Thursday, May 2, 2013

Liu Associates Trial: Guilty

The Buck Does Not Stop With Me
John Liu Reaction Delusional
"It Is What It Is" Liu

John Liu defended Jenny Hou. He didn't defend Oliver Pan. Asked about Oliver Pan, he said, "I said what I said about Jenny.""I'm proud of the way my campaign has been conducted," John Liu said. "It is what it is." Liu said he's moving forward. John Liu said he still believes in his former treasurer who was convicted of campaign fraud. Mr. Liu said he's saddened by the verdicts. "It is what it is." He then walks away from reporters as they continue to bark questions.John Liu said he has nothing to hide and he has a clear conscience. * John Liu's Former Aide and Fundraiser Both Found Guilty in Fraud Case(DNAINFO)
Will the CFB Give Liu Matching Funds
Is Liu Missing A Shame Gene?
Jenny hou, oliver pan found guilty of attempted wire fraud. Hou found not guilty of conspiracy. #2013
Hou 45 years in jail  Pan 40 years in jail
The Tragedy of 25 Year Old Jia Hou
Does Liu Feel Responsible?
Major blow to mayoral hopeful John Liu: Ex-aides guilty of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws(NYDN)
Jury convicts 2 associates of city comptroller(WABC)
John Liu's Former Aide and Donor Found Guilty in Federal Court(Politico)
Comptroller John Liu's ex-associates convicted(Fox 5)
John Liu’s Former Aide and Donor Found Guilty in Federal Court(NYO)
Former Liu Associates Convicted in Fund-Raising Case(NYT)
John Liu ‘Deeply Saddened’ by Guilty Verdicts but Vows to Soldier On(NYO)

A calm cracks joke at mayoral forum an hour after two aides found guilty of campaign fraud. #2013

Another Win for the U.S. Attorney
In a statement, U.S. Preet Bharara says, "As the jury found, Jia Hou and Oliver Pan stuck a knife into the heart of New York City's campaign finance law by violating the prohibition against illegal campaign contributions, all to corruptly advantage the campaign of a candidate for city-wide office."US attorney's full statement on Oliver Pan/Jenny Hou convictions
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Greenfield's Nom De Plume

Fake You Pols: The Real Future of Journalism is 1984 Big Brother

Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield has just given us a view of the real future of journalism and it is all about faking out the public. Today over one third of all Americans get their news online.  Over 20% of those online readers get their news directly from elected officials and campaign consultants who post directly online bypassing reporters entirely.  In a far reaching article City and State's Nick Powell proved that Greenfield was not only using a pen name to putting himself in a favorable light other reporters were quoting from the fake posts as fact.  For nearly two and a half years, a Yeshiva World News blogger who goes by the name of Dov Gordon appears to have been one of New York City Councilman David Greenfield’s biggest fans in the local Jewish media.Gordon named Greenfield a “winner” for backing Mostofsky (Mostofsky won civil court seat).  “Maybe it’s because he works harder than anyone else in the community, maybe it’s because he delivers more than anyone else in the community, or maybe it’s because he’s very good at bringing together coalitions within the community,” Gordon wrote. “Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Greenfield has emerged as one of the most important Jewish political players in New York.”

GREENFIELD’S ALTER EGO? New York City Councilman David Greenfield secretly used a blogger alias to pen stories portraying himself in a favorable light while criticizing political opponents, sources say: 



Civil War in Boro Park
Hikind Joins Bloggers to Accuse Greenfield as a Phony Blogger

A former staffer to New York City Councilman Daniel Greenfield has accused him of promoting himself on a blog written by himself but under a pseudonym of “Dov Gordon.” “A report by journalist Ross Barkan refers to a Dov Gordon as the spokesperson for an organization called Save Flatbush, which ran an ad in the Jewish newspaper Hamodia condemning the City Council’s proposed redistricting of south Brooklyn.
 “The report, including an interview with this Dov Gordon, was posted on Barkan’s blog in February, two months after Pete Appel had speculated whether Greenfield might be Dov Gordon. City & State sent an email to Save Flatbush asking if the Dov Gordon that worked for the organization also wrote for Yeshiva World, but received no response.

