Judges Say It is Time For the Court to Get Involved in Congressional Redistricting
NY Last State in the Nation to Draw Congressional DistrictsAlbany Redistricting Needs Court Master, Judge Rules(NYT) A federal judge, citing lawmakers’ “current state of inaction” in redrawing New York’s political map, recommended on Monday that the state’s redistricting process be turned over to a court-appointed special master. * Lawmakers Butt Heads On Primary Date(NY1) * New oversight for redistricting (NYDN) * Federal Judge Calls For A Special Master(YNN) *In her ruling Irizarry noted the Legislature didn’t act in either of the last two redistrictings until there was judicial intervention.* Also, members of the influential Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative caucus have condemned the LATFOR lines, saying they “dilute” minority voting rights.* Dean Skelos Really Doesn’t Want an Earlier Primary Date (NYO) * Senate Democrats: "The only way New Yorkers will have fair representation is if the courts not politicians draw the district lines." * Cuomo on redistricting: "I'm not surprised" courts have gotten involved. * On Redistricting, Cuomo Poses His Own Question, Answers(YNN)* Shelly Silver hopes for early Congressional lines.
How Does Silver Hope for Early Lines When NY is the Only State in the Nation Not to Have Congressional Lines for 2012?
If LATFOR Hunkers Down, Silver Hopeful For Early House Lines
The Silence of the NY Goo Goos As California Activists Win the Fruits of Independent Redistricting
As Citizen Union head Dick Dadey and his fellow so called good government leaders have ducked out of the push for independent redistricting weeks ago now sit and watch the success of California Good Government groups at pushing the pols out of the redistricting process. California Set to Send Many New Faces to Washington(NYT) Between redistricting and a growing number of retirements, the face of California’s 53-member Congressional delegation is set to get younger.
Why is the Brennan Center trying to do a prison gerrymandering suit and not a lawsuit against the entire redistricting system? Court Rejects Prison-Based Gerrymandering Lawsuit! * COA Says Prison Gerrymandering Suit Should Take Normal Route(YNN)
Quinn, de Blasio Run For Mayor By Courting the Unions
Quinn campaign for pro-union wage bill(NYP) * De Blasio: Give me 9/11 data(NYP) * PBA Demands Cancer Stats Following 9/11 Uniform Test Results(NY1) * Unions to city: use rainy day pension dollars for raise(NYDN) * Police union demands info on 9/11 toxic debris(WABC) *
Maximum damage (NYP Ed) The Post calls on Cuomo to oppose Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s bill hiking the minimum wage to $8.50-an-hour, arguing it will hurt the state’s fragile economy
Liu Sinking Ship Loses Co-Capitan
Top Aide to Liu Departs(WSJ) * NY1 Online: Exclusive Interview With Outgoing Deputy Comptroller
Liu Slams the Mayor
Liu Comes Out Against Fresh Direct Deal (NYO)
4
5
Trial In Westchester Could Out More Info On Kruger Bribes and Bruce Ratner's Involvement
Ingredients in the Trial: Bribery, Fixing Cases, Tax envision, mobsters. Jeanine Pirro and her husband Albert, Senator Spano, Kruger, Bender and Cantone
Tracking the Tentacles of Corruption (NYT) Linking political corruption in Westchester to that in Brooklyn, and touching on the curious fashion in which real estate developers pursue their chosen game. Federal prosecutors ensnared a Democratic former Yonkers councilwoman, Sandy Annabi, and a couple of obscure operatives close to Mr. Spano, who just pleaded guilty to tax envision.
Who Paid for Kruger $250,000 Bribe?
In the corruption case last year that toppled a Brooklyn Democratic power, State Senator Carl Kruger. Prosecutors called Mr. Ratner “Developer No. 1.” In Yonkers, he appears in Ms. Annabi’s indictment as “Developer No. 2.” The NYT reporter Powell writers word is that at least one of Mr. Ratner’s aides could take the witness stand and testify about events that could prove deeply embarrassing.* How Bruce Ratner Wins Approval for his Projects (True News) * Genting fired ex-Sen. Nick Spano, who pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion last week, as its lobbyist.* Spano won’t face state ethics charges because the statute of limitations has expired. He could have faced a fine of up to $40,000.* Times columnist Powell again tracks the connection of "politically wired developer" Ratner to the Yonkers corruption trial involving Ridge Hill(Atlntic Yard Review)
Deep Throat: Who Funded the Bribe Money to Build Forest City Ratner's Buildings?
