Tuesday, July 10, 2012

True News Updated 24/7

HAGGERTY SHOWS UP AT B.O.E. FOR ULRICH: John Haggerty, who was convicted of stealing campaign funds from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, showed up at the New York City Board of Elections on behalf of Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich, a state Senate candidate

Espada’s got nada for lawyer (NYDN) Ex-Sen Maj Leader Espada Jr. accused of stealing $500K from Soundview, pleads poverty, seeks taxpayer funded attorney.

State Sen. Adriano Espaillat dropped his lawsuit challenging Rep. Charlie Rangel’s congressional victory, conceding “the math just doesn’t work” and hinting he will seek re-election

Rangel’s Opponent Gives Up And Will Halt Court Challenge(NYT) * Rangel Emerges Victorious, Again(WSJ) * Espaillat Ends Bid For Rep. Rangel's Seat(NY1)* Sen. Adriano Espaillat conceded the June 26 primary for a second time to Rep. Charlie Rangel, in part blaming the fact that he lacks the funds to fight on in court.* Rangel issued a statement congratulating Espaillat on his “ambitious” run and seeking to start the fence-mending process.

Brooklyn ADA red-faced over blackface(NYP) * New York City may require abuse and molestation insurance from contractors for youth programs since pedophilia and sexual predators have dominated the headlines, the Daily News learns:* A Brooklyn Assistant DA apologized for appearing in blackface in a Facebook photo.

Green Party candidates will have an easier time getting on the ballot than in previous years, thanks to changes in the state’s election laws, the Albany Times-Union writes:

Understanding the Bronx Economy(NYT)

"The Big Apple just kept getting bloodier yesterday..."16 Dead 5 Days

Three more die in summer bloodshed(NYP) * Assault rifles are popping(NYP) * Analysis: The Triumph of the Gun Lobby(NBC)

NYP Needles Cuomo for Bashing Connection

The Post needles Gov. Andrew Cuomo for bashing its recent editorial raising possible connections between the city’s spate of shootings, Albany drug reform laws, and recent appellate court decisions:

Attempted Murder Charges in Shooting of 3-Year-Old Bystander * Two Arrested in Shooting of 3-year-old Brooklyn Boy (WSJ) * Two Men Arrested, Charged With Shooting Of Brooklyn Boy

* 2 Arrested After 3-Year-Old Brooklyn Boy Shot In The Leg (NYDN)* .@MikeBloomberg said crime spike in NYC is an "aberration" @newyorkpost strongly disagrees.

Business advocates debated if New York is as “open for business” as Cuomo says.

Taxi Boss

New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is poised to vote on Thursday a 17 percent fare increase, but taxi drivers are worried owners would seek to raise the costs of leasing their vehicles Cabby boo$t in the cards(NYP) * Taxi Commission to Vote on 17% Increase in Fares(NYT) * Fee Break Proposed for Taxi Drivers(WSJ) * Taxi Drivers Applaud Rate Hike But Fleet Owners Cry Foul(Ny1)

* .@PowellNYT took a taxi home to Brooklyn and discovered he and the driver are neighbors.\* New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is poised to vote Thursday to raise fares 17 percent on average though a system that would introduce particular strain to those inclined to take longer rides.

Stuy Student Everyone Cheats We Got Caught

Stuyvesant’s wrist-slaps(NYP Ed) The Post chides the Department of Education for only suspending Stuyvesant students involved in a burgeoning cheating scandal, but expelling none of them * At Top School, Cheating Voids 70 Pupils’ Tests(NYT) * Test Cheating Fallout Spreads(WSJ)New York City education officials have thrown out year-end exam results for Stuyvesant High School as an investigation into the school’s cheating scandal widens * Stuy High Students Involved In Cheating Scandal Offered Second Chance(NY1)* 71 Stuyvesant students to retake tests in cheat scandal(NYDN) * Stuyvesant Students Say Everyone Cheats, They Just Got Caught(NY Mag) * Seventy students were involved in a pattern of smartphone-enabled cheating last month at Stuyvesant High School, one of NYC’s most prestigious public schools.

