Copyright 2012 The New York Sun Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:38:17 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss New York :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/new-york admin@nysun.net (Seth Lipsky) webmaster@nysun.com en-us ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/turnaround-now-possible-in-the-bronx-as-its/87659/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:51 EST This his has been a good month for the president of the Bronx, Ruben Diaz, Jr. When Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal for a shopping mall in the Kingsbridge Armory was defeated two years ago, largely due to Mr. Diaz’s opposition, he was widely demonized as a “job killer” in a borough that desperately needs employment. One of the president’s initial failings on this issue was to allow the discussion of the so-called “living wage” bill to consume the real issue of unfair government-subsidized... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/weak-results-on-national-tests-are-a-wake-up-call/87565/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:11:15 EST New York State parents, teachers and students have gotten during the past few weeks a couple of wake-up calls about the quality of education here in the Empire State . Weak results on two nationally administered tests confirmed the worst fears of critics of the State Education Department and the City Department of Education. It has become clear that boasts of academic progress are hype at best, deception at worst. Despite the nearly a decade under the mayor’s direct and total control, the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/shakespeare-proust-join-the-protests/87539/ Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:15:50 EST Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Emma Goldman are not on Wall Street, but they are there in spirit. Activists at the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York have set up what they call “The People’s Library,” where books can be borrowed and read. Stretched along a granite ledge and on tables, plastic bins of boxes have been growing at Zuccotti Park. “The library shows that we are in this for the long term,” said volunteer Sam Oliver Smith, 20, who studied a year at a community college in the... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloombergs-ambition-to-be-treasury-secretary-seen/87487/ Sat, 17 Sep 2011 11:27:37 EST Mayor Bloomberg, in a radio interview on Friday, warned that high unemployment could lead to widespread rioting. That’s right. He actually said that. At a time when European cities have suffered massively from hooliganism, and at a time when U.S. towns like Philadelphia and Kansas City have suffered huge human and commercial tolls from so-called flash riots. For Bloomberg to come out with this statement is irresponsible and incendiary. But you know what? He’s got a personal agenda. This is a... Special to the Sun http://www.nysun.com/new-york/religious-new-yorkers-at-risk-of-government/87395/ Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:17:55 EST NEW YORK — As the question of same-gender marriage in New York goes down to the wire at Albany, experts on the legal impact of the changes being sought are warning that religious exemptions in Governor Cuomo’s bill have fallen far short of what the religious community had been praying for. One letter, sent to Senator Greg Ball from a law professor at Washington and Lee University at Virginia, notes that Mr. Cuomo’s bill offers “far more protections than the failed 2009 bill,” a reference to a... DAVID PIETRUSZA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fools-errand-tax-cap-activists-due-today-to-test/87338/ Mon, 9 May 2011 14:58:17 EST The battle to gain a cap on taxes on property will come to Albany this afternoon, when activists are due to meet with the chiefs-of staff of the state’s most prominent Democrats — and aspire to meet with Governor Cuomo and Speaker Sheldon Silver themselves. On its face their mission might seem a fool’s errand, but in with the way political realities are shifting, their schedule provides a window to on a new phenomenon — fiscally responsible Democrats. The Democrats in question reside not in... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/startling-study-in-belgium-suggests-rate-of-heart/87332/ Fri, 6 May 2011 08:18:20 EST Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should move to Belgium. A startling study was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It disputes the conventional wisdom that too much salt in the diet leads to all sorts of negative health consequences. Doctors in Belgium studied 3,681 healthy Europeans and tracked their salt usage. They found that those with a heavy hand on the salt-shaker were no more likely to develop high blood pressure than those with a lighter touch. In fact the rate of... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/formal-search-needed-for-new-york-schools/87297/ Sun, 10 Apr 2011 06:42:42 EST From all we’ve seen, Dennis Walcott, Mayor Bloomberg’s choice as the city’s new schools chancellor is a fine fellow, a loyal deputy to the mayor, and a knowledgeable public servant. Loyalty and knowledge are admirable qualities, but are they all that are needed to bring success to New York’s students? Recent events lead us to suspect not. Mr. Walcott will be the third person appointed by the mayor as Chancellor of the New York City schools and shares two attributes with his predecessors: he... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/the-first-call-bloombergs-new-schools-chief-needs/87293/ Thu, 7 Apr 2011 17:16:29 EST We were surprised today to learn that Mayor Bloomberg dismissed his hand-picked Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black, after 97 infelicitous days as chief of New York City's school system. The mayor did not set a speed record, however, in dismissing a commissioner who did not work out. That distinction falls to Mayor Koch, who took just 74 days to fire Robert J. Milano, whom Mr. Koch had appointed deputy mayor for economic development at the start of his first term in 1978. Milano died in February... DANIEL GREENFIELD http://www.nysun.com/new-york/unsolved-problem-of-labor-confronts-new-york/87282/ Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:15:08 EST Both national and local newspapers have made a great show of commemorating the Triangle Waist Company fire, a horrifying event in which women working in a sweatshop burned alive or fell to their deaths. The Triangle fire was not the only example of sweatshop abuses, but it was the most horrifying, and even a 100 years later it is being used by labor advocates to make a point. But that point may not be what they think it is. A century later there are still sweatshops not very far from the former... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-york-mayoral-race-has-already-begun/87245/ Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:50:26 EST Politics is usually more about the next election than the last one. So it is not surprising that the Republican candidates for the presidency in 2012 are off and running. The candidates for the New York City mayoralty in 2013 are close behind. Considering political campaigns as conducted on a four-year cycle, we are now in the second lap of the race to succeed Mayor Bloomberg. The winner will become our 109th mayor (the first, listed in the Green Book, was Thomas Willett, in 1665). To go to... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloombergs-opening-gambit-on-need-to-cut-teaching/87242/ Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:42:24 EST  The city budget proposed yesterday is $65.6 billion dollars. That is a $300 million reduction from the current year, almost 0.5% of the total budget, and represents a serious effort to control costs. The most striking part of this year’s budget, covering fiscal year 2012 is the projected reduction in the Department of Education staff by 6,166 teachers. Attrition will account for 1,500 vacancies, leaving 4,666 layoffs are on the table. This is the opening gambit in what will be a four-month... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/how-about-raymond-kelly-for-schools-chancellor/87237/ Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:57:05 EST Twenty years ago, crime was New York City's most serious problem. In the year 1990, the first year of the Dinkins mayoralty, the number of homicides recorded in the five boroughs was 2,245, an historic high. The murder total declined by about 10% during the remaining three years of the Dinkins administration, and fell sharply (about 50%) under the eight years that Giuliani was mayor. It fell slightly during Bloomberg's first eight years, although there was a slight rise in year nine (2010)... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloomberg-skating-on-thin-ice-as-he-casts-aside/87231/ Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:36:23 EST All over the city, local communities are rebelling over the government’s plans to place bicycle lanes in their streets. In a city where a diner owner can’t put a table in front of his or her establishment without a public hearing, it is amazing just how so much can be done by hizzoner, King Mike, without so much as a murmur of public participation. Bicycle lanes? Has anyone bothered to ask the public whether they really want them? I know there is a small cadre of cyclists who yearn for New York... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cuomo-keeps-his-word-and-to-hell-with-puxatawney/87225/ Wed, 2 Feb 2011 22:00:20 EST Governor Cuomo kept his word and presented a state budget of $132.9 billion for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins April l. This figure, believe it or not, is a sharp brake on spending, the first reductions since the Pataki years. He also gave a fine speech Tuesday afternoon, with greatly improved visual aids, to make the state's financial distress evident to anyone willing to see, including the legislature. For eight years, New York Civic has been preaching that state spending is irresponsibly... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloomberg-is-said-to-have-erred-on-strategy/87206/ Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:45:41 EST Mayor Bloomberg’s proposals to reduce the cost of pensions for city employees are coming under fire today not only from public employee unions, city government ’s perennial adversary in matters of wages and pensions, but from a conservative analyst as well. E.J. McMahon, who writes op-eds for the New York Post and articles for other publications, complains that the mayor’s goals are too modest. He wants New York City to switch from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. That would... JAY AKASIE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/clergy-demand-answers-as-latest-figures-show-41/87189/ Thu, 6 Jan 2011 20:11:37 EST Some of New York City’s most prominent religious leaders are making a public demand for answers as to why decades of social welfare programs aimed at making abortions a rarity have not only failed, but failed so dramatically. The leaders — spanning Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant clergy — issued their demand at a press conference today at Manhattan. They said they are galvanized by new data showing that some 87,000 abortions were performed in New York City in 2009, a figure that accounts for... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/astounding-admission-of-reality-is-cuomos-opening/87187/ Thu, 6 Jan 2011 18:24:18 EST Governor Cuomo delivered his first State of the State message yesterday. I watched the speech and found it credible and constructive. Mr. Cuomo seems to be making a conscious effort to get along with the legislature. At the same time, he outlined spending reductions, ethics reforms, independent redistricting, and other proposals that have been anathema to the Senate and Assembly in years past. Politics requires a certain level of optimism, and with a new governor, there is more reason for hope... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/a-chimera-emerges-at-the-helm-of-new-york-schools/87156/ Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:55:09 EST Whatever one can say about the state education commissioner, David M. Steiner, Solomon he’s not. He split the baby in half, and he has satisfied no one. But skip that analogy. One would have to go to Greek mythology to look for what he has produced — a two-headed monster, part lioness, part goat, which is known as a chimera and has come to connote an unrealistic dream. Which is apt enough, as the gains are going to prove chimerical. Cathleen Black may have the waiver needed to get the title of... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/term-limits-petition-drive-will-need-30000/87152/ Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:26:27 EST We promised near the end of yesterday’s lengthy article on the history of term limits for elected officials in New York City that we would wrap it up today, so you can enjoy Thanksgiving untrammeled by thoughts of the Charter and the insiders’ effort to tweak it so they can stay in office four more years. The Charter Revision Commission was intended when it was appointed to offer the public the opportunity to decide the matter by offering the choice of a two-term or three-term limit. The... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/effort-is-launched-to-restore-two-term-limit/87150/ Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:06:08 EST An effort to restore the two-term limit for elected city officials this year was launched yesterday at a news conference on the steps of City Hall. Like some spacecraft, the mission began with seven pioneers: Anthony Perez Cassino, a member of the 2010 Charter Revision Commission; former State Senator Seymour P. Lachman, Director of the Hugh L. Carey Center for Government Reform; former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro; former New York State Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey; Michael Meyers... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fix-appears-to-be-in-at-secret-hearing-on-next/87145/ Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:40:39 EST The growing movement to deny Cathie Black, Mayor Bloomberg’s friend and choice to become New York schools chancellor has, I suspect, ground to a halt. The New York State Education Commissioner, David Steiner, has appointed an advisory committee so heavily stacked with former employees of the Bloomberg administration’s education department and recipients of Bloomberg’s charitable largesse that it is hard not to draw the conclusion that the “fix is in.” One can only conclude that Mr. Steiner: ·... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/disillusionment-with-new-york-state-government/87142/ Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:57:14 EST Every now and then, a story appears on an inside page of a newspaper which deserves more attention than it receives. Tuesday's New York Times published an article by veteran reporter Sam Roberts. The headline on page A28: NEW YORK STATE'S VOTER TURNOUT THIS YEAR WAS LOWEST IN U.S. The lede: "Despite contests for every statewide office for the first time in decades, a smaller share of eligible voters turned out two weeks ago in New York than in any other state. New York turnout was lower than in... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/public-deserves-full-hearing-on-bloombergs/87139/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:18:56 EST Before Cathie Black gets a waiver to come in as Mayor Bloomberg’s schools chancellor, there should be a proper hearing in Albany. It would provide a moment not only to explore whether Ms. Black is the right person for the job but to assess how far the city has actually come under mayoral control of the schools. The mayor, who fashions himself as a great educational reformer, wants New Yorkers to believe that he has found the magic formula that can be executed by any fine manager, even one who... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/prospects-dim-for-a-waiver-on-nominee-as-ny/87137/ Fri, 12 Nov 2010 18:59:45 EST The prospect for the granting of a waiver to Cathie Black so she can serve as New York City's school chancellor may have dimmed a bit in the last two days. For one thing, the New York Times reported today, in an article by Winnie Hu, that the man who will decide whether to grant the waiver, State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner, “will convene a screening panel consisting of representatives of the State Education Department and educational organizations to make a recommendation to Dr... