Monday, October 24, 2011

True News Updated 24/7

CityTime scandal causes shakeup at SAIC

"The kind of behavior we have seen in CityTime is criminal and is an affront to everything SAIC stands for as a company," company CEO Walt Havenstein said in a letter distributed just moments ago. "SAIC has a long and proud history, with an outstanding reputation for integrity and strong ethical business practices. That’s why the actions of those involved are so appalling to me and to all of us at the company."
Havenstein announced three top executives were fired because of CityTime and that an international law firm, Gibson Dunn, has been retained to audit company ethics and business policies and to recommend changes.


NYP questions the appointment of McCall as chairman of the SUNY Board, based on his closeness to the teachers union, opposition to mayoral control and hostility to charter schools


Carl McCall’s conflicts  NYP say McCall is way too close -- to teachers unions, which explains his opposition to mayoral control of the NYC schools.  That probably also explains his hostility to charter schools -- which is a very big deal, given that SUNY is one of the main issuers of charters in the state.  Then there’s the fact that McCall used his past state position -- which made him sole trustee of the state’s huge pensions fund -- as a jobs factory for his friends and relatives.  Meanwhile, the president of SUNY’s Fashion Institute of Technology is one Joyce Brown -- McCall’s wife. Though the conflict of interest seems blatant, SUNY officials insist that none exists, since McCall will recuse himself from any decisions involving FIT, as he’s done since joining the board four years ago. *  Carl McCall must galvanize the moribund SUNY leadership(NYDN Ed) * The DN chides Zimpher for buying into the “Albany orthodoxy” that all SUNY campuses should be treated equally

 McCall History of Pay to Play

Carl McCall's Secret Self (Village Voice) * An Embarrassment of Riches (Village Voice) * The Pragmatic Politician (Village Voice) * New York - McCall's Company Is Subpoenaed in Pension Inquiry ...








Many Long Time NY Congressmembers Face Redistricting With No $$$

 Despite the looming uncertainty of redistricting, a number of NY House members have taken a decidedly lackadaisical approach to fundraising.

  1.  Fundraising catch up

Short on Political Cash(WSJ)  Some New York Congressional Representatives Posted Meager Campaign Receipts * Amid redistricting fears, Reps. Yvette Clark, Gark Ackerman and Jose Serrano each raised less than $50,000 during the last fundraising cycle, while Clark, Serrano, Ed Towns and Greg Meeks reported having less than $50,000 total cash-on-hand

 

Bronx DA Ticket Fixing Cover Up 

A Drug Deal in the Bronx is about to Be Let Go because of the cop who arrested him is accused of fixing tickets.  Yet the NYPD Ticket Fixing Scandal Indictments are still secret. WTF is Going ON

NYPD ticket-fixing scandal could force case against drug dealer to be dropped(NYPD)


More Dirty Restaurants

Eek! 17% more city eateries fail inspection in 2011(NYDN) * According to the Health Department, 17 percent more New York City restaurants failed their health inspections this year, and restaurant owners say the bad scores are unfairly affecting their profits


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Feds Piling On Boyland Before His Trial Starts

Add the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office to our list of illustrious readers. After The Capitol reported indicted Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. claimed Albany per diem expenses on days he was elsewhere (http://bit.ly/npxaCn), federal prosecutors obtained the Assembly paperwork backing up our story and asked a judge to add them to the case corruption case against him. "The evidence of the per diem payments goes directly to prove Boyland Jr.'s intent to engage in a bribery conspiracy through a no-show consulting job," they wrote. They cited the same example we first disclosed, in which Boyland asked taxpayers to pay Albany expenses for the day he was arraigned in a Manhattan court. The assemblyman's trial on charges of honest services theft and mail fraud begins Nov. 1. * Federal prosecutors have ended their five-year investigation into Senator Robert Menendez’s relationship with a nonprofit agency in Union City, N.J.

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NYP's Gelinas Continues the Papers Attacks on the Comptroller, Says Liu Does A Sargent Schultz on City's Increasing Pension Costs

Liu’s pension whitewash ‘Watchdog’ kisses up to unions(NYP) This year, New York City taxpayers will fork over $8.4 billion for city workers’ pensions, up from $1.3 billion a decade ago. City pension costs are a crisis -- one that the city’s fiscal watchdog, John Liu, should tackle. Instead, Comptroller Liu just released a report whose title might as well be “Nothing to See Here, Folks -- Just Leave Your Wallet and Move Along

 

Haggerty Breaks Out of Jail

After being convicted Friday of stealing close to $1 million from Bloomberg, John Haggerty posted $250,000 bail Saturday and left jail.  

