State of the Union
President calls for tighter budget in State of the Union (NYP) * Obama Pitches Global Fight for U.S. Jobs in Address (NYT) * Make Them Work for It Without reform of the filibuster process, the Senate will remain dysfunctional. (NYT ED)* Obama Gears Up for a Global Challenge(WSJ) * President Obama urges Americans to 'do big things' and 'win future' in State of the Union address (DN) * 'Win the future,' Obama implores (Wash Post) *In State of the Union, Obama dodged debt, deficit challenges that cowed congressional Republicans (DN Ed) * Here's a roundup of what New York lawmakers had to say about the big speech. (CapCon) * Bill Maher Grades Obama C+, Prefers Dick Cheney On The Gun Issue (Mediaite) * Scarborough: SOTU Speech Was 'Boring All Around' (Huff Post) * WH Advisor David Plouffe Confirms Obama Will Address Gun Control At A Later Date * Michele Bachmann Response Mocked By David Axelrod (VIDEO) (PBS Newshour) * The Only Important Part of Obama's Speech Was a Salmon Joke (Gawker)
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News After the Morning Papers
Ducking the Tough Issues from the State of the Union (The Daily Beast) * New York State Takes Control of Nassau’s Finances (NYT) * Loughner Researched Lethal Injection (The Daily Beast) * Snowiest January Ever? * Manhattan District Attorney Calls for Broader Powers to Fight White-Collar Crime (WNYC) * Hate-crime case in cabbie slashing upheld (WABC TV) * Today's Senate Rules Rumpus Update (DN) * House passes bill eliminating public financing (CNN)
Test Scores Were Fake are the NYPD Crime Numbers Also?
NYPD's Long War Over Crime Stats City officials have locked horns with academicians, journalists and politicians skeptical about the accuracy of the crime statistics since 1997, three years after the NYPD began using a new crime-tracking system they were crediting for a 20% drop in major crime. (WSJ) * Checking the Stats: How to Verify NYPD Data (WSJ)
BloomTime
"I'm late / I'm late / For a very important date. / No time to say "Hello." / Goodbye. / I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. . . That depends a good deal on where you want to get to"
Bloomberg Wants Meetings on the Clock Doesn't have time for dillydallying. (WSJ) * Clocks To Time City Hall Meetings (Fox 5)
Washington?
Takes shot at mayor's gun control crusade (NYP) * Bloomberg’s Gun-Limits Coalition Grows, but Finds a Hard Sell in Washington (NYT)* Mayor Bloomberg "likes to blame everyone else for violent crime in New York City," NRA political director Chuck Cunningham said. "He's also blamed Mother Nature for his recent problems with snow removal." (NYP) * Hundreds of people from across New York filled the main gallery of the Legislative Office Building in Albany for a celebration of Second Amendment freedoms. (DG) (This is worth clicking just for the URL -- CK)
Bloomberg Gun Coalition Thrives, but Changes Little (NYT)
The Albany Wait
Quite Before the Storm
Q Poll: NYers Wait And See On Cuomo, Target State Workers
Cash bash for Cuomo (NYP) * The state Senate Republicans gave their No. 3 leadership post -- vice president pro tempore, which is worth an extra $34,000 a year on top of the base senator's pay of $79,500 -- to Sen. George Maziarz. (BN) * Republicans are trying to cement their command of the state Senate by blocking the Democratic lieutenant governor from deciding deadlocked leadership votes. The controversial rules changes were promptly bashed by Dems as an attempt to rewrite the state Constitution and limit the powers of the lieutenant governor. (NYDN) * Mitra Hormozi, a former assistant U.S. attorney who headed the state investigation of former state Sen. Pedro Espada, will become chairwoman of the state's Public Integrity Commission, Gov. Cuomo announced. (NYDN) * Here’s some footage of the verbal tussle between Sen. Liz Krueger and Sen. Tom Libous during yesterday’s Rules Committee meeting at which senators debated the GOP’s attempt to change the chamber’s rules * Cuomo prepares to cut, not just slow the rate of growth | The Empire * Budget presentation scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday (TU) * Can’t They All Just Get Along? * Bronx state Sen. Ruben Diaz blasted his fellow Democrats for remaining quiet about the defection of the Independent Democratic Conference, saying he and his fellow amigos were pilloried in the press and elsewhere when they attempted similar moves in 2008 and 2009. (NYO) * Democratic Brawl Ramping Up In State Senate
Where are the Reporters Digging for Stories?
