Sunday, February 24, 2013

True News Updated 24/7

Is Stringer's Free Ride Lucky Or Just Another Sign of New York's Dysfunctional Politics?
Lucky first Stringer(NYP) He’s the luckiest guy in New York City politics. As of now, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is likely to become the next comptroller without facing a single opponent in the Democratic primary. And no matter who emerges as his Republican challenger, Stringer will be the prohibitive favorite in the general election. “It’s unbelievable,” said one political pro. “In a city of 8 million, you’d think someone would turn up.” It’s hard to recall the last time there was an uncontested race for an open citywide office. Even the lowly job of public advocate, an office with a budget of less than $2 million, has drawn a half-dozen contenders.Faced with that reality — and Stringer’s $3 million campaign treasury — Manhattan City Councilman Dan Garodnick took 30 seconds to decide that his own quest for comptroller could wait. Garodnick’s hasty exit presented a problem for another potential contender, Brooklyn Councilman Domenic Recchia. The chairman of the council’s Finance Committee was counting on having two Manhattanites in the race to split that borough’s vote. With Garodnick out, so was Recchia.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Political Corruption

Years after bribery indictment, Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. may finally lose chairmanship(NYDN)The Brooklyn Democrat still grappling with corruption charges has continued to lead the state Assemblyman subcommittee on outreach and oversight of senior citizens programs.



___________________________________________________________________________________
NYC Federal Cuts

In Impasse, New York Would Face Steep Cuts(NYT)


___________________________________________________________________________________
MTA

After M.T.A. Setbacks, No-Swipe Fare Cards Are Still Stuck in the Future(NYT)


___________________________________________________________________________________
Fewer Tickets Fines is No Free Ride
Dem contenders walk a ‘fine’ line
There they go again. Some of the Democratic mayoral candidates want to reduce city fines, saying they are scams to raise money for the city. Mayor Bloomberg denies it, but let’s assume the Dems are right.
Does this mean they’ll also propose cuts in spending to offset any reduction in city revenue?  Now that would be news.* A fine mess(NYDN Ed) The inanities of the campaign for the Democratic mayoral nomination continue apace, unruffled by the critical issues that will shape New York City’s future.

 Press Never Asks Where is the Money Coming From
A real shock would be if a reporter asks one of the mayoral candidates what they would cut to pay for the reduced ticket fine or one of the new programs or services they are proposing. How many cops and teachers will they cut to make way for their new proposal. Taxing the rich to cover ever new service is just a cover for the pols.
___________________________________________________________________________________
How NYPD Lowers Murder Rate

New NYPD tactics slash murder rate(How the Murder Rate When Down(NYP)
1 million outstanding warrantsin NYC(NYDN)
NYC murder rate continues to decline(Fox 5)

___________________________________________________________________________________
Fake Street Fairs Not Wanted

‘Fed up’ downtown board nixes street fairs(NYP) Downtown leaders have given the thumbs-down to seven upcoming street fairs, half of which are sponsored by dubious charities — and activists are threatening to sue the city if it issues permits. “We’re really fed up, plain and simple,” said Maury Schott who heads the Community Board 2 committee that reviews the permits for the street-clogging events in SoHo and the Village. City rules call for every street fair to be sponsored by a nonprofit. But as The Post first reported last July, some, such as the International AIDS Prevention Initiative, exist in name only.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Political Corruption

Councilmember Ruben Wills investigated for missing funds(Queens Courier)

Assemblymember Vivian Cook under fire for plot of land purchased by her nonprofit(Queens Courier)
___________________________________________________________________________________
NYP On Nanny Bloomberg



Bloomberg's soda ban prohibits 2-liter bottles with your pizza and bottle-service mixers (NYP)

Bloomberg Says City Kids Over-Coddled(DNAINFO) Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he worried that kids are being over-protected. 

 

 

If Dicker Thinks Not Drinking Large Sodas is Losing Our Freedoms What Does He Think of the Corruption At the Board of Elections?

 

Someone should take Dicker and his Friends at the NYP on a Tour of Bellevue to see all poor souls who have lost legs to crap food and soda
 
___________________________________________________________________________________
Board of Elections

 The NYDN Says Go Back to the Old Machines to Get Through Count in Time for the Runoff
What about changing the 10 day wait to open the ballots. You can still wait 10 days until all the votes come in. Just open on day 2  them and start the hand count early if the numbers are very close.
Board of Elections' botch of Queens balloting bodes ill for mayoral races(NYDN Ed) It should bring back the old reliable lever machines from retirement.  There was a special City Council election in Queens last Tuesday that drew a grand total of 8,505 people to the polls.


