happening."

"Really, the truth is that these are people that are important parts of our communities," diner customer Brian Miller said.

Now, Fernandez's fate lies in the hands of a judge.

"His family has hired a lawyer, and they're trying their best to keep him in this country, his country, where his children live, where he's needed and loved," a coworker said.

Who says you need a New York City zip code to sling world-class pizza?

Two pizzerias in Upstate New York have been named among the 50 best in the country by an Italian guide that knows a thing or two about the perfect pie.

Jay’s Artisan Pizzeria, located just north of Buffalo in Kenmore, earned the No. 4 spot on the 2025 Top 50 Pizzas in the USA list—its highest ranking yet. It was surpassed by Manhattan’s Una Pizza Napoletana and two California pie shops.

The guide praised Jay’s Artisan for mastering two distinct styles: the 12-inch Neapolitan and a thick, crunchy-edged Detroit-style. Owner Joe Powers sharpened his pizza-making skills in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of pizza.

Jay’s doesn’t have a phone, so don’t try calling, but you can order Jay’s Artisan pizza online.

Just 30 miles away, another Western New York pizzeria also cracked the top 50. Pizzeria Florian in East Aurora climbed five spots from last year to land at No. 39. It’s the second straight year it has made the list.

The two top pizza shops are linked by more than just their dough. Pizzeria Florian is owned by Amanda Jones and Jay Langfelder —the same Jay who founded Jay’s Artisan before selling it to Powers years ago.

The guide highlighted Pizzeria Florian’s wood-fired pies, noting their light, crisp crust and high-quality toppings. The standout is a “cacio e pepe” pizza, a clever twist on the Roman classic. The menu also features fresh salads and attentive service, all served up in a cozy, detail-rich space.

50 Top Pizza is expected to release its global pizza rankings later this year.

Dozens of forgotten NYC neighborhoods have become real estate hot spots, with home prices doubling — or more — over the past decade, a new report revealed.

Two Bridges, nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, saw the biggest price boom, with median home sales skyrocketing 288% from $423,000 in 2014 to more than $1.6 million in 2024, according to PropertyShark.

The whopping growth is from high-end real estate developments like One Manhattan Square, a waterfront skyscraper at 225 Cherry St. where a penthouse rents for a mind-boggling $45,000 per month, according to the report’s author, Eliza Theiss.

“Major high-end projects like this rapidly transformed the area,” Theiss told The Post. “Community resistance was overwhelmed by luxury expansion.”

Neighborhoods with the next steepest price climbs are on peninsulas — including Queens’ Breezy Point and Hamilton Beach, and Brooklyn’s Red Hook and Gerritsen Beach.

Breezy Point, an enclave which sits on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, saw median sale prices grow 192% in the last decade, from $248,000 in 2014 to $725,000 in 2024.

Hamilton Beach, on a strip of land north of Jamaica Bay, saw prices surge 172% from $170,000 in 2014 to $462,000 in 2024.

These waterfront areas took a hit when Hurricane Sandy landed in 2012, wreaking havoc on real estate and environmental protection infrastructure, according to Theiss.

But the implementation of flood mitigation and other environmental protection measures in the areas saw wealthy real estate investors notice the opportunity, and they swooped in, she said.

“Disaster recovery efforts raised the neighborhoods’ safety and appeal,” she explained.

And when the pandemic hit in 2020, the shift to remote work trends opened up the demand for less transit-accessible, waterfront areas, Theiss noted.

Red Hook, a southern Brooklyn community that reaches into the Upper New York Bay, also saw a 150% increase in its median home sale prices, from $790,000 10 years ago to an eye-popping $1.975 million last year.

Gentrification played a factor in Red Hook’s booming popularity, said Theiss, as well as that of Gerritsen Beach, located on a sliver of land between Gerritsen and Shell Bank creeks, where the median home sale price climbed 136%, up to $520,000 from $220,000 a decade ago.

And in Gerritsen Beach’s case, its neighbors – the popular Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay areas – helped to funnel interest in the coastal nabe, as a result of what Theiss called “a spillover effect.”

The impact is “increasingly polarizing,” she noted, adding “affordability is quickly vanishing.”

On the other hand, seven Big Apple neighborhoods – six of them in Manhattan – saw median home sale prices dip over the same timeframe.

Tudor City, an apartment complex that consumes the area between East 40th and 43rd streets and First and Second avenues, took the greatest hit, with prices falling 17% from $402,000 in 2014 to $335,000 last year.

Historical preservation restrictions, relatively small space offerings and its seclusion from the rest of Manhattan are just a few reasons why Tudor City’s popularity among investors have plummeted, Theiss noted.

Median sale prices in the ritzy SoHo have shrunk 6% since 2014, from $3.4 million to $3.2 million and, in Flatiron, they’ve decreased 6% from $1.54 million to $1.48 million. Condos in the posh areas cost more in 2024 than they did in 2014, while co-ops grew less expensive over the same period.

A New York City man who used a Nutribullet blender to make a protein smoothie claims he was permanently injured when the device exploded, sending “shrapnel” into his hand.