Serenity on the Second Floor
Did Rudy Giuliani Join the Corruption Contractors?
Why CityTimes is Not Radioactive to the MTA
Rudy Giuliani may be under extreme scrutiny in 2012 presidential bid because of SAIC ties, MTA funds ( Why is the story on the gossip page of the Daily News and not on its news pages?)
The MTA's defense of the pricey contract, particularly in the midst of service cuts and bailouts, is interesting in light of the fact that SAIC's lobbyist is Powers Global Strategies, the consulting firm founded and headed by Giuliani's former first deputy mayor and childhood friend Peter Powers. Seth Kaye, who was Giuliani's director of transportation is Powers point man on the project. Giuliani's former technology chief, Sal Salamone, was also hired as a consultant to SAIC for the CityTime project.
More MTA Flack Crap
"MTA spokeswoman Deirdre Parker told the publication that the authority was going forward with SAIC because the company's bid was, as CHN reported, "$30 million under that of the next most competitive bidder." (We can't help noting that the initial estimated cost of CityTime was $63 million. It's now expected to take a $700 million bite out of the city and is eight years behind schedule.)
NYC Conflicts of Interest Board: Dishonest Investigaters
"Too much sunlight causes cancer"
Mark Davies, exec dir of NYC Conflicts of Int. Board, to Bar assoc.: sunlight can be a disinfectant, but too much sunlight causes cancer. CityHallNews City Hall News (Twitter)
Countdown to 2013: The Muddled and Messy Start to a Mayor's Race Still Two-and-a-Half Years Away
NYP Works to Weaken UFT
Maverick teachers' group bucking UFT(NYP) * Teachers for excellence (NYP Ed)
* Closings raw deal for 'neediest' students The city is shuttering schools whose students need the most financial and academic help, the city's Independent Budget Office warned * NY kids lag in science (NYP) * E-Mail About Book Questioning the Holocaust Shakes a School (NYT) * 'Last in, first out' is an outrage (DN) * Group Blasts UWS Charter School Proposal (DN) * NY1 Exclusive: Special Needs Preschooler Left Alone On School Bus
Evidence Elusive on Charge of a Blizzard Slowdown The more that investigators look into a report of New York City workers deliberately staging a work slowdown after a blizzard, the more mystifying it becomes.
MTA Transparency Gone Wild
Mind the open door A packed commuter train, a door stuck wide open, hurtles at full speed toward Grand Central* Video of Open Door on Moving Train Shakes Metro-North (NYT) * A Gaping Mistake Onboard Commuter Train(WNBC)
New York's Economic Meltdown: Congestion Pricing Again
Congestion pricing back from the dead Politicians are quietly resurrecting plans to charge drivers up to $10 to enter lower Manhattan on weekdays. (DN) *Report: Congestion Pricing Plan Back (Fox 5)* Skelos: Congestion Pricing ‘Just Another Tax’ * Soaring costs put end to 'pipe dream' for Bronx waste plants (DN) * $100 Million Suit Planned Over Former Deutsche Bank Building The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is seeking to recover money it advanced to the construction manager it hired for the long-stalled demolition of the tower near ground zero. (NYT) * $100M lawsuit expected in Deutsche Bank demoltion (WABC) * In Queens, a Lament That the Borough Is Shortchanged* New-home sales in 2010 fall to lowest in 47 years - Yahoo! Finance
Judicial Corruption
Proposal to Revamp Judicial-Conduct Agency Draws Fire (NYT)
