In a bombshell announcement, Brooklyn-Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner admitted Monday afternoon to sending racy online messages to six women over the last three years, after claiming for several days that he had nothing to do with a lewd photo posted from his Twitter account.

The prospective mayoral candidate said he will not resign from Congress.

A conservative website today posted photos that appear to show the Brooklyn-Queens congressman with his shirt off. Another site, RadarOnline.com, says a young woman has come forward with 200 sexually explicit messages she says were sent from Weiner.

BigGovernment.com says the photograph it published was allegedly sent to the woman on May 20. It is said to have come from a Yahoo email address the woman says as used by the 46-year-old married congressman.

Source: NY1 Continue reading this article here

An MTA Human Resources staffer is under investigation for taking cash payments from job hunters in a pay-to-work scheme, the Daily News has learned.

Ronica Ganesh, 28, is suspected of promising applicants she could snag them entry-level subway mechanic positions for at least $1,000, sources said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority inspector general’s office and Manhattan prosecutors are also probing whether Ganesh fudged applicants’ test scores for an additional $500, sources said.

Source: NY Daily News Continue Reading this article here

Mayor Michael Bloomberg who uses his office to promote a healthier lifestyle for New Yorkers – urged Albany to tax sugary drinks by one cent for each ounce in his weekly radio address this morning.

He estimated a nearly $1 billion windfall from the tax, which Gov. Paterson considered in the past but dropped amid stiff opposition.

Bloomberg said the levy would help stave off childhood obesity, while raising money for education and Medicaid.

By making heavily sugared drinks just a little bit more expensive, we can make a major dent in obesity just as weve made a major dent in smoking by raising cigarette taxes, Bloomberg said in his prepared address.

He predicted the tax would reduce consumption of sugary beverages by 10 percent or more.

Source: NY Post

The arrest of the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. on a disorderly conduct charge — later dropped — has prompted anguished discussion about race and policing in America, particularly after President Obama weighed in on (and later backed away from his remarks on) the episode.

The controversy’s ramifications have reached far beyond Cambridge, Mass., and Washington. On Monday, a young aide to a New York City politician resigned after posting comments on her Facebook page about the controversy.

The aide, Lee Landor, who had been the deputy press secretary to Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer since May, posted comments on her Facebook page criticizing Mr. Gates and the president, whom she referred to at one point as “O-dumb-a.”

Ms. Landor wrote in one post, “O-dumb-a, the situation got ‘out of hand’ because Gates is a racist, not because the officer was DOING HIS JOB!”

In response to one Facebook user who voiced disagreement, Ms. Landor referred to Professor Gates using a vulgarity and added, “And racial profiling does exist, but for good reason. Take a look at this country’s jails: who makes up the majority of inmates? Exactly.”

In another Facebook post, Ms. Landor wrote, “You know what, I am really getting SICK of hearing about how white people are evil racists.” She added, “I get it — white men have dominated for hundreds of years and there’s a lot of anger there. But HOW MUCH MORE can the white people people do to correct past injustices of their ancestors?”

Source: NY Times Read the Complete Article Here

The state’s shadow government may soon be getting some sunlight.

In one of the Senate’s final acts last week, lawmakers passed an overhaul of the state’s hundreds of public authorities, from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to the Empire State Development Corporation, in a move aimed at making them more accountable to outside oversight.

The legislation would create an independent budget office with an array of powers over authorities, including the ability to issue subpoenas as part of investigations. Authorities would also be required to turn over financial records to the budget office.

Contracts awarded by authorities over $1 million would have to be reviewed by the state comptroller. New limits would be placed on the ability of authorities to issue debt, a major area of concern among financial watchdogs.

The legislation makes clear that those who serve on authority boards have a fiduciary responsibility to the authority and its mission. Spelling out this duty holds directors to a defined standard of conduct and is aimed at curbing favoritism and corruption.

Source: NY Times Continue Reading This Article Here

As New York City braces for a second wave of swine flu this fall, health officials are making plans to carve space out of hospitals, clinics and other buildings to screen people before they can overwhelm emergency rooms.

Hospital and city officials said in interviews that the biggest surprise from the swine flu that swept the city last spring was the surge of visits to emergency rooms by people, especially children, sick with the flu and by a far larger number of people fearing they had it.