Article Written By Dov Gordon in Yeshiva World Attacking Hikind
Constituents Ask: Is Dov Hikind Still in Florida?
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Drumbeat Against DA Johnson

Tebow time for The Bronx(NYP) Democratic leaders were discussing a plan to nudge Robert Johnson out of his job as Bronx district attorney. As a recent editorial on these pages underscored with a stark chart, Johnson’s felony conviction rate was just 46 percent in 2011 — trailing not only the 68 percent rate in the other boroughs but also the figure for the rest of the state.
Robert Johnson It’s not only convictions. His prosecution record also compares unfavorably to that of his peers in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island. Johnson fails to prosecute 23 percent of arrests — nearly three times the average for the other DAs.
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Liu's Trial(before Decision)
Defense in Fraud Trial Blames Failed U.S. Effort to Charge Liu(NYT)
The trial of two former aides to Comptroller John C. Liu went to the jury after lawyers portrayed them as victims of prosecutorial zeal. * Trial of Aide, Backer of John Liu Goes to Jurors(WSJ)
* Defense Says Trial Of Former Liu Associates Was About "Obsession" Of Case Against Comptroller(NY1) * The trial against two former aides to Comptroller John Liu is heading to jury. “I don’t represent John Liu,” one aide’s lawyer said, arguing his client was caught up in a failed sting against Mr. Liu. “I don’t give a damn about John Liu. But that’s what this case is. That’s how we got here. And they’re now struggling to make this a federal case. This case doesn’t belong in this courthouse.”

 
Baldeo Uses Liu's Trail As Practice

Albert Baldeo who is awaiting Trial for Also Using Straw Donors in His Campaign Has Been At John Liu's Entire Trial. All Day, Every Day
 




Baldeo is Going to Every Trial Including the Salem Witch Trials

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Vito Lopez Still Rules

 The Council District Vito Lopez Is Running in Is Mostly Hispanic Daily News Is Wrong When It Says the District is Also Strong Hadidic
The Council District Has Been Well Served By Lopez's None Profit Government Funded Politico Machine The Bushwick Senior Citizens Council
Vito Lopez remains a formidable candidate with strong  Hispanic and Hasidic support for his Council bid (NYDN)  Still, opponent Antonio Reynoso has landed all major union endorsements and big name political support. "Satmar Grand Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum is Aseemblyman Vito Lopez 's boy"

 

 

Albany Hush Fund Cover Up, Press Containment Timeline 

True News (The Bund): Vito Lopez Uses Government Funds to Run ...



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DAILY NEWS SPILLS ALL THE SECRETS ABOUT MY BEST BUDDY THE SATMAR GRAND RABBI ZALMAN, I AM DA BOSS!



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Sexual Abuse Lobbyists


Boxley’s return comes as the Legislature grapples with sex-harassment accusations lodged against Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Sexual Abusers Do Well In Albany
Sex-rap Shel aide returns as lobbyist (NYP) Michael Boxley, the former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who was convicted of sexually abusing a legislative staffer, has re-emerged as principal in one of Albany’s top lobbying firms. Boxley, 53, is a registered lobbyist for Brown & Weinraub, the seventh largest firm lobbying in the state, advocating for its clients across state government, including the Assembly where he once worked. Boxley’s return comes as the Legislature grapples with sex-harassment accusations lodged against Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez.Boxley subsequently quit the Assembly after he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct to settle the rape charges. The misdemeanor crime required him to file as a sex offender, serve six years’ probation and triggered a suspension of his law license.  State records show that Boxley is registered as lobbyist for CAMBA, a not-for-profit social-services group in Brooklyn; Aeon Nexus Corporation; Caseus Energy, a California-based firm that produces ethanol; and Dominion Voting Systems. Michael Boxley, the former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who was convicted of sexually abusing a legislative staffer, has re-emerged as principal in one of Albany’s top lobbying firms, Brown & Weinraub.

