Monday, July 9, 2012

True News Update 24/7



Never Mind For Reasons Behind the Board Bad Count and the Boards Secret Meeting With Team Rangel

Final count found Rangel up by 990 votes, Back to the Senate 
The final tally between Rep. Charlie Rangel and Sen. Adriano Espaillat stands at 18,940 votes to 17,950 votes. Certification is likely to occur Tuesday. The two sides are due back in court Wednesday.*Will he have to battle his ally Levine and nemesis Linares?  New York State Sen. Adriano Espaillat is on verge of conceding 13th Congressional District race to Rep. Charles Rangel(NYDN) * It Looks Like Charles Rangel Won This One, Guys (Village Voice) * Sen. Adriano Espaillat is reportedly prepared to conceded for a second time to Rep. Charles Rangel and announce his intention to seek re-election to his Senate seat.* A Board of Elections spokeswoman referred to Rangel's lead as his "margin of victory." [Henry Goldman]

Update from Espaillat: Espaillat: I am here to acknowledge we came short. * "My attorneys have advised me ... that the math just doesn't work. It's virtually impossible for the results to change" * Espaillat: I am here to publicly concede. Rangel has won this race. Espaillat says his lawsuit is being withdrawn but other groups like Latino Justice may push forward legally

Judge orders Espada to answer finance questions(NYP)


Mario Cuomo goes off message, dares to muse aloud about #2016 White House run by his son
A Cuomo Who Didn’t Run Likes Son’s Chances(NYT) *Mario Cuomo Still Thinks His Son Should Be President(NY Mag)



Mayoral Campaign Tweeting Post Weiner
After Weiner Debacle, Campaigns Tiptoe Into Social Media(WSJ)New York City’s mayoral candidates are using social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, to reach out to potential voters, but are wary of pratfalls that sunk former Rep. Anthony Weiner * Christine Quinn has the most Twitter followers; Scott Stringer has the most Facebook likes; and nobody is following Anthony Weiner's social media strategy. [Howard Michael Saul]

Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson dodges Q about tepid support from Obama and Quinn in 2009. He says he's not looking back.






e
Memo To Daily News
Quinn Got Away With the Slush Fund Scandal That Why She Still Delivers Member Items to Questionable Groups and Vito Lopez

The News questions why the New York City Council is still doling out slush funds to nonprofit groups whose tax-exempt status has been revoked:
* Staten Island’s Council delegation has been bringing home the bacon for projects in the borough.

 What Ever Happen to the City Council Slush Fund Investigation?(True News)


Liu Tells Bloomberg to Stop Breaking the Law

Liu To Bloomberg: Reform ‘Law-Breaking’ EDC (NYO)






Albany Pay Raises, Senate GOP Rolling in $$$ and Pork
The AP reports: A quiet campaign in Albany has moved the notion of New York legislators getting a pay raise from, “Are you kidding?” to, “Why not?” * The TU does not approve. Senate Republicans have nearly $5.4-million in their campaign accounts and have spent more than $1-million in competitive districts — a nearly five-to-one cash advantage over their democratic counterparts, the Albany Times-Union reports State legislators should forgo a raise and adopt a pay cut instead, the Times Union suggests * State senators in the Republican-controlled legislature quietly distributed $369-million in pork spending for hometown projects months before seeking re-election, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle catalogues: * Cuomo is not open to revisiting his executive order to create a health care exchange.* More than $369 million in last-minute pork spending - on Little League teams and museums:


Albany Keeping the Secrets
The newest set of financial disclosure forms from lawmakers, which became public this month, show that several Assembly and Senate members have sources of income about which they may never have to reveal details despite the reforms that take effect in January.

 
 NY business hit w 2nd round of unemployment surcharges so state can back back $102M worth of interest to fed govt. For the second year in a row, New York businesses are being hit with a surcharge to help the state pay back a federal loan for unemployment costs. They’re being charged up to $12.75 for each person they employ to cover a $102 million interest payment due Sept. 30.





TLC Set To Hear Public Arguments Over Taxi Fare Increase(NY1)* NY Taxi Commission holds hearing on fare hikes(Fox 5) * Hearing to be held Monday on plan to raise taxi fares(WABC)






6
6

In the last seven days of that period, the city saw 68 shootings,  50 percent over a year ago
Bx. DA jails gun thugs, while Judge wife lets 'em go free(NYP)NYP examines The Bronx’s most intriguing marriage, between Appellate Judge Diane Renwick, who has set free teenagers unlawfully frisked by police, and her husband, District Attorney Robert Johnson, who prosecuted them
NYP: Reason for Shooting Spike
NYP Blames the Liberal Polices Like Rockerfeller Drug Law Reforms and Says That Cops are Afraid to Use Stop and Frisk Because of Political Pressure.  "shootings up 11 percent for the year"The Post chides Albany lawmakers for reforming drug laws and the city for reducing the number of cops on the street as causes of shootings being up 50 percent compared to the same period last year. * While the Daily News said opponents of the tactic are playing a “deadly numbers game.”

