New York’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration to Go Virtual

Wildfires Taint West Coast Vineyards With Taste of Smoke

TURNER, Ore.—Smoke from the West Coast wildfires has tainted grapes in some of the nation’s most celebrated wine regions with an ashy flavor that could spell disaster for the 2020 vintage. Wineries in California, Oregon, and Washington have survived severe wildfires before, but the smoke from this year’s blazes has been especially bad—thick enough to obscure vineyards drooping with clusters of grapes almost ready for harvest. Day after day, some West Coast cities endured some of the worst air quality in the world. No one knows the extent of the smoke damage to the crop, and growers are trying to assess the severity. If tainted grapes are made into wine without steps to minimize the harm or weed out the damaged fruit, the result could be wine so bad that…

NEW YORK—New York’s Times Square will bid farewell to 2020 without the usual huddled masses jamming the streets on New Year’s Eve, as celebration organizers on Wednesday responded to the global pandemic with plans for a scaled-back, virtual event.

In a “preliminary teaser” of what was to come on Dec. 31, the Times Square Alliance said that watching the famous ball come down to usher in 2021 will be a digital affair for all but a very limited group of socially distanced, in-person honorees.

“People all over the globe are ready to join New Yorkers in welcoming in the new year with the iconic ball drop,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “A new year means a fresh start, and we’re excited to celebrate.”

New York’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration to Go Virtual

The New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square is among the biggest in the world, typically drawing about 1 million people, with more than 1 billion more tuning in on television to watch the lighted ball atop One Times Square descend as the new year arrives.

Many of the details and the live entertainment that make up a good portion of the hours-long celebration leading to the year-end countdown are still being determined, said the Times Square Alliance, which co-produces the event.

But alliance President Tim Tompkins promised viewers “significantly new and enhanced virtual, visual, and digital offerings” in a celebration of the “courageous and creative spirits” who helped people get through a year many would just as soon forget.

“No one needs to be reminded of what the dominant news of 2020 has been so far: COVID-19 and a host of racial, economic, and climate crises,” he said.

By Peter Szekely and Uday Sampath

Focus News: New York’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration to Go Virtual

DOJ: More Than 300 Charged With Crimes Committed Near or at Protests Since May

More than 300 people have been charged for committing crimes “adjacent to or under the guise of peaceful demonstrations since the end of May,” the Department of Justice announced Thursday. The crimes were committed in 29 states and Washington, authorities said. Assaulting a law enforcement officer, attempted murder, arson, and damaging federal property are among the charges filed. Approximately 80 people have been charged with offenses relating to arson and explosives; 15 have been charged with damaging federal property. Rioters inflicted millions of dollars of damage to city and federal property across the United States in recent months, including the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct, the Nashville City Hall in Tennessee, and the聽Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse, a federal building, in Portland, Oregon. Criminals have also targeted small and big businesses,…