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JCOPE Rumblings

Something Going On At JCOPE
2 Commissioner Leave this Week + Pushing SI DA to Release Lopez's Report
Daily News re JCOPE's report: "Publish or perish"
[image]New York State Panel on Ethics Will Lose Its Leader (WSJ)The executive director of the New York state ethics commission plans to resign, making her the second senior official in recent weeks to signal her departure from the panel at a time when the state is struggling to target corruption in the capital.* Director of State Ethics Panel to Step Down(NYT)

Cuomo loyalist Ellen Biben leaving post as exec director of embattled JCOPE, 2nd official to depart in recent weeks. Ellen Biben, the executive director of the state ethics commission, will resign to work in the private sector at a high-profile time for the commission with several announcements looming, the Journal reports:

Officially, Biben To Depart JCOPE


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Goo Goos Defend Corrupt Party Bosses

 NY's Reform Groups are Run By the Permanent Government and Jerks
Leaders of the Reform Groups are Great About Getting in the Media for Self Promotion 
Reform Groups Have Accomplished Nothing in Decades

 Sepical Interests Puppet

In the Daily News, Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center, Miles Rapoport of Demos, and Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York argue against the governor’s proposed repeal of the Wilson-Pakula law:






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Celebrity Politics

Mayoral Candidates as Cause Celebrities Nearly one in five New York City voters tell pollsters they are unmoved by the half-dozen Democratic contenders running for mayor. But will they listen to Susan Sarandon? * NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has the most A-list Hollywood supporters of the candidates vying to replace Bloomberg as mayor. “Nearly one in five New York City voters tell pollsters they are unmoved by the half-dozen Democratic contenders running for mayor. But will they listen to Susan Sarandon?”

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Campaign 2013

Thompson
. and to to give endorsement to
State Sen Serrano - in veiled dig at ? - says wont't run a "negative campaign" and is "not a divider." Thompson takes no stance on Puerto Rico statehood. Rep. Serrano, big supporter, says he does not use issue as litmus test.

Christine Quinn Reaches Out to App Voting Bloc(NYO)
Per her campaign, the “IDEAS App,” announced Thursday, “will give New Yorkers easy access” to Ms. Quinn’s “policy proposals, ideas for New York, and help stay connected with campaign.”
 

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Mike NYPD Plea Rejected

Bloomberg’s impassioned speech in defense of stop-and-frisk this week wasn’t enough to persuade NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn to back off from her support of a bill to create an inspector general to oversee the NYPD.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn said that she is forging ahead with a vote on legislation creating an NYPD inspector general as well as a measure banning racial profiling
Christine to Bloomberg: Frisk you! (NYP) Mayor Bloomberg’s impassioned speech in defense of stop-and-frisk this week wasn’t enough to persuade City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to back off from her support of a bill to create an inspector general to oversee the NYPD. Quinn insisted yesterday that she is forging ahead with legislation that would impose an IG on the cops, and she will allow the council to take up a second bill aimed at racial profiling, even though she doesn’t support that measure.

NY1 Online: Mayoral Candidate Albanese Supports Stop-And-Frisk




A Bronx Story Tragedy

13 Years After His Father’s Killing, a Bronx Teenager Meets the Same Fate
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg cited Alphonza Bryant III’s killing to point out the impact of illegal guns and the value of the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactic.* Slain Bronx teen Alphonza Bryant's father killed in same (NYDN) * The mother of slain teen Alphonza Bryant wrote an op-ed endorsing stop-and-frisk while, at the same time, not sounding as enthusiastic as Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Stop-and-frisks are random. Does it apply to every child that wears a hoodie?” she asked. “It should be modified — it’s not working the way they intended. Out of so many stop-and-frisks, how many people stopped have handguns?”'Some kids need to be terrorized. Maybe my son wouldn’t have been shot if the right kids were terrorized': Mom of slain 17-year-old supports stop-and-frisk in emotional letter for the Daily News


Grieving Mother Tells of Her Son’s Unpleasant Police Stop(NYT)

Jenaii van Doten, the mother of Alphonza Bryant III, a 17-year-old who was killed last month in the Bronx, said the police had cursed at him during a recent street stop.