 

Weiner is Still Spending

Anthony Weiner Is Still Spending Campaign Cash (NYO) *Weiner spent $130K of campaign cash within 3 months after he resigned : report(NYP) * He spent $130,000 in the three months since his June 24 resignation. That total was more than what all but three of the 11 sitting members of New York City’s House delegation spent during that time



Stay the Course Liu

Liu’s magical thinking on pensions(NY Torch) As public pension costs continue to rise, straining municipal budgets to the breaking point, New York City Comptroller John Liu has emerged as a stalwart defender of the status quo

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PA Cops Taken for A Ride 

Suit socks PA police for promotion ‘fixes’ (NYP)  Eleven Port Authority cops filed a federal lawsuit claiming the agency's process for hiring and promoting police officers is rigged, after the Post reported two chauffeurs to high-level officials were promoted in September * Suit socks PA police for promotion ‘fixes’(NYP) * A new lawsuit alleges that the Port Authority set up a sham hiring process in order to insure that brass loyalists were hired and promoted.

 

 

Passenger attacks on bus drivers soaring, new MTA statistics show (NYDN) * MTA Bus Driver Attacks On the Rise(NBC)

Software glitches have forced the MTA to delay charging a new $1 surcharge for MetroCards until January – at least.




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 Court: Secret Pension OK

The public has every right to know the names of pensioners it pays (NYDN) The News blasts a decision by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge to uphold a decision by the trustees of the city and state pension funds to keep a list of its retirees and pension amounts under wraps


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NY Primary is Not Dated

A court hearing on moving up NY’s 2012 primary date has been delayed yet again, and is now scheduled for Nov. 17.

 

 

 

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Universities vying for an applied sciences campus in NYC are engaged in a public relations war as they try to out-green one another

A New Green College in NYC Environmental Features in Science Campus Plans(NYT)  Universities’ competing proposals to build a science graduate school on Roosevelt Island include features like geothermal wells, energy-neutral buildings and a filtration marsh. * JetBlue, Goldman Sachs laud Bloomy's $100M bid for 'genius school'(NYDN)

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Despite rules against them, tents have begun popping up among the OWS protesters in Zuccotti Park

Against Rules, Tents Arise at Protest(WSJ) * Even in Jerusalem, Thoughts Stray to Zuccotti Park(NYT) * Religion claims its place in Occupy Wall Street(WSJ) * Pete Seeger enters 9th decade as an activist(WSJ) * Protesters Hone the Art of a Movement(WSJ) * Occupy Wall Street vs. the Tea Party: Guess that protest! (NYDN) * Occupy Wall Street Protesters Rally For Health Care Reform(NY1) *


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The Bonus Army veterans stage a mass vigil on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in 1932

The Class War Has Begun (Frank Rich, NY Mag)

Amid unsubstantiated rumors that he is funding Occupy Wall Street, billionaire George Soros had a private meeting with NYPD chief Ray Kelly at 1 Police Plaza last week, Len Levitt reports:  * Zuccotti’s cooks can’t take ‘A’ joke (NYP) * 500 'Parents For Occupy Wall Street' Spend The Night In Zucotti(Huff Post) * Why It’s So Hard to Tell Where Mayor Bloomberg Stands on Occupy Wall Street (The New Republic) * Even in Jerusalem, Mayor's Thoughts Stray to Zuccotti Park (NYT) UPDATE District Attorney Won't Drop Charges Against Protesters(NYT) * Bloomberg appears to have experienced a change of heart on whether Occupy Wall Street is good for tourism. 

 

Cuomo is ‘Preoccupied’ Wall Street (Dicker, NYP) : "Rare political defeat" for Gov Cuomo in failing to get Albany Mayor Jennings to shut down Occupy Albany.* Quiet protest in 2nd night ccupy Albany rally continues peacefully near City Hall, Capitol(TU) Cuomo requested that Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings enforce a city ordinance and kick Occupy Albany protesters out of the city's Academy Park by 11 p.m., but Jennings demurred and is letting them stay * The Occupy Albany participants plan a march Thursday with the pro-millionaire’s tax advocates, and are referring to Gov. Andrew Cuomo as “Governor 1%.”