 Despite the meager showing, the Board of Elections will not know who won until . . . who knows when. Next up is a count of 645 affidavit and absentee ballots, which will start on Wednesday under the calendar prescribed by law. That process could take several days, meaning at least a week and a half will pass before a victor emerges — maybe.  If the margin remains razor thin, the board will conduct a hand count of all the ballots, a chore that will take several additional days at the least, assuming there are no court challenges. Now think about September, when 3 million Democrats and a half million Republicans are eligible to vote for mayoral choices in multicandidate primaries. In the event that no one gets 40%, the law mandates a runoff two weeks later.  Moral of the story: If the board cannot declare a winner in less than 10 days in a piddling race, it won’t be able to decide a close mayoral primary in the two weeks leading up to a runoff. There is a way to prevent such a debacle. The Legislature must let the board mothball the electronic scanners this year and put the old lever machines back into service. The contraptions got the job done for decades and can do so again.


What About the Sworn Papers Filed in Court by Ragusa?
Queens GOP Chair Drops Case To Get Ousted Board Of Elections Commissioner Back To Work(NYDN)

Is DOI, the DA or the AG investigating if the papers were real or forged?  Robert Hornak the director of machines for the Board of Election testified in sworn statements to the court that  the Queens leadership executive committee members met and voted Nov. 1 to reappoint Stupp, and that on Nov. 3, Ragusa signed a certificate saying so. That information was to have been mailed to the City Clerk and City Council on Nov. 19 -- although apparently neither envelope ever arrived. Hornak sworn statement said he mail the papers to reappoint Stupp on Nov. 19. to the executive committee.Ognibene said the gathering at which the organization members supposedly agreed -- having met at Dante's Caterers on Nov. 1 -- to re-nominate Stupp would have coincided with "GOP night," which is more of a cocktail party than a formal party proceeding. "I don’t know if there was ever a notice" of such a meeting, Ognibene continued. "I think they looked back and said, 'Where we all together where we can say we did this?'"

Are BOE Employees Permitted to Owe Money to the City?
BOE Employer Hornak Owes $$$ to the NYC CFB

Robert A. Hornak The Board of Elections Director of Machines and Queens GOP’s executive director, Robert Hornak was fined by the New York City Campaign Finance Board  for $5,528 for Failing to report and document in-kind contributions, Failing to respond to the Draft Audit Report, Failing to respond to the Initial Request for Documentation, Failing to file two disclosure statements and filing two late disclosure statements.

BOE History of Corruption and Incompetence Timeline(True News)

___________________________________________________________________________________
Campaign 2013: Transit Debate?

When Issue Groups Hold Mayoral Debates Candidates Say Anything to Win Votes Without Being Held Accountable to the Truth Or Reality. 
“Everyone here is for mass transit,” Sal F. Albanese, a Democratic candidate and former councilman, declared. “It’s apple pie and ice cream.”
Transit takeover? Mayoral hopeful Quinn is open to idea(NYP) * Candidates at a Forum All Support Mass Transit(NYT)

None of the Candidates Talked About the MTA Funding Crisis, Rising Pension and Health Care Costs
The Metropolitan Transit Authority announced Monday that it is facing a $1.2 billion deficit, thanks mostly to falling real estate transaction tax receipts. How bad is it? Pretty bad. The New York Times reports that instead of the $1.6 billion the MTA collected from real estate transactions in 2007, the authority expects to take in about $995 million this year. Next fare hikes to fund pension costs, says MTA :: Second Ave. Sagas
Quinn Allon and Albanese Call for a City Takeover of the MTA but did not state why that would help fund the system.  Maybe they think a city that cannot manage CityTime and its IT systems can run a railroad?


