Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith used campaign funds to give a fellow Democratic lawmaker a $2,800 “personal loan” – a possible violation of state election law. Smith, a Queens Democrat, gave the money to Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, a Mount Vernon Democrat, on Jan. 2, his campaign’s recent filing with the state Board of Elections shows. [...]
Gov. Paterson has chosen an upstate congresswoman with close ties to Hillary Clinton as the next U.S. Senator, the Daily News has learned. After two months of speculation and chaos, Paterson has settled on Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Hudson) to fill the seat of Clinton, President Obama’s new secretary of state. Paterson is scheduled to make [...]
Outgoing Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate -pleaded not charged Friday night to second-degree assault charges and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. According to the Queens district attorney, Monserrate was arrested early Friday for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend with a piece of broken glass. If convicted, the 41-year-old Democratic lawmaker faces up to seven years [...]
The 17-member Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board approved its so-called “doomsday budget” today, saying members had little choice and no options. The spending plan calls for a 23-percent increase in fare and toll revenues and drastic service cuts – including the elimination of entire bus and subway lines. MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said that it is [...]
Happy holidays, New York – it looks like city residents will get their $400 property tax after all. City Council sources tell NY1 that a budget deal has been reached tonight between council members and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ending weeks of heated negotiations. The council is expected to vote on it at its stated meeting [...]
A can of Coke could soon cost New Yorkers more than just calories. Gov. Paterson, as part of a $121 billion budget to be unveiled Tuesday, will propose an “obesity tax” of about 15% on nondiet drinks. This means a Diet Coke might sell for a $1 – even as the same size bottle of [...]
The City Council Land Use Committee voted 19-2 in favor of the controversial plan to redevelop Willets Point, the industrial Queens neighborhood near the Mets’ new Citi Field stadium. The $3 billion plan will turn the 62-acre area into a hub with housing, shops, a school, and a convention center. Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reached [...]
An independent group of Democratic senators Tuesday recommended the state hold a voter referendum on gay marriage, and they may base their support for the next Senate majority leader on the issue. The three senators from New York City, part of the new, 32-member Democratic majority in the Senate, have been holding back their support [...]
Congressional candidate Richard Hanna Thursday said there’s a possibility he would run again in 2010 for the 24th Congressional District seat. Hanna, a Republican from Cooperstown who hasn’t conceded this year’s race, said he knows the standard answer would be to say he’s not thinking about that right now, but his frank answer is that [...]
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive. The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president [...]