What Does the NYT Think the City Should Do About the Increase Shooting?
July 4 just the usual slay nightmare: Mike(NYP) * Tyke, 3, shot in leg at B’klyn playground(NYP) * Gotham’s gunsmoke (NYP Ed) * Boy, 3, Is Shot in Leg in Brooklyn Gunfight(NYT) * Gun Violence Raises City's Victims Total(WSJ) * Reports: Deadly Queens SUV Shooting Erupted Over Woman(NY1)* NYC boy, 3, playing in sprinkler shot in the leg(Fox 5)  * Boy, 3, caught in crossfire in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn(WABC)* Man shot in Staten Island's New Brighton section(SI Advance) * Boy, 3, Shot in Brooklyn(NBC) * Brooklyn Boy Shot While Playing In Sprinkler 
 (NY1)
Imagine how much worse it could be, says Kelly
"Ask people who lived here in the 90s what they think about what we’ve done"
* Kelly: NYPD won't back down(NYDN) * Bloomberg Explains the Fourth of July Is Always a Bloodbath(NY MaG) * Bloomberg explained the spate of violence over the weekend by saying that the “week when the Fourth of July falls has been bloody every single year.”* Ray Kelly vowed to continue the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy after a violent weekend.
Cuomo Disagrees With the NYP
Cuomo Disagrees With New York Post on Roots of This Weekend’s Shootings(NYP)“I haven’t seen any causal relationship between those court decisions and what happened recently. So I don’t know that there’s any factual connection.” Look, stop-and-frisk, there’s no doubt that it can be an effective policing strategy, there’s also no doubt that there’s a balance with civil liberties, right?”



Stuyvesant HS students to sit for exams again in wake of cheating scandal(NYP)


Ungentrified Brooklyn Has Mixed Feelings About Missing the Hipster Invasion(NY Mag)
Some Left Behind as Brooklyn Gentrifies(NYT) Brownsville, above, is one of many neighborhoods that has not experienced the renaissance that much of the borough has seen as it has become internationally known.

 




Better Than Awful, Less Than Grand(NYT) Pennsylvania Station may be getting some work done in the hopes of making Manhattan’s most dismal gateway a little less so.

 

 

 

Long-Stay Hotels Settle In(WSJ)







They’re Still Swinging for the Rooftops in East Harlem(NYT) * Memories of Putting Stick to Ball(WSJ) Play ball! Stickball veterans from the 1950s and 1960s may be getting on in years, but don't bother to tell them that. The old-timers, as they call themselves, can still hit a fierce ball.

 

  Summons Scofflaws Face New Nemesis in Tough Texas Collections Agencies(NY World)

 

 

Queens’s Aqueduct Resorts World paid out more in winnings, about 94 percent of its gambling revenues or $3 billion, than any other racino in the state over the past year, the Post discovers:  * A Crackdown on Gambling, and a Push to Legalize It (NYT)

 

 

 

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is calling on the state’s Public Service Commission to make sure utility ConEd is prepared if severe weather hits the region during a prolonged lockout, the News notes: http://nydn.us/Mc7QTg

 

 

The Making of A President 2012
Obama Poised for New Fight With G.O.P. Over Tax Cuts(NYT) * Romney Mines the Hamptons for Campaign Cash(NYT) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney hauled in close to $4-million in the Hamptons on Sunday as protesters ridiculed top New York fundraiser David Koch* Mitt's minimalist 'Mad Men' (Politico) *CNN’s Candy Crowley Grills Obama Advisor Over Anti-Romney Attacks Rated False * Bill Kristol: If Obama Is Ahead In Polls Despite Jobs Numbers, Romney Camp Should Be Worried* Top Democrats Hammer Romney Over Swiss Bank Account(Huff Post) * Mitt Romney, who was raising campaign cash in the Hamptons this weekend (and drawing protestors in the process), is scheduled to attend a breakfast fundraiser at Morgan Stanley’s Manhattan HQ at 8 a.m.* State GOP Chairman Ed Cox and Sen. Chuck Schumer rubbed elbows in the Hamptons at Washington Post doyenne Lally Weymouth’s Independence Day party.* Romney campaign says it raised $106 million in June - The Fix * Democrats pound Romney over offshore holdings (TPM) * Obama to propose tax-cut extension for middle class (Wash Post)* President Obama is preparing for a showdown with House Republicans over tax cuts. * Communications for Obama and Romney are shifting towards rapid-response representatives.*Obama Far Behind Romney in June Fund-Raising(NYT)

 Law and Order

 A Solitary Future for Gangster Held in Isolation(NYT) * Brooklyn Heights bike hero stops thief and is in hot pursuit (NYDN)

Throwing the book at police(NYP) A Bronx man who spent 19 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit has filed a $120 million lawsuit — citing an NYPD officer’s memoir to prove cops didn’t play by the book.