Commissioner Kelly defends stop-and-frisk and targeting (NYDN)
A lawsuit filed on behalf of five Bronx men contends that NYPD officers routinely stop black and Latino men without cause and then charge them with low-level misdemeanors when their pockets are emptied and small amounts of marijuana are found.* Ray Kelly: NYPD Could Actually Be Stopping More Black People, Because They Commit Crimes(NY Mag) * Bar tells mayoral hopefuls to reform, not scrap stop-an(NYDN)

(Photo: Getty)Joe Lhota Says Bloomberg’s Safety Speech Was the Best Ever


NYT Still Working for Quinn's Campaign 
Carolyn Ryan takes over politics for the 'Times,' Wendell Jamieson to take her place on metro and the paper is still running campaign Ads for Quinn
Quinn Announces Another Effort to Make Parking Meters More User-Friendly(NYT)



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Dan Gone

Jail Next's Stop
Pagan pol out of the running (NYP) The pagan pol is pulling out. Disgraced, heathen City Councilman Dan Halloran (pictured) announced yesterday that he won’t seek re-election — so he can try to clean up his scandal-splattered name.* Embattled Halloran Won't Seek Re-Election to Council(WSJ) * Councilman Halloran Ends Re-Election Bid To Focus On Fighting Fraud Charges(NY1) * CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK: Dan Halloran will not seek re-electi (NYDN) * Speaker Chris Quinn thinks her colleague Dan Halloran needs to go further than ceasing his re-election bid and resign immediately. His constituents, she argued, need a legislator “100 percent focused on representing them. Clearly, with the outrageously unacceptable allegations that are pending, both as they relate to the federal indictment and to recent allegations of sexual harassment, he is far from 100 percent focused on his constituents.”

Halloran Smith's Plan Rips Off the CFB
In the Post, New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox explains his opposition to public financing of state political campaigns, calling it “welfare for politicians” and burdensome to taxpayers: 

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Pension Boys Out

‘Spring’ time for pay-to-play jailbird (NYP) ALBANY — Hank Morris, the political mastermind behind the pay-to-play pension scam that brought down then-state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, is a free man starting today. Hank Morris, the political mastermind behind the pay-to-play pension scam that brought down then-state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, is a free man starting today.

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Diaz: Cuomo Macho

Cuomo Orders Real Election for Castro's Seat
Diaz: Que es mas macho, Cuomo o blood-sucking windmills?(NU)
Answer: Cuomo! That rather Dylanesque question comes near the end of Ruben Diaz’s latest edition of “What You Should Know,” which in a rare switcheroo actually praises the governor for standing up to Bronx Democratic leaders in refusing to call a special election to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of Assemblyman Nelson Castro, D-U.S. Attorney’s Office; opposing a payday loan bill boosted by Assemblyman Denny Farrell and Sen. Jeff Klein; and knocking the bonuses earmarked for Con Edison executives.
You should know that like Don Quixote De La Mancha, our Governor has taken out his sword and on this occasion, with courage and precision, has come out fighting the windmills on behalf of the residents of the New York City, knowing that they could have been the most affected by these draconian, blood sucking windmills. In these three situations, the Governor has proved to be a macho man.
And as the Village People noted, you’ve got to be a macho man.

MSNBC Host Gives His Top 5 Reasons Cuomo Can’t Win a Democratic Primary(YNN)

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NYS Government

Gambling
As the legislative session winds down, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he plans to discuss casinos expansion with lawmakers and suggested having a referendum on Election Day in 2014, the Times-Union writes * Cuomo suggested postponing a referendum on whether to allow major casinos off Indian land to give the politically difficult issue a better chance of passing.* The governor’s comments came as as Senate Racing and Wagering Committee Chairman John Bonacic is drafting legislation that will identify seven regions in the state that could be options for casinos, with the potential for clusters.