Watergate's Deep Throat Said Follow the Money. We know that lobbyists and future prisoner Richard Lipsky paid Kruger $250,000 and was found with $100,000 cash in his apartment by the FBI. We still do not know where Lipsky got the money he used to bribe Kruger. We also do not know how much in bribes was paid to build in Yonkers to win approval of Ratner's Ridge Hill project. We know that the feds indicted Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi for taking $160,000 to vote for Ratner's project.
"Follow the Money" Deep Throat
It clear that Ratner dumped his VP Bruce Bender who was connected to but projects not to reboot but to save his ass by distancing himself from the payoffs to build his projects. Only by finding out who payed the bribe money will we know that real involvement of Bruce Ratner. His friends in the politics, law enforcement and thepress have him well protected for now.
Bloomberg the Old Man
Mayor, 70, Nods Little to Age(WSJ) Michael Rubens Bloomberg took the oath of office as New York City's 108th mayor when he was 59 years old. He turns 70 on Tuesday, and if he finishes his third term as expected next year, he would be the oldest serving mayor since the five boroughs were consolidated in 1898.
4
4
4
Many of the things I am trying to get done are difficult for them to do,” said Cuomo, whose efforts include controversial pension reforms
You Want Your Fuckin District Bitch Give Me Pension Reform
Albany relations aren’t lovey-govey: Cuomo(NYP) “There was no love and kumbaya last year,” he said of the successful 2011 legislative session. “These were very difficult choices: ‘I want ethics reform, or I will do a Moreland Commission [to investigate the Legislature].’ ‘I want the budget passed on time, or I will take you to court.’ ”
Capital Tonight 
A Cuomo Report Card
If deal can’t be made, I’ll grade teachers: gov(NYDN) * Cuomo must give tough lesson in school reform (NYDN Ed) If educrats and unions miss deadline, he must impose strong teacher rating system* Andrew Cuomo doesn’t seem to be inclined to take up Mike Bloomberg’s call to create a new arbitration process in the teacher evaluation fight that would make it easier to fire underperforming educators. DN cheers Cuomo for threatening to put revamped teacher evaluation rules into the year’s budget if the state education commissioner and teachers union can’t strike a compromise deal by Thursday * Schwartz: relations between NYC and UFT have gotten "very toxic"
Judge Rules Names Of Teachers Can Be Released With Grades(NY1)
More Education News
K’garten cutoff(NYP) number of charter schools have moved to block the youngest students from enrolling in kindergarten even though they’re eligible to attend under city rules * GED Alternatives Weighed by State as Costs Climb(WSJ) * Board Of Regents Approves State's Application For No Child Left Behind Waiver(NY1) * Do High-Needs Students Affect a School's Grade?(NYT) * Affluent, Born Abroad and Preferring New York’s Public Schools(NYT)
Sex Abuse At PS 87
Hundreds Attend Meeting At PS 87 Following Aide's Arrest On Sex Abuse Charges (NY1) * Schools Chief to Review Policies for Hiring Aides(NYP) * 
Parents: Why was ‘perv’ teach hired? (NYDN) * Meeting held at NYC school where aide arrested(WABC)
The #7 Train to the Empty Lot? The 34th and 11 Ave Station to Be Called Javits Center Empty Lot
The #7 will be finished just as the Javits Center is scheduled to be rip down to make way for the new convention center proposed by the Malaysia's Genting company in exchange for being offered exclusive gambling rights in NYC. With the weak office market in the city and the WTC set to open in a couple of years it unclear what will go in Javits place. The site most likely go empty for years to come.
Dig it! 7 subway-extension tunnels finished(NYP) The MTA has finished all of the tunneling for the 7-train extension to 11th Avenue and completed carving out the mezzanine — a complex job that paves the way for train operation by 2013.
