New York Today: Bravery in Transit

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Thanks for your help, M.T.A. workers.Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Updated 10:27 a.m.

Good morning on this mild Wednesday.

An easy day on the job is hard to come by for a New York City transit worker.

And then there is the day a man threatens to slash other passengers on the subway.

That day came for Carlos Padro, a special inspector for the Select Bus Service, on Oct. 30.

Mr. Padro, 55, was one of 30 transit workers honored for bravery and service this year by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

He was on his way to work on a northbound No. 1 train when a man began shouting.

“As the train starts pulling out of 59th he says, ‘I’m going to slice some people up today,’” Mr. Padro said.

The man took out something that “appeared to be shaped like a box cutter,” and pulled the emergency brake, said Mr. Padro.

At that point, Mr. Padro, a retired police officer, moved to block him off.

He pulled his revolver and told the man to drop the weapon.

(New York allows qualified retired police officers to carry handguns.)

“As he was letting it go, I rushed and knocked him down,” Mr. Padro said.

The man was taken into custody; the weapon was found to be an electric toothbrush.

Other M.T.A. honorees this year included a subway supervisor who kept a customer from touching the third rail, a bus driver who helped keep passengers safe during a shooting, and two car cleaners who found a missing autistic boy.

Here’s what else you need to know.

WEATHER

Blue skies with painterly little clouds, and a high of 50 degrees.

This week, the days began getting longer again. The sun is now setting at 4:30 p.m. in New York and will began to set later and later.

COMING UP TODAY

• Public defenders call for police reform outside Brooklyn Criminal Court in Downtown Brooklyn. 9:50 a.m.

• Bodega owners gather on the steps of City Hall to protest what they say is a growing monopoly by beer companies. 10 a.m.

• State Senator Liz Krueger holds a forum at 250 Broadway on legislation to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol. 11 a.m.

• The mayor visits Rikers Island and holds a news conference. 1 p.m.

• The recently closed Tea Lounge in Park Slope auctions off its tattered couches and other items. 2:30 p.m.

• A Hanukkah menorah lighting in Gramercy Park. 5:30 p.m.

• Christian Rudder, the OkCupid co-founder and dating data miner, talks about his new book, “Dataclysm,” at the Mid-Manhattan Library. 6:30 p.m. [Free]

Noël Nights, Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s holiday show at Town Hall in Midtown, featuring Cyndi Lauper and Emmylou Harris. 8 p.m. [$47 and up]

• City officials hold a candlelight vigil with the Pakistani community for the victims of the Peshawar school massacre , at 1090 Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, Brooklyn. 8 p.m.

• Devils host Senators, 7 p.m. (MSG+). Nets at Raptors, 8 p.m. (YES).

• For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

COMMUTE

Subway and PATH

L.I.R.R., Metro-North, N.J. Transit, Amtrak

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking: in effect until Christmas.

Air travel: La Guardia, J.F.K., Newark.

IN THE NEWS

• The mayor will meet at City Hall on Friday with some organizers of the recent New York protests. [New York Times]

• The city comptroller is seeking to settle a $75 million civil rights claim brought by Eric Garner’s family, averting a long trial in federal court. [New York Times]

• The police announced a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of seven people who clashed with officers during recent protests on the Brooklyn Bridge. [CBS]

• A 39-year-old man died after being hit in the face with a tire swing in Tompkins Square Park. [New York Times]

• The New York premiere of “The Interview” was canceled amid threats of violence from a group of North Korean hackers. The film’s plot follows a C.I.A. plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un. [ Associated Press]

• There have been 106 humpback whales spotted around New York this year, more than three times the number that were spotted in 2013. [BBC via Gothamist]

• Nine of 10 teachers in the city were rated “highly effective” or “effective” in the first year of the state’s new evaluation system. [New York Times]

• The Fire Department has responded to a record number of calls this year, in part because of the deadly gas explosions in East Harlem. [Capital New York]

• The R&B singer Ashanti was cross-examined in court by a delusional fan who had already been convicted of stalking her. [New York Times]

• Scoreboard: Mavericks lick Knicks, 107-87. Heat melt Nets, 95-91. Rangers smother Flames, 5-2.

• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Wednesday Briefing.

AND FINALLY …

Google has compiled our top searches as New Yorkers in 2014, as Gothamist reports.

The results recall the things that bound us together this year — in the news and events category, for example, “World Cup Schedule” and “Ebola Symptoms” came in near the top.

The things we most wanted to learn to do — if searches for “how to” are any indication — were “how to harmonize,” “how to focus” and “how to network.”

But those searches could have come from almost anywhere.

Only in New York was the top most searched person Avonte Oquendo — not a celebrity or a politician embroiled in a scandal, but an autistic boy who was found dead in January after he went missing months before.

See Google’s “Year in Search” for how the world searched in 2014.


Kenneth Rosen contributed reporting.

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