Candidate Offer Dead on Arrival Ways of Raising $$4 for Transit
NY Could Even Get $$ for Sandy We Some Kid of Washington Cuts Coming It takes a lier to promise you can more bucks from DC
John Liu, echoing de Blasio, wants more transit funding from the feds 
It Took Nelson Rockerfeller to Pass A Commuter Tax in NY Nobody Else Can or has even tried since it was killed

Carrion, Thompson, Quinn calls for to put back the commuter tax 


Show Us the Money to Pay for More Services Candidates Ignore Sequestration
Thompson: To help reduce assaults of operators, I'll add 400 officers to Transit Bureau & restore pre-2010 service * de Blasio endorses Jerry Nadler's cross harbor freight tunnel * Tom Allon says the entire subway needs to be wired with WiFi asap. As mayor and council work to cut the next city budget Sal Albanese — a former City Councilman — and City Comptroller John Liu were the only two of the seven candidates who attended that vowed to increase city funding to the MTA.* Sal  Albanese I'm calling for 20 new Select Bus routes by 2018. Only Albanese supported congestion pricing scheme that levies tolls on drivers entering Manhattan's central business district, through East River bridge tolls or other means. But most of the politicians on the dais Friday night seemed to have come to the conclusion that in an election year, with millions of outer-borough votes at stake, that stance amounts to electoral suicide.

The Transit Debate Turns into A Sex Crimes Debate?
“: "Female decoys" and "gropestat": such are the weighty ideas coming out of this transit forum so far” “: How did transit debate turn into sex-crime-victim-rights forum? Largely missing from the discussion on Friday were two of transportation advocates’ most pressing concerns: how officials should go about rebuilding parts of the system damaged during Hurricane Sandy, like the South Ferry subway station in Lower Manhattan; and whether the Bloomberg administration’s expansion of bike lanes was likely to continue under his successor. Instead, much of the forum focused on crime aboard subways and buses. Mr. de Blasio called for stricter laws to curb sexual assaults on crowded trains that are known as grinding. Tom Allon, a newspaper publisher seeking the Republican nomination, suggested that the city invest in a system modeled on the Police Department’s signature CompStat program, offering a possible name: “GropeStat.”

Owned by the Taxi Bosses
"Bill de Blasio supports the yellow taxi industry and he's taken a lot of money from them and supported the industry lawsuit against outer borough cabs": Sal Albanese . What should have been said was that Bloomberg had to force Albany to pass a law to get taxis to the outer boroughs because the city council and speaker are owned by the taxi industry.

Notably absent was the candidate with the richest transit background, Joseph J. Lhota, a Republican who resigned as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in December to pursue a mayoral run.* Joe Lhota's Transit Forum Invitation Got Lost in the Twitter(NY Mag)


___________________________________________________________________________________
Cuomo and Message Control


Andrew Cuomo’s new problems: Bad headlines, Hillary Clinton(Politico)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest problems: A spate of bad headlines and being “trapped” by Hillary Clinton when it comes to 2016. * Cuomo is reportedly poised to break his habit of refusing to leave the state, with a string of high-profile fundraisers over the next six months that includes two events in Florida and a Paul Simon concert. The board’s verdict: “Abuses flourish in a secretive environment, but that is unfortunately what the Cuomo administration is creating in Albany.”“(T)he Press-Republican has seen more and more occasions where sources who have always spoken with us are now referring questions to state officials in Albany in what appears to be an effort to carefully control messages.”
Secret Government
EDITORIAL: State going too far with secrecy:(http://poststar.com/)


___________________________________________________________________________________
Campaign 2013

Thompson Makes A Push for the Jewish Vote
In Mayoral Bid, Thompson Hopes for Jewish Votes(NYT) Mr. Thompson’s courtship of Jewish voters is emblematic of calculations being made by all of the candidates: perhaps 600,000 New Yorkers are expected to participate in the Democratic primary, and many of those voters are expected to be black or Jewish.



True News Found in the 48AD (largest Jewish Assembly district in the city) Boro Park where the Assemblyman Hikind supported Thompson the mayoral candidate lost 13,154 to 3,472 to Bloomberg in the 2009 election.
The NYT had different numbers for the Jewish vote for Thompson
In the 2009 mayoral race, as the Democratic nominee, Mr. Thompson held his own among Jewish voters against Michael R. Bloomberg’s $100 million third-term juggernaut. Whereas Mayor Bloomberg had trounced Fernando Ferrer in Brooklyn’s Orthodox neighborhoods in 2005 by five to one, Mr. Thompson lost by just two to one, and drew almost even in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, said John Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the City University of New York. * In Mayoral bid, Billy Thompson hopes old ties attract Jewish votes. [with video]

 
My wife, Harriet Carr McDonald, is of the Jewish faith. And her mother, Francis Carr, was an American stenographer at the Nuremberg trials.


