Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz got slapped with a $20,000 fine Monday for bringing his wife on several free trips abroad.

The city’s Conflicts of Interest Board fined Markowitz for taking his wife on trips to Turkey in 2007 and 2009 and to the Netherlands, also in 2009, despite having been told he had to pay for her expenses.

Markowitz said the trips were paid for and requested by the foreign countries and added that it’s protocol to bring one’s spouse.

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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.

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approval rating is at its lowest point in eight years.

According to a newly released Quinnipiac University poll, 51 percent of New Yorkers disapprove of the job he’s doing. Thirty-nine percent of those polled approve of his performance.

That’s the worst rating Bloomberg has received since November 2003.

The director of the school’s polling institute believes the “Third Term Blahs” may have something to do with the numbers.

In addition, 69 percent of respondents say they were unhappy with how his administration handled snow removal this winter.

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There’s a new housing scam to report. Bad landlords, reportedly lining their pockets with taxpayer dough for housing the formerly homeless — but in deplorable conditions.

The public advocate told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer it’s got to stop.

“My kids are uncomfortable. Every day they tell me that they want to move. They see people living in good apartments and they can’t live in a good apartment. They can’t play on the floor or do nothing,” tenant Jennifer Gaines said.

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State Senator Carl Kruger is expected to turn himself into authorities Thursday on unspecified charges brought forth by the U.S. attorney’s office, sources tell NY1.

The veteran Brooklyn lawmaker and the former finance chairman of the state Senate has been implicated in an FBI influence peddling probe since 2008.

Kruger’s surrender comes a week after a Brooklyn restaurant owner pleaded guilty in federal court that he lied to an undercover FBI agent, who was investigating the lawmaker.

Michael Levitis had bureaucratic problems with his restaurant, and says the senator’s longtime chief of staff encouraged him to give the senator a fundraiser a return.

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Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was a popular target this week, branded a deceiver by editorial writers, and singled out by former mayor Ed Koch for reneging on his promise to reform the state’s once-a-decade redistricting process.

“I’m very disappointed that he’s withdrawn his commitment. Most people don’t do that in politics,” Koch told reporters Tuesday.

Last July, Skelos signed a pledge to support an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission. A bill submitted by Governor Andrew Cuomo would create just that, but Skelos now won’t support it.

He said this week he is still reviewing constitutional concerns with the bill.

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Pedro Espada Jr., the former State Senate majority leader who is facing federal corruption charges, strode into federal court in Brooklyn on Friday with a far different demeanor than he did four months ago.

In December, Mr. Espada was subdued as he was arraigned on charges of embezzlement and conspiracy. But on Friday he was smiling, exuded confidence and said he looked forward to proving his innocence.

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Mayor Bloomberg has yielded to Controller John Liu’s demand that the city rein in the skyrocketing cost of its 911 system modernization.

Liu refused in January to approve a new $286 million contract for defense giant Northrop Grumman to design and install computer software for a $650 million backup 911 call center the city is building in the Bronx as part of that modernization.

City Hall aides responded last week by submitting an amended Northrop Grumman contract to Liu – for just $94 million. In addition, they gave in to his demand that it be a fixed price contract that guards against cost overruns, instead of one that pays consultants by the hour.

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A state Assemblyman has quickly withdrawn a bill that would require paid registration and license plates for all bicycles in the state, whether ridden by adult or child.

The Assemblyman, Michael G. DenDekker, Democrat of Queens, said he had been flooded with complaints from people who lived outside the city that they were being taxed and regulated to address concerns about unsafe cycling that existed largely in New York City. The measure had also drawn fire from cycling advocates in the city and elsewhere.

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Mayor Bloomberg isn’t the only person getting snubbed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo these days.

Cuomo’s office told the state’s Catholic Conference this week that the governor would not have the time to meet with Archbishop Timothy Dolan and other bishops when they travel to Albany next week for their annual conference.

The governor’s decision puts him in the same league with disgraced-ex Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who hastily cancelled his 2008 meeting with the Catholic Conference because it took place on the same day his prostitution scandal erupted.

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