Don't you hate it when you put your foot in your mouth?
The short version: A boatload of people got flipped, probably by the wake of a larger boat. 21 (current count) drowned, including some senior citizens.
Does NY need stricter regulations on tour boats and life jackets or is this just a normal risk and a freakish accident?
I tend to believe the latter, though I do wonder a bit about the boat capacity of 50 people and it being nearly full. I wonder if they were actually over the allowed weight for the boat. If you've ever paid attention to the person/weight limits on boats, most of them don't really add up, such as 8 persons/1000 lbs. You need a few smal children in the mix to make everything come out, especially with the gargantuan size of the North American *** these days.