Lhota, Supporters Talk Cash At Midtown Breakfast(NY1)

 

 

Quinn Get Buried In Manhattan Garbage Fight 
But great political move. Quinn can now tell the voters in the outer borough that she stoot up for them and their interests


Posh East Side trash talkers boo Quinn (NYP) * Upper East Siders boo Christine Quinn over waste transfer station support at mayoral forum(NYP) They trashed her! Upper East Siders opposed to the construction of a waste transfer station in their neighborhood booed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at a mayoral forum today for her continued support of a controversial project that would send garbage trucks rumbling throughout posh area streets. Meanwhile, City Council Comptroller John Liu, who has previously supported the plan, flipped his position at the forum because of Hurricane Sandy-related issues. Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who voted in favor of the 2006 plan, said concerns over flooding left them both on the fence.* Upper East Side Residents In An Uproar Over Planned Garbage Depot Near Asphalt Green (CBS) * now w/ video: " alone, stands firm on waste station"



Catsimatidis Hits the Airwaves

Billionaire John Catsimatidis set to be first 2013 New York mayoral candidate to hit the airwaves — but is he for real this time?(NYDN) The Gristedes grocery chain owner has his campaign machinery up and ready to go, fuelled by a $1 million check he wrote to fund it. But many political observers still believe his candidacy is merely a vanity project



More on the Race in the 31st

Two Candidates Declare Victory(Queens Tribune)


 


Elex bid by shady pols’ pal(NYP) A Queens political operative who spent her career working behind the scenes for several shady lawmakers is emerging from the shadows to run for public office. Flowers was once a law partner of former Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., who was sent to prison in a judgeship-selling scandal. Flowers was a campaign treasurer for Meeks from 2001 to 2007, when the Federal Election Commission fined Meeks for improper campaign spending.


No Shot Recchia
Grimm news for Democrats? (Brooklyn Paper) Bay Ridge: Southern Brooklyn Republican leaders say Councilman Domenic Recchia’s decision to run for Congress in 2014 will guarantee Rep. Michael Grimm’s re-election — and even Democrats in the district are afraid that the term-limited city pol will wreck their chances of recapturing the seat
___________________________________________________________________________________
Education

Personal touch: Fed ed. boss ‘eval’ push (NYP) President Obama’s education czar personally urged New York officials and union bosses to break their stalemate and adopt a more rigorous teacher-evaluation system. “I just think it’s important for all the adults to work together”* City, State Officials Debate Over School Aid After Injunction(NY1)

Daily News Opposes Judicial Intervention on Teacher Evaluations 
Butt out, your honor (NYDN Ed) Rarely does a judge show the lack of perspective and judicial discretion that has just been displayed by the jurist who barred Gov. Cuomo from denying the city $250 million in school funding. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez obviously hasn’t a clue as to state and city budgets, the interplay between Albany and City Hall, or education outlays and policy. As for the law, with those blind spots, it doesn’t matter.



Parents Wait For Services for Their Children
Born to Wait(NYT)  Parents in line to register their children for Carmelo the Science Fellow’s camp in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. In some New York neighborhoods, children not getting into activities, classes, sports teams and local schools has become a way of life.




Charter Schools
Better Charter Schools in New York City(NYT) A new study shows how New York can build on its stronger-than-average record

Slave Homework Questions
 Officials, Parents At Manhattan School React To Homework That References Slaves' Beating, Deaths(NY1) * Slavery-Math Questions Cause Uproar At Manhattan Public (WCBS) * Officials, Parents At Manhattan School React To Homework (NBC) * Math Questions About Slaves Spark Outrage At Public School(Huff Post)




100 School Matrons Unprotected
Matrons miss the bus(NYP Ed) When Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union sent its school-bus drivers and matrons out on strike, it claimed to be protecting their jobs.  Now that the strike has collapsed, we wonder whether those workers still think the union was, in fact, doing that.In particular, we wonder about the more than 100 matrons who thought the end of the strike meant a return to their jobs — only to learn that they no longer had them.

