Portal:New York (state)

The Battle of Long Island, a 21st-century portrait of the battle

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn. The British defeated the Continental Army and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war. It was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. It was the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of both troop deployment and combat.

After defeating the British in the siege of Boston on March 17, Continental Army commander-in-chief George Washington relocated his army to defend the port city of New York, located at the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the Royal Navy, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British, under the command of General William Howe, landed a few miles across the harbor on the sparsely populated Staten Island, where they were reinforced by a fleet of ships in Lower New York Bay over the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Washington knew the difficulty in holding the city with the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the Narrows, and accordingly moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing that it would be the first target. (Full article...)

Cornell University is a private Ivy League land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. Since its founding, Cornell has been a co-educational and nonsectarian institution. As of fall 2023, the student body included 16,071 undergraduate and 10,207 graduate students from all 50 U.S. states and 130 countries.

The university is organized into eight undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions on its main Ithaca campus. Each college and academic division has near autonomy in defining its respective admission standards and academic curriculum. In addition to its primary campus in Ithaca, the university administers three satellite campuses, including two in New York City, the medical school and Cornell Tech, and a branch of the medical school in Al Rayyan, Qatar's Education City. (Full article...)

Hoffman in 2011

Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productions, including leading roles, from the early 1990s until his death in 2014. He was voted the greatest actor of the 21st century in a 2024 ranking by The Independent.

Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Almost Famous (2000). He began to occasionally play leading roles, and for his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further Oscar nominations came for playing a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), a priest accused of child sexual abuse in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master (2012). (Full article...)

The taxicabs of New York City, with their distinctive yellow paint, are a widely recognized icon of the city. There are more than 13,000 taxis operating in the city, not including over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), a New York City government agency.

• June 16: Wikinews interviews candidate for New York City mayor Vitaly Filipchenko
• August 13: Water main bursts in White Plains, New York, US
• June 19: On the campaign trail in the USA, May 2020
• February 15: California lawyer Michael Avenatti convicted of attempted extortion
• October 17: Hundreds arrested for 'dark web' child porn by international task force
• October 10: U.S. judge orders release of President Trump's tax records, appeals court issues delay
• September 29: Fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist demands justice at UN General Assembly
• September 21: NYC Mayor de Blasio ends US presidential campaign

• ...that after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the 69th Regiment Armory served as a center for counselling for victims of the attack and families?
• ...that local boxing events were held to raise funding for a trip for The Keltic Dreams, an Irish dancing group consisting of 7-11 year olds?
• ...that the New York State Council on the Arts was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell?

• John Thomas Wilder (January 31, 1830 in Greene County, New York – October 20, 1917) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
• Harold John Ellison (17 January 1917 in Buffalo, New York - 5 June 1942), was a naval aviator and member of Torpedo Squadron 8, the whole of which was lost during the Battle of Midway.