 

State spends $500,000 annually to survey the effectiveness of its anti-smoking efforts, which some Senate GOPs find to be a waste of money

Up in smoke! N.Y. pols fired-up that Health Dept. spends $500G a year for smoking surveys, research(NYDN) * GOP senators are furious the state is paying $20 a pop to get smokers to talk about their efforts to kick the habit as part of its ongoing tobacco cessation effort.* Smokers Paid $20 Each to Take State Surveys(NBC)







The Sanitation Dept is buying new snow chains, despite a report that the lack of proper equipment led to the failed blizzard response last winter.

 

 

NYC’s two GOP congressmen, Michael Grimm and Bob Turner, are joining a demonstration today calling for an abstinence-only alternative to the new, mandated sex-ed curriculum. 

 

The GOP is Cheaper
New York Senate Republicans have reduced their staff by some 400 positions, closed five regional offices and consolidated six departments into three, the Times-Union reports:

Free John O"Hara

 

 

 The state is investigating the theft of an unknown number of blank prescription pads from NYC hospitals.* Several high-ranking state health officials estimated in July that as many as 1.4 million blank prescription forms could have been stolen, according to an internal memo first reported by Newsday

 

Torch Cams To Offer Rare View Of Lady Liberty(NY1)

 

 

 

 The number of Medicaid recipients in NYS has grown by 82 percent since 2000 and is expected to eclipse 5 million by the end of the year. 

 

 

 

Subway Crime Targets

MTA celling out straphangers: cops(NYP)

 

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Wash Post Asks Can Herman Cain turn around the nation the way he turned around Godfather’s Pizza?

 Election 2012

Michele Bachmann's misstatements may be catching up to her (LA Times) * Paul's Policies Foreign to the GOP(WSJ) * GOP Calendar Gives Romney a Boost(WSJ) * Perry Raises Doubts Over Obama Birth Certificate(Huff Post)The Cain recipe: enthusiasm, stamina and the ‘next thing’(Wash Post) * Since Congress has refused to take up his jobs plan, Obama is going it alone via executive orders.* Cain's 999 & Perry's Flat Tax Doomed to Fail - E.J. Dionne, Washington Post * Obama Seeks to Rekindle Magic w/Young Voters - Susan Page, USA Today * Medical Help for Illegals Could Haunt Romney - Noam Levey, LA Times

 

Joe Lieberman has been consulting with Republican candidates looking to replace him in the U.S. Senate

In Race to Replace Him, Lieberman Again Has Liberals Shaking Their Heads(NYT)

 

 

 

Newspaper companies editorializing about excesses of Wall Street might want to check themselves . . .  Maybe Even NYT

 Carlos Slim Helu
Look closer Carr - Without crook Steve Rattner and Washington Making GMAC a bank so it can get TARP funds your paper NYT would be out of business  Why Not Occupy Newsrooms?(NYT)
 

 

Media Still Protect the King of Term Limits

Mainstream Media Occupied Black Out Protested from Occupy Wall Street to City Hall on Term Limits 3rd Anniversary 

Shooting Rattles Brownsville(WSJ) * $15,000 reward for capture of rooftop gunman who killed mom of 12(NYDN) * Community Rallies As Investigation Into Fatal Brooklyn Shooting Continues(NY1) * Rally To Be Held Against Gun Violence Outside In Honor Of Brooklyn Woman Killed Protecting Kids(WCBS) * Tragic Family History for Mom Shot in BK(NBC)

4-year-old boy shot in leg after two goons burst into apartment(NYDN)

 

Cops showered junkie with crack and forced her to perform sex acts in return: testimony(NYDN)

 Law and Order

Off-Duty Officer Fends Off Attack(WSJ) * NYC man wants 88-year-old judge removed from case(WSJ) * Busted for assaulting, trying to sell cocaine to Wall Street protesters (NYDN) * Police Ramp Up Search For Queens Sexual Assault Suspect(NY1) * Driver Charged In Deadly Staten Island Expressway Crash(NY1) * Cross-dressing 'murderer' Robert Durst moves into Harlem townhouse * Cops arrest 15-year-old who may be behind Queens sex attacks(NYP) * Cops eye Robert Durst's wife’s ’82 vanish (NYP) * Narcotics cops showered junkie with crack and forced her to perform sex acts in return: testimony(NYDN) * Police Charge Teen With Two Queens Sexual Assaults(NY1) * Queens Woman Cleared In NYPD Husband's Death Out On Bail(NY1) * New York City Shootings Jump 154 Percent; NYPD Morale Very Low(Huff Post)

Levi Aron’s Lawyers Expected To Ask Trial Be Moved(WCBS) * B'klyn man who allegedly killed Leiby Kletzky is insane, defense argues(NYP)

Kin of slain groom will attend NYPD proceedings(NYDN)