SUNY Finance Aid
SUNY Announces Plan To Standardize Financial Aid Letters(WCBS)


___________________________________________________________________________________
NYC Government

Mayor's Management Report
Report Offers City Snapshot(WSJ) Rape incidents in New York City rose 13.7%. Response times to life-threatening medical emergencies slowed. Potholes were fixed faster. And city streets were a bit cleaner.* The 2013 Preliminary Mayor's Management Report Is Here!(NYDN)

Controversial NYC Jobless-Discrimination Bill Vetoed By Mayor (WCBS) City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the council would soon override the veto of the measure * Mike nix on job ‘discrim’(NYP)

Green Car

City May Soon See More Charging Stations For Electric CarsCity May Soon See More Charging Stations For Electric Cars (NY1) Could the city soon be covered with charging stations for electric cars? The Bloomberg administration is certainly moving in that direction.

Homeless
Bloomberg: NYC three to 10 times more compassionate toward Homeless(NYDN)

NYCHA
Picturing Life in Public Housing (NYT)

___________________________________________________________________________________
Bloomberg As Dr. Spock

Bloomberg Says City Kids Over-Coddled(DNAINFO) Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he worried that kids are being over-protected.  

Bloomberg's soda ban prohibits 2-liter bottles with your pizza and bottle-service mixers (NYP)



__________________________________________________________________________________
Closing A Hospital for Housing Again


News analysis: If LICH closes, housing towers could rise(Brooklyn Paper)
Cobble Hill: The State University of New York’s plan to shut down Long Island College Hospital would turn a swath of Cobble Hill into a real estate gold mine that would give developers everything they dream of: location, location, and location. *Developer To Turn St. Vincent’s Hospital Into Condos(WCBS)

Health Care
DYING FOR A BETTER LAW: Bad doctors and cancer are killing a Brooklyn mother...and to make things worse, outdated state laws leave her no chance to sue for malpractice

__________________________________________________________________________________
NYU Expansion

 Henry Stern Opposes NYU Expansion
Former Chief of Parks Backs NYU Plan Foes(WSJ)In a motion scheduled to be argued Tuesday, the plaintiffs argue the council exceeded its powers to grant control over the parcels to a private developer because the sites had been used as parks, which would have required the city to first get approval from the state Legislature. NYU has previously rejected that argument. It has noted that the four pieces of land were technically controlled by the Department of Transportation, not Parks, and hadn't been formally declared public parks.That, Mr. Stern charged in an affidavit, is a distinction without a difference."It was always the City's intent in continuously making these sites available to the public for recreational use over many years to treat them as dedicated parkland," Mr. Stern's affidavit says. There was an "implied dedication" of the land for park use, by virtue of its being open to the public for years for that purpose, Mr. Stern said.


___________________________________________________________________________________
Sandy
 
Ambulances Return To Coney Island Hospital(NY1)* Flood-damaged Coney Island Hospital limps back to life(Fox 5) * Belle Harbor Resident Continues Slow Repairs To Sandy-Damaged Home(NY1)* SI Borough President To Say Area Will Come Back From Sandy In State Of The Borough Speech(NY1) * Shopowners show their resolve after Sandy’s wrath(NYDN) * JCP&L Asks State For 4.5 Percent Rate Hike To Pay For Sandy(WCBS) *City Contractor Leaves Hole in Sandy-Damaged SI Home(NBC)* SI Relief Group Rebuilds Sandy Victim's Home * SI Relief Group Rebuilds Sandy Victim's Home(NY1) * Second wind for Sandy-ravaged trees(NYDN) * Bronxites brace for new flood zone maps to be released by FEMA(Bronx Times)


Beach islands coming to Rockaway(Queens Crap)


From the Daily News:The beaches in storm-battered Rockaway will be dotted with a series of new and revamped bathrooms, lifeguard facilities and concession areas this summer, city officials said Thursday. The new landscape includes modernistic comfort stations, raised high off the sand to ward off future damage from raging storm waters. 