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/how-new-york-rose-spontaneously-to-honor-john/87111/ Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:36:46 EST Saturday was the 70th anniversary of the birth of John Lennon, born and raised in Liverpool, England, but a New Yorker by choice for the last nine years of his life. His tragic death on December 8, 1980 in front of his home led to outpourings of sorrow from around the world. Mayor Koch led a memorial gathering at the Bandshell in Central Park on Sunday, December 14 attended by an estimated 100,000 people, to honor his memory. Recordings of Beatles' music were played for the crowd, but no... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/say-it-aint-so-hevesi-echoes-after-guilty-plea-by/87106/ Thu, 7 Oct 2010 20:23:18 EST There was little surprise in Alan Hevesi's confession that he was a corrupt Comptroller. News of the Attorney General's investigation had leaked over the years, and the guilty pleas of his co-conspirators made it clear that his office was a cesspool of favoritism obtained through bribery. For a person in such high office to betray it so completely is shocking, even to those of us who are accustomed to reporting on political corruption. It is one thing for a Vito Lopez, Pedro Espada and Larry... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/both-parties-are-weakening-though-incumbents-had/87079/ Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:43:46 EST In an initial take on yesterday's primary, we offer some nuggets of fact, surmise and opinion. 1. The Democratic and Republican party organizations continue to weaken. They are most influential in races where no one knows who the candidates are, usually for judgeships or at the bottom of the ticket. For more important offices, where voters have familiarity with the candidates, they make their own decisions as to whom they will support, guided to some extent by the campaigns and the media. The... ELIZABETH GREEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/a-principal-is-cleared-in-test-tampering-probe/87067/ Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:33:33 EST Clearing the name of a principal who had come under scrutiny for possible test-tampering, the city has closed an investigation into the Ross Global Academy charter school. A group of teachers accused Stephanie Clagnaz, the school's former principal, of inappropriately taking the school's standardized tests home before they were scored in 2008. But an investigation by the city's Special Commissioner of Investigations closed in April, a spokesman for the commissioner said, suggesting that... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-is-shamed-by-charter-revision-commission/87064/ Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:50:06 EST Once again, we take pen in hand to criticize the actions and inactions of the Charter Revision Commission. We do that not because there is overwhelming public interest in the subject at this time, but because there is an issue of trust and credibility here which should be discussed openly. Today, the Post joined the Daily News in sharp editorial criticism of the Commission. We quote extensively from these hard-hitting editorials. If you wish, you can click on News and Post for the full text... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/tale-of-the-bronx-fires-perfect-for-mayor/87057/ Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:05:04 EST How did we get to a point where the academic performance of our children hasn’t improved despite the fact that expenditures for our schools have soared to $21 billion a year from $13 billion? The answer can be found in a new book, written by Joe Flood, "The Fires," recently published by Riverhead Books. This is not a book about education, but rather a study of how the top-down management techniques favored by the administration of Mayor Lindsay was responsible for the devastating damage by the... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/charter-commission-weighs-extra-term/87050/ Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:16:59 EST The Charter Revision Commission will meet Monday evening to decide what amendments to the City Charter will be placed on the ballot in November. The Commission's recommendations are generally beneficial and should not arouse much public controversy, except from diehards who want the political process to be as arduous and arcane as possible. The Commission was appointed in March 2010. Its primary mission was to settle the issue of term limits, which had been approved by the voters in 1993 and... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/dancing-around-the-restoration-of-term-limits/87045/ Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:09:48 EST The Charter Revision Commission, appointed by Mayor Bloomberg on March 3 to recommend changes in the City Charter, has brought forth its recommendations. In order to appear on the November ballot, the changes must be submitted to the City Clerk sixty days prior to the election. This year that date is September 3. The principal purpose of the Commission was to give the people a chance to vote on term limits for elected officials. In a referendum in 1993, the voters approved a charter amendment... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/woodman-spare-those-87-trees/87040/ Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:11:21 EST The "Pelham Parkway 87" are mature trees, primarily lindens, with some elms and oaks, who have the misfortune of living too close to a "road improvement", as the $36 million reconstruction of the two-mile long roadway is euphemistically called. Not enough is being done by the city to preserve these historic trees. Our efforts to identify the best way to save the Pelham Parkway 87 have been frustrated by the fact that the project falls under the auspices of three different city agencies, each... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/albanys-dangerous-limitation-on-stop-and-frisk/87029/ Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:36:00 EST In most places, state legislatures enact laws which assist local authorities to prevent crime or catch criminals. New York State is an exception. The New York State Senate and Assembly, with the signature of Governor Paterson, have enacted a law to prevent the Police Department from using information in its own database as leads in the investigation of violent crimes. The bill was sponsored by Senator Eric Adams and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who represent Brooklyn districts where robbery... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/albany-awaits-the-day-when-money-runs-out/87022/ Fri, 9 Jul 2010 07:28:01 EST The state budget - or the lack of it - is as unpleasant a subject as the heat wave, and we had hoped that by now both issues would have been resolved. Unfortunately, the parties in Albany remain far apart. Today we are 98 days behind the legal deadline, which means the new state fiscal year, 2011, is now more than one-quarter over. During the Pataki era (1995-2006) a couple of budgets were not approved until August. But we were promised that when the governorship and both houses of the... HENRY STERN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-york-now-lagging-california-in-race-for-non/86995/ Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:21:14 EST While paralysis prevails in the highly partisan scene in Albany, we cross the continent to California to report good news for independent and moderate voters. By a convincing margin of 54% to 46 per cent, Californians approved Proposition 14, which mandates non-partisan elections in the nation's most populous state, starting in 2011. Under the Golden State's new plan — sometimes called the "Top Two" system — all voters would receive the same primary election ballot for nearly every elective... Special to the Sun http://www.nysun.com/new-york/primo-stuff/86893/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:44:28 EST The New York Sun daily crossword puzzle, edited by the master puzzle maker Peter Gordon and acclaimed as one of the best in America, is back — at www.nysun.com. Readers of the New York Sun are now able to join the New York Sun Crossword Club for only $1 a week. It will give access to fill out online or download and print out each day’s puzzle. The New York Sun Crossword Puzzle won raves from around the country when it was issued daily in the print edition of The New York Sun, which startled the... ELIZABETH GREEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/low-price-laptops-tested-at-city-schools/86861/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The $100 laptop that was marketed as a saving grace for starving children in Africa is on its way to the New York City public schools. Two elementary schools are already testing the laptops, and the city Department of Education is accelerating a plan that would make low-cost laptops available to all principals for purchase by the end of this year. The department now has a relationship with only one computer contractor, Dell, which offers laptops that cost about $1,000. Maintenance and service... JACOB GERSHMAN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-policy-is-sought-in-albany-after-report/86862/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Government watchdog groups are calling on the state Legislature to tighten a transportation policy that allows lawmakers to commute to Albany by plane, bank frequent flier miles, and send the bill to taxpayers. The demand for stricter standards follows a report in yesterday's New York Sun that the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, frequently takes indirect flights to Albany with layovers in Washington, D.C., racking up large expenses without saving any time. "The current... MICHAEL VIRTANEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/comptroller-meltdown-may-cost-ny-35b-in-revenue/86845/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST ALBANY — State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimated yesterday that turmoil on Wall Street could cost New York up to $3.5 billion in tax revenues over the next year and a half while knocking out 40,000 financial sector jobs. "The preliminary September numbers show the fallout from the Wall Street crisis is starting to hit the state hard," Mr. DiNapoli said. "We've been in trouble for a while and a day like today tells us our troubles are continuing." While it's already difficult to predict tax... E.B. SOLOMONT http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bed-bug-boom-is-a-boost-to-one-sector/86850/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The bedbug boom has brought many people pain, but it does have at least one upside: Exterminators are profiting. The president of PestAway, Jeffrey Eisenberg, who has a loyal following on the Upper West Side, said he receives between 600 and 700 bedbug calls each week, up from about a dozen