POT POURRI

127-yr-old water main gives way under Times Square
NEW YORK, Aug 29: A 127-year-old water main under New York’s Times Square gave way early Tuesday, flooding midtown streets and the city’s busiest subway station.
The 20-inch (half-meter) water main gave way under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue at 3 a.m., said Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The rushing water was only a few inches deep on the street, but videos posted on social media showed the flood cascading into the Times Square subway station down stairwells and through ventilation grates.
The water turned the trenches that carry the subway tracks into mini rivers and soaked train platforms affecting passengers and traffic.
It took DEP crews about an hour to find the source of the leak and shut the water off, Aggarwala said.
The excavation left a big hole at the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue, where workers were digging with heavy equipment to get to the broken section of pipe.
While that intersection remained closed to car traffic, surrounding streets were open by rush hour.
Subway service, however, was suspended through much of Manhattan on the 1, 2 and 3 lines, which run directly under the broken pipe.
Aggarwala said it appeared that only two local businesses were without left without water at the start of the work day. (AP)

NYPD warns it has zero tolerance for drones
NEW YORK, Aug 29: Beware: The U.S. Open is a no-drone zone.
The New York Police Department warned on Monday on the Grand Slam event’s opening day that it has a zero-tolerance policy toward drones buzzing the tournament, and any seen hovering over Flushing Meadows will be taken out immediately.
Exactly how was not specified, with NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner saying only that the department “will be deploying our counter-drone capabilities.” In the past, police have taken out problem drones by jamming their radio signals.
In 2015, a drone buzzed the court during a nighttime women’s match at Louis Armstrong Stadium and crashed into an empty section of seats. Luckily, no one was injured.
Weiner warned that anyone caught flying drones this year risks possible arrest and having their equipment confiscated. (AP)