___________________________________________________________________________________
Guns

Bloomberg Takes On the NRA Chicago Style
Chicago shoot-out (NYP) Last year, Chicago had 506 murders — versus New York’s 419 — despite a population a third the size. In January, Chicago had three times the homicides (42 vs. 14). Rahm Emanuel’s approval ratings have plummeted as he gains a national reputation as the Mayor of Murderville. Bloomberg is pushing his line on guns in the Illinois primary for the congressional seat vacated by the now-disgraced Jesse Jackson Jr. The mayor’s Super PAC has contributed $2.1 million to the effort, mostly to run ads blasting Debbie Halvorson, a former House member who has been skeptical of a ban on assault weapons.Halvorson accuses Bloomberg of trying to “buy” the election. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says the same: “We should not allow anyone with huge amounts of money to dictate the terms of the political debate.”* Celebs, activists uniting to back NY gun law(NYDN) * Twenty-two county legislatures have called for partial repeal of the SAFE Act, while warning that new requirements for gun registration, law enforcement and mental health reporting will be a costly burden.* ….There’s more where that came from.
Some gun owners have expressed support for the SAFE Act. Local agencies that issue pistol permits were inundated last week with new paperwork that lets permit holders keep their identities private – a provision in the SAFE Act.* Shaping a Gun Reform Agenda That Includes Teenagers and Handguns(NYT)



___________________________________________________________________________________
Bronx

BP Diaz Jr. touts “New Bronx” model(Bronx Times)


___________________________________________________________________________________
NYS Government

Medicaid
GOP Pledges Medicaid Probe(WSJ)

Campaign Finance
Qualcomm Reveals Its Donations to Tax-Exempt Groups(NYT)

Worker Fired for Speaking Out
State workers talk to the media at their peril(NYDN Ed) Upstate manger sacked and ridiculed after interview

Abortion
All the Governor’s priorities(NYP Ed) What should Albany be devoting its time to these days? Gov. Cuomo seems to think it’s abortion.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Harlem & South Street Seaport

National Urban League HQ and Civil Rights Museum Coming to Harlem(DNAInfo)

 

 

Chinese Moving to East Harlem in a Quiet Shift From Downtown(NYT)

A Lunar New Year celebration in East Harlem, top, held at the Union Settlement Association, is one sign of the area’s growing Chinese presence in the neighborhood. \A robbery string that focused on Chinese residents thrust into violent relief a demographic trend in the last decade.

South ‘$weet’ lease deal (NYP) A Dallas-based developer is paying the city pennies to rent Pier 17 at South Street Seaport — but will rake in more than $100 million a year once its new mega mall is complete.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Local TV News

Klein Flack Denied Ever Being Morrison Mistress
Anchor ex: I wasn’t his mistress (NYP) A former TV reporter embroiled in the scandal that disgraced CBS anchorman Rob Morrison yesterday denied ever being his mistress.

Media consultant Jennifer Rainville, who works for state Sen. Jeff Klein, was engaged to Morrison until 2002 — but hasn’t seen him since they broke things off, a source close to her told The Post. Rainville became a central figure in the Morrison scandal last week due to her romantic history with the newsman — and also because of the parallels between their romance and the plot of her steamy self-published novel, in which a young female producer has an affair with a violent, alcoholic newsman.In the book
 




Wife caught TV anchor Rob Morrison on tape talking about sex toys with gal: sources(NYP)






___________________________________________________________________________________
Washington

Sunday 
As Governors Meet, White House Details Cuts for States(NYT)
Reductions Threaten Popular Programs(NYT)

Fault-Finding in Washington Grows Intense as Cuts Near(NYT)
Agencies Face Hard Realities as Cuts Loom(NYT)
Congress to Consider Tighter Gun Laws(NYT)
Violent, Drunk and Holding a Gun(NYT Ed)Focusing on mass murder and the mentally ill does not get at the broader issue of gun violence.
Leading POLITICO: Governorships: Where are the women? --
Week In Politics: The Looming Spending Cuts Edge Closer(NPR)
Unions try to soften sequester blow for federal workers(Wash Post)
The Manufactured Crisis of Sequester - George Will, Washington Post
GOP Blame Game Self-Destructs - Jonathan Bernstein, Salon
The Buck Still Stops With the President - Nolan Finley, Detroit News
Obama's Second-Term Team of Loyalists - David Ignatius, Washington Post
Truth About the Assault Weapons Ban - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, OC Register
The Guns of Chicago - Heather Mac Donald, The Weekly Standard
WIll Supremes Dismantle Voting Rights Act? - Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic
To Ensure Upward Mobility, Fix Education System - Sen. Rand Paul, WT
Deluded Republican Reformers - Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast
 