Donation May Heal Stuyvesant Rift(WSJ)

The Daily News blames teacher union contracts for an arbitration decision that blocked the city from reforming 24 troubled schools: http://nydn.us/tj0HSO

The DN says the arbitrator who sided with the teachers union and blocked Bloomberg’s plan to close 24 consistently poor performing schools “got it wrong.”

NYC Comptroller John Liu’s former campaign treasurer, Jia (Jenny) Hou, who has been charged with campaign finance violations and pleaded not guilty, is scheduled to appear at a hearing in Manhattan Federal Court at 10 a.m.

Amtrak announced a $151 billion improvement plan that includes 37-minute trips from New York to Philadelphia at speeds approaching 220 miles per hour by 2040, Reuters reports:

The Post’s Steve Cuozzo slams Bloomberg and the Department of Transportation for pushing a plan to ban cars near Grand Central Station: http://nyp.st/MdgydR

Mayor Finds "Big Gulp" Protest Hard To Swallow(NY1) NYC Councilman/congressional hopeful Dan Halloran spoke at the “Million Big Gulp March” held to protest Bloomberg’s proposed ban on the sale of large sugary drinks.

Mayor's Apartment 40 Times the Size of These Proposed Apts

Efficiencies Wanted; Emphasis on Efficient

City Seeks Lilliputian Units(WSJ)* City asking developers to test microapartments(WABC)* Coming to NYC: The “micro-apartment” – between 275 and 300 square feet of home, sweet home.

Bronx Landlord Tops List Of City's Worst(NY1)

Flatbush Gardens tenants, long angered by shoddy property …(NYDN)Tenants at Flatbush Gardens who’ve complained for years about leaks, mold, rats and roaches have banded together for the first time to sue for repairs.* Tenants go on rent strike over building conditions(WABC)

'Caddyshack' moment at McCarren pool! (NYDN)

Federal officials will euthanize 700 geese near the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in hopes of reducing strikes with passenger jets that have made emergency landings at the region’s airports, the Post reports: http://nyp.st/Ndbic0

Catskills Now Accepting Rebranding Suggestions(NY Mag) * The Catskills is seeking a rebranding to attract more vacationers.

Parties’ Tactics Eroding Unity Left and Right(NYT)* ConEd Tackles Union Tasks(WSJ)Con Ed is deploying about 5,000 managers to replace nearly 8,500 unionized workers locked out since contract talks dissolved, but already three replacements have been injured * Utility Worker Charged With Assault On Con Ed Manager(NY1)

The Making of A President 2012

Pres Obama won Iowa in '08 54-44%. Polls now show him neck&neck with Romney at 45-44%(We Ask America), 46-47%(Rasmussen), 44-44%(NBC/Marist) * President Obama and Mitt Romney are deadlocked at 47 percent in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but 58 percent of respondents still think the president will eventually win re-election.

Rate Scandal Turns Spotlight From Banks to Regulators(NYT)

Law and Order

Horror find on Bx. tracks(NYP)* Hunts Point leaders decry latest violence outside strip (NYDN)* Rapper-brawl club reopening (NYDN)