Guns
Entertainment industry officials say a new gun control measure signed into law by Cuomo earlier this year could prevent them from using lifelike assault weapons in television shows and movies, The New York Times writes: 

Animal Cruelty
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an initiative to crack down on animal fighting rings and increase efforts to combat animal cruelty throughout the state, the Times writes: 

Budget
In the Times-Union, Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlines the economic challenges facing local governments in New York State and touts measures proposed by his administration to help alleviate these difficulties: 

NYCHA
Bill would raise bar for NYCHA luxury development plan(NYDN)

LICH
 State officials issue formal call for hospital operator(NYDN)

Loan Sharks 
The TU believes Cuomo “deserves praise for killing a bill that would have turned check-cashing operations into legal loan sharks.” Benjamin Lawsky, the superintendent of the state’s Department of Financial Services, MBIA’s regulator, is interviewing advisers to help it seize the business’ mortgage-insuring arm.

Abortion
Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos on Cuomo’s yet-to-be-released abortion rights bill: “In my opinion and the opinion of my conference, that bill is not moving.”

Fracking
The governor continues to insist he’s in no hurry to make a decision on whether to allow fracking in the Marcellus Shale. 

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NYC Government

Budget
Mayor Bloomberg will announce an extra $800 million windfall from capital-gains taxes this year when he unveils next year’s budget, but the additional revenue will be offset by other unexpected costs, the Post learns: http://bit.ly/ZYl8sE * Bloomberg Delivers Final Budget Speech and Is Pretty Pleased With It *Bloomberg Unveils Budget Amid Race to Succeed Him(NYT)
 

Economy Small Business
Police
Bloomberg, contradicting the candidates, says New York doesn't need more police


Business Owners Take Aim at Proposed Smoking Laws(NYT)

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Boston Bombers
Killer’s ‘LOL’ text emerges as 3 pals are busted
Three pals of bombings suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev busted in alleged ‘cover-up’
Real funny. Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev didn’t have a care in the world as an army of feds and cops hunted for him after the marathon attack — texting “LOL” to a pal who warned him that his face was plastered all over the news.
How arrests of Tsarnaev's friends may impact Boston Marathon bombing case (CBS)
2m
RT CONFIRMED: Body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev released to a funeral home by the Chief Medical Examiner’s office, to be claimed tonight
BREAKING: MORE: Boston Marathon bombs were built in Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s house - reports on
Breaking News: Boston Bombing Suspects Had First Planned Attack for July Fourth (NYT)

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WTC




Final pieces of the World Trade Center spire being raised 
‘It feels like a burial, like a casket’ (NYP) Police yesterday hauled away the 255-pound hunk of World Trade Center plane wreckage that was recently discovered in a tight alley behind the planned Ground Zero mosque.* No Remains of Humans in a Search Tied to 9/11(NYT)
9/11-Related Wing Piece Removed 
One World Trade Center Is Really Almost Done(NY Mag)
Video and photos: The crowning of 1 World Trade Center (NYT)
Mayor Bloomberg Personally Lending September 11 Museum $15 Million(NY Mag)

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Education

 City College Names Division Of Social Sciences After Colin Powell (NY1)



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Gentification


Greenpoint Joins Bushwick With 20 Percent Rent Leap As Williamsburg Drops(DNAINFO)



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Sandy

U.S. Rules Bar Aid to Co-ops Hit by Sandy(NYT)
Under FEMA’s policy, co-ops are considered businesses and therefore ineligible for federal disaster aid.
More Post-Sandy Hotel Time for New York Refugees(WSJ)

Coney Island Health Care Facility Reopens After Repairing Sandy Damage
Post-storm real estate in the Rockaways(NBC)

Sandy Damage Costs Could Cancel Mermaid Parade(Fox 5)


If there’s another blackout in the city, two new high-powered generators will help keep the lights on at Grand Central Terminal.