The GOP's Biggest Advantage: Time - Noah Rothman, Mediaite
The Future Mr. Speaker? - Robert Draper, The New Republic
Google's Incestuous Ties w/Obama Administration - Erik Telford, The Blaze
Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Pitiful Downfall - Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune
Why the Euro Crisis Isn't Over - Brian Carney, Wall Street Journal
How Mexico Got Back in the Game - Thomas Friedman, New York Times
California's Sad Pension Saga - Steven Malanga, Los Angeles Times
How Six Oscar Winners Tell the Story of America - Jim Cullen, Wash Post

Rick Scott's Craven Retreat - Washington Examiner
Medicaid Expansion the Right Call - Miami Herald
The Public Worker Pension Bomb - Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gun Control for Violent Drunks - New York Times
Report: Senators Near Deal On Gun Background Checks(Huff Post)


TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads(Huff Post)
Fmr. Press Secretary Gibbs Admits He Was Told ‘Not To Acknowledge’ That Drone Warfare ‘Exists’
Bill Kristol Slams Democratic And GOP Posturing On Sequester: ‘It’s Just Pathetic’
Candy Crowley Goes Off On McCain: If Sequester So Bad, Why Is Congress On Recess And Obama Golfing?
Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace Grills Democratic Senator On Obama’s Support For Sequester


Saturday
Obama’s Backers Seek Big Donors to Press Agenda(NYT)

1
Andrew Cuomo, campaign finance pioneer RT : The permanent campaign, by  
Fear of U.S. Cuts Grows in States Where Aid Flows(NYT)
Sequester for Dummies(NYT)
Long Impasse Looms on Budget Cuts(WSJ)
Are Robots About to Take Over Health Care? - Jonathan Cohn, The Atlantic
Why States Shouldn't Expand Medicaid - Roy & Turner, National Review
Dire Consequences and Denial - Charles Blow, New York Times
Obama's Sequester Deal-Changer - Bob Woodward, Washington Post
"Devastating" Sequester? Politicians Should Shut Up - Bill Wilson, Forbes
Obama a Marker on Post-Racial Path - Donna Brazile, CNN

What's Driving Global Change? - Chrystia Freeland, Washington Post
The Keynesian Depression - Scott Minerd, Outside the Box
The Tax Story They Won't Tell at the Oscars - Glenn Reynolds, WSJ
Andrew Cuomo's Conundrum - Matt Taylor, The New Republic
Media's "Team Hagel" Did Obama's Dirty Work - Joel Pollak, Breitbart
Rathergate, Friends of Hamas & False Rumors - David Freddoso, Examiner
The Coming Atlantic Century - Anne-Marie Slaughter, Project Syndicate
Benedict Face to Face With Islam - Andrew Doran, First Things
Zero Dark Thirty Deserves to Win Best Picture - Jason Michelitch, Wired
Why America Loves Denzel Washington - Virginia Postrel, Bloomberg
Red States Will Profit Most From More Immigration - Joel Kotkin, Forbes

Why Should Taxpayers Give Big Banks $83B a Year? - Bloomberg
Zero Dark Thirty: The Game - New York Post
Evolution: History Repeating - The Economist
Why Taxes Have to Go Up - New York Times
Obama Administration Encourages the Supreme Court to Strike Down Defense of Marriage Act(NY Mag)
Here's a clip of Romney's top guy, Stuart Stevens, accepting responsibility for the 2012 outcome
Mitt Romney going on Fox News(NYDN)
Mitt Romney to Reemerge on Fox News(NY Mag)


__________________________________________________________________________________
Media

Political movies look to win big at


 
Amid rumors that Mitt Romney might join Fox, something tells me Chris Wallace is going to get the first post-election interview
 
Boston Globe staffers are 'scared' and 'nervous' (Huff Post)




The Best Late Night Clips Of The Week: Obama’s Golf Trip, McCain’s Hypocrisy, Biden’s Shotgun And More


 Jimmy Michelle WATCH: Fallon Performs 'The Evolution Of Mom Dancing' With Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama's mom-dance with Jimmy Fallon:(Politico) * Michelle Obama and the evolution of "mom dancing" (VIDEO)