Why Donate to True News Keep Real News Alive. Put simply, True News -- and the truth – cannot do more and could even end without financial help from the people who want to hold the government accountable for their actions. As you know True News, without any support, has fought to keep the real NYC’s investigative and analysis reporting era of great journalism alive. True News is a living memorial to publisher John Peter Zenger who was jailed in 1733 by the King for reporting to New Yorkers what was going on in their city. It is also in the tradition of the Ben Bradlee generation that believes that all reporters would not be doing their job if they did not follow the story until they got to the truth. Today’s reporters copy press releases from elected officials and lobbyists hired by the special interests who want to control the message. The lost circulation of newspapers has created a generation of young reporters who not only rely on elected officials and lobbyists for stories, but don’t even Google to find the historical context or, more importantly, the truth behind the stories they write. In this era of sell-out journalism, the public has become disconnected, powerless and trapped by a permanent government that has turned against them. The media blames an apathetic public for not voting even after democratic consultants act like an Orwellian 'Big Bother' threatening them to vote or be looked into. True News reports that the reason for the decreasing turn-out is the public no longer feel their votes matter. If you value hard hitting Investigative Journalism, don't let True News go the way of the Passenger Pigeon. The Newfield, Barrett, Kempton, Hammel of yesteryear are no more. Local TV news limits itself to good looking women and men reading about breaking fires and crimes, with few exceptions. What's left that isn't tabloid is a wasteland of superficial news, driven by political and corporate PR machines, sowing the fertile seeds of corruption public and private hand in glove. Despite the soft news we see, standard bearers play a significant albeit vestigial role. Newspapers constantly pick up stories from True News (without crediting us of course) avoiding the costs to investigate themselves. Without True News, the New York Press and this blog's over one and half million readers will be utterly lost in the wilderness. Only True News is explaining: How Blacks, the Poor and the Middle Class are Being Pushed out of Brooklyn Because of Albany's Tax Breaks for Luxury Developers and Apartments Gives Details How Lobbyists and Developers Run A Secret Shadow Government that Also Controls Elections With Big Money and Their Control Over the Media Investigates How Political Party Bosses Have Been Replaced By Lobbyists' Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine Reports How the WFP and the Elected Officials Who Are Supported By Them Have Abused and Aggressively Broken Campaign Finance Laws. True news is not funded by special interests like the other news blogs. True News has been self-funded all these years. True News does not make nice with sitting politicians, developers, lobbyists to fund it or to provide its young clueless reporters with story ideas. True News wants nothing more than to scratch out a modest living in its aim to investigate, connect the dots, and get to the truth of every newsworthy story. To carry on in this mission, True News needs funding from people like you -- People Who Want Better Journalism in order to learn what is really going on in their government and fight the corrupt politicians. It's been written about True News Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well. Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. Contributors names are confidential

Other Views

On October 15, 1958, veteran broadcaster Edward R. Murrow delivered his famous "wires and lights in a box" speech (VIDEO) The Last Lion of Tammany HOW JIMMY McMANUS, MANHATTAN’S LAST GREAT TAMMANY DISTRICT LEADER, HELPED TO REVIVE HELL’S KITCHEN AND THE THEATER DISTRICT c By James S. Kaplan f On January 13, 2011, the law firm of Proskauer Rose moved into 11 Times Square, which is located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. In moving west to the final building of the City’s Times Square redevelopment, the Proskauer firm joined such other major law firms as Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Covington & Burling, Roberts & Holland, and the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather. That such major professional firms, along with a number of newly constructed luxury apartment buildings on 42nd Street from ninth to eleventh avenue and trendy restaurants and off Broadway theaters would be located west of 8th Avenue in midtown would have been almost inconceivable fifty years ago. Tammany Last Stand Continued

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"I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures." Boss Tweed

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." Thomas Jefferson

The Internet is a large-scale version of the "Committees of Correspondence" that led to the first American Revolution

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. ” -Thomas Jefferson

“Nearly all the newspaper accounts published at the time were manufactured by journalists at a distance, and were not only inaccurate in their facts but intentionally misleading.”
- George Orwell (Homage to Catalonia)

Gene Kelley in “Inherit the Wind” described the job of a newsman: “Comfort the afflicted; and afflict the comfortable.”

In the beginning of the last century, Lincoln Steffens and Jacob Riis were the muck rakers. Steffens tried to rouse the public to take action against the misdeeds of government and corporate leaders. Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant, was the pioneer of photo journalism. He took his camera into the miserable tenement slums of the city. Depicting the plight of the poor, he wrote a book called “How the Other Half Lives.”

"Through the years of the 20th century even the most mercenary of newspaper owners were, above all, conscious of their duty to inform the public and they backed their reporters to the hilt. It was not just a matter of right or wrong---but common sense. The ethics of good journalism in this era, alas, seems to have been forgotten." Gabe Pressman

"A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues." Theodore Roosevelt

As a 19th-century Manhattan politician once observed, “no man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." — Ben Hecht

Kempton once said, "There's no excuse for kicking somebody unless he's up." Murray Kempton used to kick people who were up all the time, and though he was half their weight and underpaid it was beautiful to watch. Quite beautiful.

Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations. - George Orwell

There is no final reliance but upon us; Democracy rests finally upon us. - Walt Whitman