Joseph Sanchez put celery, milk and protein powder into the high-powered device in July 2022 and was shocked when “the [plastic] cup exploded, deeply lacerating” his right hand and fingers, “and leaving him terrified as he saw his blood gushing onto the floor all around him,” he alleged in court papers.

In shock, the quick-thinking 46-year-old hairdresser was able to grab a necktie to use as a tourniquet and slow the bleeding before rushing to the hospital, where medical staff diagnosed him with a severed artery in his dominant right hand, he said in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit against Nutribullet.

The Inwood resident now struggles with numbness in his hand, “severe pain, and trauma that will last a lifetime,” he said in the litigation.

Operating the blender, which can range in price from about $45 to $150 or more, creates heat and pressure which causes the device to “over-pressurize” and explode, he alleged.

Nutribullet is well aware of its product’s tendency to explode, Sanchez alleged, noting the company first learned of the issue in 2011 when a consumer was injured. The lawsuit did not detail the earlier complaint.

The incident was “very frightening and disturbing,” said Sanchez’ attorney, Daniel Ecker.

At least 140 personal injury or product liability lawsuits have been filed against the company in federal court since 2014, according to court records, and in 2022 Nutribullet agreed to pay a $10 million settlement in a class action case claiming people had been hurt by its product.

The company did not admit wrongdoing in the hefty settlement.

Still, the Los Angeles-based company has “never warned” customers and “failed to take any action,” including issuing a recall or redesigning its blender, contended Sanchez, who is seeking unspecified damages.

A New Jersey federal judge tossed a similar case last month from a woman who claimed she was hurt after her Nutribullet exploded while she used it for less than 10 seconds.

Lori Lynne Hoff of Hunterdon was using her blender to make celery juice in 2020 when it blew, slicing her finger, leaving her burned — and causing her to briefly collapse, she said in court papers which sought unspecified damages.

She sued in 2021 claiming the Nutribullet featured a defective design, but the judge dismissed the case June 30 contending that the engineering expert Hoff had testify on her behalf failed to support her claims.

The company, which touts itself as the top “personal blending brand” with more than 80 million customers worldwide.

Nutribullet did not respond to a message seeking comment.

More than a million New Yorkers could soon find out they’re being kicked off their health insurance plan as state officials untangle the impacts of Washington’s new tax policy bill.

New York already spends a significantly higher amount on health care than the national average. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is assessing how the state could make up for the losses.

After learning President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” will likely eliminate health insurance for over 1.5 million New Yorkers, Hochul is figuring out a Plan B.

“We could not have foreseen that at the time the budget was done,” the governor said during an Albany-based press conference on Friday.

“Look at our efficiencies. What savings can we find to try and address that shortfall?” she added.

The changes mean at least 1.4 million people living within the five boroughs will get kicked off their insurance, according to an estimate from the Citizens Budget Commission.

They’re covered under a program called the Essential Plan that includes legal non-U.S. citizens, but the state will now have to foot the bill.

“What we have is really a complex set of changes to health care that are both going to reduce federal funding to the state, they’re going to increase state costs, they will leave more New Yorkers uninsured and strain the state’s hospital system over the next few years,” Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, said.

Acting NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse told NY1 in a statement that at least half of the over 8 million people living within the five boroughs that could be affected are Medicaid recipients.

“When Medicaid was created in the 1960s, New York City residents made up 25 percent of the country’s enrollees within two years of its launch. Today, half of the city’s residents are on Medicaid,” she wrote.

“It is one of our most important anti-poverty programs and ensures access to life-saving health care for millions of New Yorkers. As we assess the impact of the bill, there is no question that the federal cuts to Medicaid will be bad for our city’s health,” Morse continued.

New York state’s budget director says the fiscal hits will be felt starting Jan. 1 and estimated to cost billions in Medicaid spending.

“We are projecting roughly $750 million in impact in the current fiscal year as a result of that. We see at least $3 billion required of state spending into the next fiscal year as well,” Blake Washington, director of the Division of Budget, said.

Cutting $10 billion in federal funding brings New York’s total loss and new estimated costs to over $13 billion.

Elected officials are sounding the alarm.

“I have three hospitals in my district. Jamaica, Queens, St. Johns. When I talk to those administrations, they say it would be devastating to them. Most of their resources are 65% Medicaid, they will not be able to either severely cut services and or remain open,” Queens Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks said on “Inside City Hall” Thursday night.

Hochul’s budget boss says New York can’t plug all the holes.

“Do you want to raise taxes to build or to just cover up for the mistakes of others?” Washington said.

“There’s no way the state of New York can finance what’s been foisted upon us. There’s no state that can do that frankly,” he added.

Others cautioned against raising taxes, instead favoring cutting program promises like Hochul’s $2 billion inflation rebate check plan.

“The state should not proceed with the planned $2 billion in inflation refund checks. It’s a onetime expense, but sending $300 and $400 checks is not the best use of that money,” Champeny said.

She also says spending audits should happen now, because the federal budget could include more proposed cuts this fall.