True News Wags the Tail of of State Senate Candidate
Storobin: NYT Claim That He’s ‘Overhwhelming Favorite’ to Lose Is ‘Lazy Journalism’(NYO) *Storobin-Fidler Race Keeps Getting Grimmer(NYO) * Special Election Campaign For Senate District 27 Turns Ugly (NY1)
MTA Chief Says Feed the Rats
Rats or Not, Transit Chief Opposes Ban on Eating in the Subways(NYT) Though new MTA chairman Joe Lhota was known as the “rat czar” for his work on rodent problems during the Guiliani years, he still opposes a bill in Albany to ban eating food on the subway * Smelly Subway Stations(Fox 5)* MTA Chief Can Think of a Lhota Reasons to Allow Food in the Subway(NY Mag) * Joe Lhota Sorry For Calling Bill Perkins A Do-Nothing Legislator (NYO)
The Flushing Bay Dump
Dredging Flushing Bay could cost $50 million(NYDN) Combined sewer overflow outfall, equipped with a boom to catch floating waste, releases an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of untreated wastewater into Flushing Bay every year.
5
5
5
The A Fight Between A Senator and A Member of the Tribe Turns Into A PR Battle
Accounts Differ of Fight With State Senator, His Wife and Members of Tribe(NYT) * Indians: Brawl pol lying(NYP) * Police say fight might not merit charges (BN) Witness says Grisanti yelled racial epithets * Seneca Anti-Grisanti PR Gone Bad (UPDATED) * Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan’s comment on Sen. Mark Grisanti’s casino fight: “Any time an elected official is involved in a bar brawl, it’s not helpful.” (Think the Dems will be using this one in the upcoming elections?)* The Democrats forwarded around some audio of a woman saying: “Mark Grisanti punched me in the face!” * More subterfuge in the Sen. Mark Grisanti casino melee mess.
Lawsuit Delays Albany Compromise on Churches in City Schools
Mayor Defends Ban on Church Services in Schools(NTT) * Church and wait at city schools(NYDN) A compromise bill to allow religious groups to hold worship services in city schools will have to wait until an ongoing federal lawsuit over the issue is resolved. Mayor Bloomberg defended the eviction of churches from schools, saying that the Constitution settled the matter. * Bloomberg Administration Firm On Keeping Religious Groups Out Of Schools This Sunday(NYDN) *Bloomberg On Schools Booting Religious Groups: Deal With It(Gothamist)
5
5
5
Is the NYT Attacking Egan to Get Dolan To Back Down on His Rejection of the Obama Compromise on Birth Control?
His Eminence in Denial(NYT Ed) A now retired Cardinal Edward Egan renounced the courageous apology he gave in 2002 for the church’s failure to deal with priests who abused children. * In Rome awaiting his elevation ceremony, Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan vowed legislative and court challenges to President Barack Obama’s compromise on exempting religiously affiliated employers from paying directly for birth control for their workers.
Jon Stewart On Birth Control Opponents: ‘Liberty For Employers, Employees Can Go F*ck Themselves’
Rupert Murdoch Faces Bitter Battle With Sun Staff After Arrests(Huff Post)
Election 2012
Santorum’s in the driver’s seat(NYP) * In Michigan, Santorum Turns Focus to Jobs(NYT) * Polls show Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum in a virtual tie.* Newt Gingrich dismissed suggestions that he would drop out of the race. * Romney Slipping Against Santorum, Obama - Steven Shepard, Natl Jrnl * Mitt Romney Needs to Find His Base - Nate Silver, New York Times * Obama, Romney Getting Cozier With Super PACs - Scott Conroy, RCP * Obama Avoids Serious Budget Proposal - Dana Milbank, Washington Post * Many Tough Choices in President's Budget - Jeff Zients, USA Today * New NYT/CBS poll #'s: Santorum 30, Romney 27, Paul 12, Newt 10(NYT)
Tom Golisano 4 President
Romney’s New Michigan Ad Feels Oddly Familiar(TPM)
Stop-and-Frisks Hit Record in 2011(WSJ) New York City police officers stopped and questioned 684,330 people last year, a record number since the department started producing yearly tallies of the tacti, a record number since the department started producing yearly tallies of the tactic and a 14 percent increase over 2010 * Occupy Protesters Sue New York City Over Pepper Spray Incident(Huff Post) * The NYPD defended stop-and-frisk.
Another NYPD Officer Shot
After Police Shooting, Mayor Bloomberg Calls On Congress To Fight Illegal Guns(NY1)
Bronx Deadly Force Aftermath
Sharpton Calls For Accountability In Fatal Shooting Of Bronx Teen(NY1) * NYPD tweeks gun-use rule(NYP) * Deadly force use revised(NYDN) * Al Sharpton calls for federal probe into police killing(NYDN)
Fourth NYPD suicide(NYP)
Law and Order