A major focus of planning for the fall, officials say, is to avoid being swamped by a similar, possibly bigger, demand for emergency room services. Some hospital officials are advocating putting out daily swine flu bulletins — modeled after announcements on alternate-side parking or lottery numbers — about issues like when to seek treatment.

Source: NY Times Continue Reading This Article Here

Peter King was video tapped  commenting on Michael Jackson’s death and the media which was later obatained and broadcasted by TMZ.  He is a possible Republican challenger for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, has announced that it will hear the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case—Goldstein et al. v. N.Y.  State Urban Development Corporation—in October. The owners of homes and properties targeted for seizure have argued that the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards proposal violates New York State Constitution.

The appellants’ briefs are due on July 31 and the case will be argued in front of the High Court in October on a date to be scheduled. (The Court convenes for six days in mid-October.)

“We are gratified that the State’s High Court will hear this important case about whether our State’s Constitution protects the homes of its citizens from the wrecking ball of greed wielded by influential developers and the public officials who do their bidding,” said Matthew Brinckerhoff, the lawyer representing the appellants.  ”This case provides an opportunity for the New York Court of Appeals to continue its proud tradition of interpreting this State’s Constitution in a manner that affords more protection to individual rights and liberties.  We look forward to the argument in October.”

The properties in question are required for developer Forest City Ratner to construct its proposed Barclays Center Arena and 16 skyscrapers.

Nine property owners and tenants, whose homes and businesses in the proposed Atlantic Yards footprint have been slated for government seizure for the megaproject proposed by developer Forest City Ratner, filed the original case. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) organized the case, which is funded by thousands of donations from individual community members across Brooklyn and New York City.

Source: DDDB Continue Reading This Press Release Here

After the Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano brokered the coup last week that threw the State Senate into chaos, he strolled the halls of the Capitol proclaiming himself a reformer on a mission to shake up Albany’s old ways of questionable ethics and self-dealing.

But what Mr. Golisano did not advertise is that his own political action committee, Responsible New York, is under investigation, as are two other groups run by his top adviser, Steven Pigeon, who helped him engineer the Republican takeover of the Senate.

The Erie County Board of Elections is reviewing a series of transactions made by Responsible New York as part of an investigation of political action committees controlled by Mr. Pigeon. The State Board of Elections also recently sent the Albany County district attorney a case involving allegations that Responsible New York was improperly coordinating activities with individual campaigns.

Source: NY Times Continue Reading This Article Here

The city is struggling through tough times, but you’d never know it from the way the City Council is doling out pork — including $85,000 earmarked for a group Mayor Bloomberg disqualified from getting taxpayer money last year.

The grants to the Davidson Community Center in The Bronx are included in the council’s spending report for fiscal year 2010, released last night and expected to be approved by lawmakers today.

Following the discovery last year of a City Council slush fund that stashed dough for fake groups to later spend on pet projects, a rigorous review process was put in place. As a result, Bloomberg’s office yanked $10,000 slated for the Davidson center earlier this year, citing “poor performance on past contracts.”

But that didn’t stop Councilmembers Maria Baez and Joel Rivera. Both of the Bronx Democrats earmarked a combined $85,000 for the group in the budget, according to the lengthy list of grants.

The money is designated for a commercial revitalization program and educational programming and computers for job training.

Maria Alvarado, a spokeswoman to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, said Davidson is among many groups that are still in the “full review process” and will not receive the money until it “demonstrates that it has improved sufficiently.”

Overall, council spending is going up $300,000, reaching $48.8 million when the new fiscal year begins July 1.

The largesse is split up among the council’s 51 members for pet projects and nonprofits in their districts and more expensive programs they fund with the speaker’s pot of money.

It will be a good year for outdoor festivities, with a total of $132,500 being handed out to a variety of parades, $32,000 going to an organization that shows films outdoors and $10,000 paying for block parties.

Another $10,000 is going to a program to teach disadvantaged kids in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, how to play golf, and $4,000 will pay for helping children learn about fashion modeling to build their self-confidence.

Alvarado pointed out that the entire council spending package is down to $362.3 million this year from $411.3 million last year when citywide programs funded by the council are added.

Source: NY Post