RACCOON SEASON: The city Health Department is undertaking a new vaccination campaign among raccoons living Brooklyn and Queens. The rapscallions are being inoculated for rabies ahead of schedule to try to curb a growing outbreak in previously hit neighborhoods and new sites in southern Brooklyn. As of the end of April, 11 raccoons in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island have tested positive for rabies, a potentially fatal disease that is transmissible to humans, according to the Health Department. In recent weeks, the department placed oral fish-scented vaccines in targeted areas to attract the epicurean clientele, using $40,000 from the city’s pest control budget with additional funding from the Parks Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture, said spokeswoman Chantal Gomez. The vaccination usually takes place in fall, according to the Health Department, but was paused in 2024 due to funding, Gomez said.
STUDENT DORM OPENS: Weill Cornell Medicine opened a $260 million residence hall on the Upper East Side on Thursday, three years after breaking ground. The Feil Family and Weill Family Residence Hall, located on the northwest corner of 74th Street and York Avenue, will provide housing to 272 students pursuing careers as doctors or scientists when it opens in August and includes studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
CDPAP UPDATE: Public Partnerships LLC, the company selected by the state to pay home care workers within the consumer-directed personal assistance program, paid 165,000 caregivers during the fourth week since it took over payroll on April 1, the company said Friday. PPL has paid 172,000 workers and issued more than $395 million in wages to date, representing payments to a fraction of workers who have started registering with its new payment platform. The announcement comes as workers continue to report late and missing payments from PPL, which the company says results from incomplete documentation and timesheets. All people who use the home care program have until May 15 to register with PPL’s payment system, while workers have until June 6, per a court agreement reached last month.
