A widening drought now covers much of the tri‑state, with reservoirs, streams and lawns showing stress and officials urging conservation.

Six people were arraigned in Brooklyn after prosecutors said they used fake PPP and EIDL applications and forged records to siphon nearly $11 million in pandemic relief funds.

Prosecutors say a Huntington Station man stockpiled ghost guns, loaded rifles and unserialized parts; he was arraigned and ordered held pending trial.

Mobb Deep co‑founder Havoc opens The Bridge dispensary in Astoria this weekend, pairing DJs and product samplings with a social‑equity partnership.

A suspended Middle Village attorney was indicted Thursday accused of stealing more than $1 million from homeowners and Dime Community Bank, prosecutors say. Authorities say funds moved overseas.

A 40-year-old woman was seriously injured in a Greenlawn shooting early Thursday; a 37-year-old man was arrested later in New Rochelle.

A Nassau County agency missed a roughly $36M principal payment due June 1, marking the first default in the municipal tobacco‑bond market and exposing risks from falling smoking rates.

A new comptroller analysis finds roughly 15,700 vacant storefronts in New York City, with the highest vacancy rates clustered in Lower Manhattan, North Brooklyn and parts of Queens.

An FDNY drone pilot dropped a flotation device to help two swimmers off Rockaway Beach; both were hospitalized and are expected to recover.

Resorts World and Cirrus bought a 1.78‑acre Archer Square parcel in Downtown Jamaica and plan roughly 700 homes, linking the casino operator’s housing pledge to a specific site.

Two Wyandanch men were indicted after prosecutors say they forced a taxi off course, threatened the driver with a knife and stole cash during an April ride.

Parents in Forest Hills rallied June 3 after crashes near a daycare, demanding a permanent traffic signal and short‑term safety fixes.

Nassau prosecutors say a ring used the U.S. mail to ship fentanyl and other drugs into the region, resulting in arrests and seizures of thousands of pills and kilos of narcotics.