Dan RatherDan Rather: Evening News Isn't What It Used To Be 


__________________________________________________________________________________
Pope


Why Benedict ‘really’ quit,(NYP)
GAY SCANDAL ROCKS THE VATICAN: Pope's resignation linked to blackmail over gay clergy with prostitutes: shock report(NYDN)
Dolan Deflecting Talk of a Possible Promotion(NYT)
Vatican denounces reports that Pope quit over gay sex scandal (NYDN)
Dolan Responds To Rumors Surrounding Pope Benedict's Resignation (NY1)
Vatican blasts 'false' pre-conclave reporting(WABC)


Hymns & hers in holy war (NYP) It’s cross-dressers vs. the cross in Times Square. Parishioners at St. Malachy’s Catholic Church aren’t feeling fabulous about a brunchtime drag show being performed at Lillie’s restaurant next door in the middle of Lent.


__________________________________________________________________________________
Wall Street
Major Banks Aid in Payday Loans Banned by States(NYT)

__________________________________________________________________________________
Law and Order


WATCH: Firefighters take down man hacking at wife with meat cleaver in Chinatown(NYP)

Firefighters Rescue Woman From Horrible Meat-Cleaver Attack(NY Mag)
 Police Officers Face Punishment for Playing With the Radio(NYT)
Fatal shooting in Brooklyn(Fox 5)
Gun Permit Applications Way Up In Suffolk County(CBS)
Third Teenager Is Arrested Over Forced Fight Between 7-Year-Olds(NYT)
Third Teen Arrested In Connection With Video Of Young Girls Fighting(NY1)
Transit worker arrested for DWI(NYDN)
Creep teach keeps his job (NYP) A lovesick Brooklyn teacher who stalked, assaulted and threatened another teacher for refusing to date him can keep his city job, The Post has learned.
Bronx Father Held On Bail In Connection With Son's Accidental Shooting(NY1)
Officials Investigate Deadly Early-Morning Queens Fire(NY1)
Man attacks wife with meat cleaver(NYP)
Man commits suicide by leaping in front of Manhattan subway train(NYP)
Police: Man Attacked, Critically Injured Wife With Meat (WCBS)
Man, 79, Shot And Killed In Bushwick(WCBS)
Death of ex-Post employee 'suspicious'(NYP)
Shot dead after argument in Brownsville(NYP)
Kuby: Judge facts not fantasy in Cannibal Cop case(NYDN) * 
Defense: NYC cop a cannibal only in online fantasy(Fox 5)
College friend of Cannibal Cop possibly on his menu(NYDN)Funeral Held For Marisha Cheong, A Week After Her Body Washed(WCBS)
Elderly man fatally shot in Brooklyn home(NYP)
Man Found Bound and Shot After Queens Apartment Fire(NY Mag)
Man's legs sliced off after he falls into the path of subway train(NYP)
Two People Hit by Cars on the Upper East Side Within Two Hours(NY Mag)
Woman found dead in Brooklyn apartmen(Fox 5)
Deadly fire in Queens labelled suspicious 
A 72-year-old man was shot and killed in Brooklyn early Sunday morning(NBC)
Teens arrested over grade-school girls fight posted on YouTube(NYP)
Exclusive video raises questions about officer's death(WABC)
WTC construction workers busted for selling pot: authorities(NYP)
Kid, 5, shoots self in arm(NYP)* Five-Year-Old Shot in the Bronx(WSJ)

Suspect 'Fit' in Shop Killings(WSJ)Doctors have determined that a Staten Island apparel salesman is fit to stand trial in an alleged serial killing spree that left three Brooklyn shopkeepers dead.* Accused Staten Island serial killer is found fit for co (SI Advance)
* Shopkeeper Slayings Suspect Found Fit for Court(NBC)



Cobble Hill woman dies after being found with head trauma(NYP)
FBI nabs ‘Black Glove Bandit’ Lawrence Thomas(NYDN)

WTC workers busted for drugs(NYDN)

 NYPD: Bronx Boy, 5, Accidently Shot Himself; Father Charged
A Video of Fighting 7-Year-Olds Leads to 2 Arrests(NYT) * Police: 5-year-old shoots self; father charged(WSJ) * Bronx Boy Hospitalized After Accidentally Shooting Self; Father Charged(NY1) * Bronx Boy Hospitalized After Accidentally Shooting Self;(NBC)
* 5-Year-Old Bronx Boy Shot In Shoulder With Dad's Gun, Sources Say(DNAINFO_