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Subway Delays


Subway Delays Were Up in 2012, a Group Finds(NYT)
The study, conducted by the Straphangers Campaign, focused on so-called controllable delays — problems associated with signals, switches and tracks, among other factors.* Study: Subway delays up in 2012, early 2013(WSJ)

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Seems Courts Runs City Taxis


Taxi-Hailing Apps Blocked by Judge
A day after taxi riders were allowed to hail yellow cabs with smartphones for the first time, an appeals court judge temporarily blocked the city’s pilot program for the apps.* E-Hail Apps Blocked Again(WSJ) * A day after NYC taxi riders were allowed to hail yellow cabs with smartphones for the first time, an appeals court judge temporarily blocked the pilot program for the apps and forced the Bloomberg administration to delay its plan for the second time in less than two months.

State Supreme Court Halts City's "E-Hail" App For Taxis(NY1)


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Fat Men Can't Ride

Citi Bike To Fat People: Drop Dead
Where is Nanny Bloomberg?
New York City bike-share program bans riders who weigh more than 260 pounds(NYP)





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Education

Built as an Operating Theater, Soon to Be a Private School
The William J. Syms Operating Theater of Roosevelt Hospital, which hasn’t seen a surgery since 1941, is to reopen this fall as the new home of the Speyer Legacy School.

Cathie Black emails released! Time to read 72 pages of letters between Black and Bloomberg
Document Drop: The Cathie Black Emails(NYDN)
Cathie Black, in email, asked aide about Oprah, evidently looking for high-profile outside validation for her candidacy to run schools.
Aides to Cathie Black said Caroline Kennedy would sympathize with her, "given her experience when she was considered ...for Senate" Cathie Black asks about posting security detail outside her apartment on Park Avenue, given all the "hullabaloo" around her appointment * City Releases Emails Regarding Hiring Of Former Schools (NY1) * E-Mails Show Rush to Quell Furor Over Cathleen Black(NYT)
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Guns or Lighter


‘Smoking’ gun nets 60G fine(NYP) The owner of a Midtown tourist shop is firing back at Mayor Bloomberg’s crusade against toy guns, filing papers to block a $60,000 fine from the city for selling lighters shaped like small pistols.* Times Square camera shop sues city over 'gun' lighters(NYDN)


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Media


News you can abuse (NYP) Raging ex-anchorman Rob Morrison’s temper has gotten him into another ugly mess after he furiously insulted a weekly-newspaper reporter for making a minor mistake in a story about the wife-choking charges Morrison is facing in a Connecticut court..

Film Studios Say New York Gun Law May Ban Props(NYT)
Industry officials worry they may be barred from using assault weapons and certain magazines in productions.

Daily Beast drops Howard Kurtz following inaccurate article he wrote about SI's Jason Collins scoop:

The relocation of the “The Tonight Show” from California to New York will create 100 new jobs directly tied to the program and 300 in spinoff work, says NBC.
 FightsApril The Biggest Cable News Fights Of The Month: April 2013
 
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Washington
Wanted posters in Libya attack (NYP) WASHINGTON — The FBI yesterday started circulating photos of three men wanted for questioning in the murderous terror attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as the investigation has produced no arrests after more than seven months.
Hillary Clinton continues to have a huge lead – 65 percent – over all other potential 2016 Democratic contenders, according to a new Q poll. And if she doesn’t run, VP Joe Biden is the new frontrunner.
The President Needs to Hope Again - E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
Obama's "Fairness" Economy Has Backfired - David Harsanyi, Examiner
Dems Fear Reliving a GOP Win in Mass. - Jim O'Sullivan, Boston Globe
GOP Sets Its Sights on the Senate in 2014 - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
No Wave in 2014, Just Modest Gains - Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics
The Luv Guv's Last Stand - Gail Collins, New York Times
Eyeing '16, Ted Cruz Aims to Seize DeMint Mantle - Scott Conroy, RCP
The Fed Stands By Its Stimulus - Binyamin Appelbaum, New York Times
Fed Risking a Rerun of 2008 Crisis - Nouriel Roubini, Project Syndicate
 colbert 'NRA-vana': Colbert Goes After 'Brave And Heartless' Rand Paul For Gun Control 'Truthiness'

Where Are Syria's Chemical Weapons? - Eli Lake, The Daily Beast
He Can't Explain It, But Obama's Right on Syria - George Will, Wash Post
Why I'm Bullish...on Women - Warren Buffett, Fortune
Planned Parenthood & the Euphemism Imperative - Rich Lowry, Politico
Dems Are Too Timid About Gun Control - Thomas Edsall, New York Times
Balancing Innovation With Privacy - Michael Chertoff, CNN
Who's Afraid of the Koch Brothers? - Jack Shafer, Reuters
New Study a Blow to Obama's Medicaid Expansion - Michael Cannon, Cato

A President Pinned Down - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Incoherence on Syria - Washington Post
Close Gitmo Now, Mr. President - Kansas City Star
Too Dangerous For Mecca, But Not Boston - Investor's Business Daily
Obama's Legacy: A Health Law That Hurts His Party - Josh Kraushaar, NJ
"The Juice," the Jousting and the Job - Charles Blow, New York Times
US Megabanks Are a Ticking Time Bomb - John Steele Gordon, Commentary
Political Paralysis Makes Us Poorer - William Galston, The New Republic
Has Washington Given Up on the Economy? - Jill Lawrence, Natl Journal
ObamaCare Is Destroying Jobs - Sen. John Barrasso, Investor's Business Daily
Why I'm Signing Marriage Equality Into Law - Gov. Lincoln Chafee, NYT
From Silent Gosnell, a Gathering Storm - Karen Heller, Philly Inquirer
Liberal Student Caught Making Fake Rape Threats - Katherine Timpf, CR
Ted Cruz Will Never Be President - Joan Walsh, Salon
The Degraded Correspondents' Dinner - Robert Merry, National Interest
Radicals Rule the Syria Rebellion - Ralph Peters, New York Post

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Wall Street

The WSJ slams Schneiderman for withdrawing the the state’s damages claim against former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg, but continuing to press forward with the Spitzer-era lawsuit against him.





This Is How Wall Street Is Fighting the Brown-Vitter Bill(NY mag)


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Law and Order

Federal Suit Claims Police Distort Marijuana Searches to Create Misdemeanors(NYT)


At Least Five Protesters Arrested in May Day Demonstration(NYT)
A group of protesters marched from Tompkins Square Park to Union Square on Wednesday afternoon in a demonstration meant to criticize capitalism.



Groper gets off squeezy (NYP) A Brooklyn lawyer who turned out to be Manhattan’s notorious serial “Gentleman Groper” got a wrist-slap, no-jail sentence yesterday that may let him even keep his law license.

Man Charged After Body Is Dug Up in Queens Yard(NYT)
After days of canvassing through Queens, Yonkers and West Virginia, the police found the body of Frank L. Soucie in a garden, and the son of his girlfriend was charged with murder.


‘Stop sawing me’ (NYP)  A retired postal worker recounted his horrific encounter with a power-saw- wielding madman on a subway platform, telling a Manhattan jury in emotional, dramatic detail yesterday how the lunatic relentlessly hacked at him as he pleaded for his life. .

Cabbie cleared of attempted murder(NYDN)
Cabby cruises (NYP) A cabby accused of ramming his taxi into two would-be passengers rather than drive them from Midtown to The Bronx has been acquitted of trying to murder them.
Qns. girl, 7, molested(NYP)
‘Fare-beater’ is eyed in murder(NYP)
Figoski jury white slight nixed(NYP)
Girl Found on Beach Was Killed, Autopsy Says(NYT)

Times Square 'Cookie Monster' Rejects Plea Deal


 

Manhattan ‘Gentleman Groper’ Cops Plea, Is Sentenced To (WCBS)
Police: Suspect Sexually Assaulted Two 7-Year-Old Girls (WABC)

Police Seek Man Who Sexually Assaulted Queens 7-Year-Old(NY1)


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Terrorism
Court Papers Offer Details in Terror Case
In a case against three foreign men charged with supporting a Somali terrorist group, documents offer a glimpse of the government’s rationale for bringing such cases into the federal courts.