calls each month five years ago. The former accountant, who launched his business from his Upper West Side apartment in 1991, now has 30 employees and while he refused to discuss profit margins, he said... ROSS GOLDBERG http://www.nysun.com/new-york/solons-busy-outside-office-new-income-report-shows/86854/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In addition to practicing politics, City Council members and borough officials have also been busy in the private sector this year, receiving paychecks for their work as lawyers, real estate owners, and even as an unofficial ambassador to Turkey. The ambassador was none other than the president of Brooklyn, Marty Markowitz, who was reimbursed somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 by the Turkish government for his trip. "At invitation of the Republic of Turkey, traveled for purposes of fostering a... JOSH GERSTEIN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/st-hope-board-member-is-suspended/86846/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A new charter school in Harlem, the St. Hope Leadership Academy, has lost a member of its board who has been suspended from doing business with the federal government. On Wednesday, the board member, Dana Gonzalez, was placed on a government-wide list of people ineligible for federal grants and contracts. The action followed an investigation into alleged misuse of federally funded AmeriCorps members assigned to a Sacramento, Calif.-based organization, St. Hope Academy, which helped set up the... PETER KIEFER http://www.nysun.com/new-york/atlantic-yard-project-suffers-a-setback/86851/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Forest City Ratner's $4 billion Atlantic Yards development project will be delayed by an additional six months or more in the wake of a ruling by a state Appellate Court. The court rejected a motion put forth by the Empire State Development Corp. to dismiss the lawsuit filed by nine property owners in the footprint of the project challenging the use of eminent domain. The ruling has forced the developer, Bruce Ratner, to reverse a pledge that ground for the project would be broken by the end of... RUSSELL BERMAN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/september-11-health-bill-stalls-one-backer-blames/86852/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A leading backer of the push to secure nearly $11 billion for survivors of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is blaming the Bloomberg administration for opposing a federal bill that stalled in the House of Representatives. The mayor's office had lobbied Congress aggressively for the $10.9 billion bill but balked when Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill insisted that city taxpayers pay $500 million over 10 years to fund a share of a health care program to treat rescue workers who came... Special to the Sun http://www.nysun.com/new-york/captain-fined-for-having-officers-remodel-home/86853/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A police captain who ordered six of his subordinates to remodel his house is being ordered to pay $5,000 in fines by the city's Conflict of Interest Board. According to the board, the officer, Michael Byrne, has agreed to pay the fine after he recruited several officers under his command to help with remodeling and landscaping work around his house. While Mr. Byrne compensated some of the employees for their work, city law prevents officers from using their position for financial gain or... JACOB GERSHMAN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/silver-racks-up-air-miles-at-taxpayers-expense/86793/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST How do you get from New York City to Albany? For most state lawmakers, the fastest and cheapest way is either by train or by car. For the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, the answer is a drive to La Guardia, a shuttle to Washington, D.C., an hour of waiting, a flight to Albany, and then a drive from the airport to the Statehouse. Mr. Silver is one of the few state lawmakers from New York City to commute to Albany by air. His itinerary is probably the most circuitous. The... BENJAMIN SARLIN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/quinn-touts-the-benefits-of-tenants-protection-law/86770/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Battling opposition to a new city law giving tenants the power to sue landlords on grounds of harassment, the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, is pointing to a group of Brooklyn tenants who are among the first to file suit. The tenants of 64 Troutman St. in Bushwick claim in the suit that their landlord, Heskel 1 LLC, tore up the stairwells, left trash throughout the halls, and even dropped a sack of dead cats in a vacant apartment to rot for weeks. All, they claim, was an attempt to... ELIZABETH GREEN http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-schools-crimped-by-budget-restrictions/86771/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A much-touted plan that city officials said would fully insulate public schools from budget cuts this school year appears to have fallen short, especially for some of the neediest schools. Mayor Bloomberg proposed a budget last spring that would have sent the city Department of Education $428 million less than was scheduled for this school year, but the blow was softened by cuts from the department's central office and an influx of $129 million from the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn...