Efforts by the White House and Sen. Chuck Schumer to prevent a Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year appear to be failing. Despite their success in getting Rep. Steve Israel to say he won’t challenge Gillibrand, four other Democrats are preparing to run. Gillibrand, a 42-year-old attorney elected to the House twice [...]
New York City is expanding its Summer Streets program. Entertainment icon Russell Simmons and Luis Guzman, a star of “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” were helping Mayor Michael Bloomberg promote the program on Monday. More than 1,500 free events will be offered this year. Last year, nearly seven miles of Manhattan streets became [...]
The clock is ticking on the fate of the city’s education system. So said signs held by rallying parents in East Harlem Sunday morning, which echoed a message by Governor David Paterson. “The mayoral control will expire 12 o’clock Tuesday night, June 30th. As of July 1st it will spiral New York City’s public school [...]
Saying that the only deal the fractured New York State senators are working on “is the weekend,” Governor David Paterson announced today that he has stopped paying lawmakers’ member items and is going to court to force them to get back to work. At a news conference this afternoon, Paterson said the issues affecting the [...]
The factions fighting for control of New York’s Senate aren’t even on the same page when it comes to marking celebrity deaths. In brief, separate, back-to-back sessions, Democrats and their Republican-led opponents complied again with Gov. David Paterson’s order to convene. But they conducted no state business and only the Democrats decided to hold a [...]
The state’s former health commissioner has taken a plea deal to avoid jail time. Antonia Novello pled guilty to felony fraud-related charges this morning. She was ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and must pay $22,500 in restitution. However, Novello is allowed to keep her physician’s license. Last month, she plead not guilty [...]
A study released by New York City’s Buildings Department says its inspections are frequently slipshod. There were 19 construction fatalities in the city last year. Nine of those involved two crane collapses that focused a spotlight on corruption allegations in the department’s crane inspection unit. The Daily News says the report found a lack of [...]
The House ethics committee is investigating whether five Democratic lawmakers, including two committee chairmen, received improper gifts in traveling to Caribbean conferences in 2007 and 2008. The committee said it was investigating Charles B. Rangel of New York, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan; Donald M. Payne of New [...]
A candidate for New York City Council says two volunteers gathering signatures for him were threatened by armed members of a rival campaign. Tony Herbert says the volunteers were in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn when they were approached by men in a blue SUV with campaign stickers for incumbent Darlene Mealy. Herbert says the [...]
A section of Queens that would have been the site of the Olympic Village had the city won its bid to host the games in 2012 will now be converted to affordable housing. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that the city has acquired 30 acres of land in Hunters Point South to build a massive [...]
