Source: euronews.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Mayor de Blasio Makes Announcement About New Barriers to Prevent Terror Attacks
Mayor de Blasio, Police Commissioner O’Neill and DOT Commissioner
Trottenberg make an announcement about new barriers to prevent terror
attacks and safeguard sidewalks and plazas from vehicles.
Times Square pedestrian plaza,
Broadway and West 43rd Street
Manhattan
January 2, 2017.
This video was published on YouTube on January 2.
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
9 Children Among 23 Hurt as Another Inferno Devours Building in the Bronx
By
Tracie Strahan
At least 23 people were hurt, nine of
them children, as a seven-alarm fire swept through a multistory
building near the Bronx Zoo early Tuesday, drawing more than three dozen
fire units and 200 firefighters to help battle the flames.
The
5:30 a.m. fire broke out in a tin-roof furniture store, where the gates
were down, on Commonwealth Avenue in Van Nest and rapidly spread up to
apartments in the mixed-use building.
Click here for video.
Source: NBC News (via Empire Report New York)
Statement from Assembly Member Michael Blake, District 79
At approximately 5 p.m. on Tuesday, there was a fire in a three story home by 159th and Elton Avenue in our district. Fortunately, there was only a minor injury to one relative as all of the family members safely evacuated the residence. I was able to spend time with the family as they waited for other relatives to arrive, including getting a meal for the calm and pleasant young children.
Thank you for the first responders from the FDNY, the ambulance from Lincoln Hospital and the 40th and 42nd Precincts who were immediately on the scene and safely put out the fire while supporting the family in need. We must continue to stay vigilant on how to keep our homes safe, warm and secure. Our team will stay in touch with the family as they begin to rebuild their lives. Thank you to everyone who will give them a chance at the next chapter of #BuildingABetterBronx.
P.S. Please say hello to the lovely, very well behaved and friendly family dog "Oso" or Bear.
On Next Council Speaker’s Agenda: More Oversight and More Subway Aid
By J. David Goodman
After
a formal vote on Wednesday, Corey Johnson is expected to become the
next speaker of the New York City Council, a position second only to the
mayor in terms of direct control over the most central political
conflicts of city life: real estate development and the budget.
He already has big plans for the role.
In
an hourlong interview, Mr. Johnson, 35, a Manhattan councilman, laid
out a wide-ranging policy agenda that included congestion pricing for
for-hire vehicles, municipal single-payer health care, and increased
funding for the city’s beleaguered subway system.
“I
would support us putting up a significant amount of money,” Mr. Johnson
said of city funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a
stance that Mayor Bill de Blasio has resisted.
“But there needs to be accountability involved so we know how that
money is being spent, and that it’s being spent wisely and that the
projects remain on time.”
Click here for the full article.
First Rikers Island Jail Facility to Close
By Gloria Pazmino
The de Blasio administration announced Tuesday that it will begin the
process to close one of Rikers Island’s facilities by the summer of
this year, marking the first major step toward the full closure of the
troubled city jail.
Closure of the George Motchan Detention Center, which currently
houses 600 men, comes days after the city announced the inmate
population at Rikers has fallen below 9,000 for the month of December — a
record low number since the 1980s.
As of Jan. 1 of this year, the Department of Correction’s jail population stood at 8,705.
“Every day we are making New York City’s jail system smaller and
safer,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “This announcement is
an important step in our plan to close Rikers Island and create more
community-based facilities to better serve people in custody and our
hard-working correctional staff.”
Click here for the full article.
Source: Politico (via Empire Report New York)
Cuomo Blasted for Keeping Personal Net Worth Cap for Minority- and Women-Owned Firms
By
Brooklyn Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, chairwoman of the Oversight
of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises Subcommittee, blasted
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to veto legislation that would loosen
wealth restrictions for minority- and women-owned businesses as “deeply
troubling.”
In early June, the State Assembly passed legislation sponsored
by Bichotte that removes a requirement that MWBE owners have a personal
net worth of less than $3.5 million to get state certification. At the
end of June, the Senate passed the bill. Republican State Senator Patty Ritchie was the Senate sponsor.
Cuomo vetoed the bill on Friday. In the veto message provided to
Observer by the governor’s office, Cuomo states the bill contains
“several fundamental flaws” they were unable to resolve with the
legislature “that make the bill legally specious and practically
unenforceable.”
Click here for the full article.
Source: Observer (via Empire Report New York)
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Attorneys for Khari Noerdlinger to File Suit Against Bergen County Prosecutor's Office
The following statement was issued today by Attorneys Jeffrey Lichtman and Lee Vartan.
"Today
was complete vindication for Khari Noerdlinger, having lied-repeatedly-to the
grand jury and engaged in gross prosecutorial misconduct, the state voluntarily
dismissed the manslaughter charge and agreed to dismiss the remaining charges
after the successful completion of six months of the pretrial intervention
program. Now that the case is over, we will initiate a lawsuit against the
Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Grootenboer and Detective
Costello for their criminal actions before the grand jury. We also will push
for criminal charges for the two and the disbarment of Grootenboer. In 2017,
law enforcement cannot hide evidence from a grand jury in order to falsely
charge innocent people with crimes. Those law enforcement officers who have
sworn to uphold the law will now themselves be required to face justice."
Source: The Law Offices of Jeffrey Lichtman
Rattner: President Donald Trump Seeks To Remake Federal Judiciary
Economic Analyst Steve Rattner discusses the impact of President Trump's successes in
appointing judges. But who are the judges and are they qualified?
The 2018 Congressional Agenda
National Journal staff correspondent Daniel Newhauser and Wall Street Journal
congressional reporter Kristina Peterson discuss the key fiscal and
legislative deadlines facing Congress in the 2018 mid-term election
year.
Source: C-SPAN
U.S. Foreign Policy Challenges in 2018
Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies discusses the foreign policy challenges facing the U.S. in 2018.
Source: C-SPAN
Trump Justice Department Pushes for Citizenship Question on Census, Alarming Experts
“This is a recipe for sabotaging the census,” said one. The administration’s stated reason for the controversial move: protecting civil rights.
by Justin Elliott
This report was published on December 29.
The Justice Department is pushing for a question on citizenship to be
added to the 2020 census, a move that observers say could depress
participation by immigrants who fear that the government could use the
information against them. That, in turn, could have potentially large
ripple effects for everything the once-a-decade census determines — from
how congressional seats are distributed around the country to where hundreds of billions of federal dollars are spent.
The DOJ made the request in a previously unreported letter, dated Dec. 12 and obtained by ProPublica, from DOJ official Arthur Gary
to the top official at the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce
Department. The letter argues that the DOJ needs better citizenship
data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act “and its important
protections against racial discrimination in voting.”
A Census Bureau spokesperson confirmed the agency received the letter
and said the “request will go through the well-established process that
any potential question would go through.” The DOJ declined to comment
and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Observers said they feared adding a citizenship question would not
only lower response rates, but also make the census more expensive and
throw a wrench into the system with just two years to go before the 2020
count. Questions are usually carefully field-tested, a process that can
take years.
Click here for the full article.
Source: Propublica
Millennials Don’t Like Trump. Here’s How They Say He Could Win Them Over.
WASHINGTON — Monica Robinson thought she was
"good" identifying as a Republican — right up until President Donald
Trump's election.
Now, nearly a year since his inauguration,
she's wary. She called herself a "weaker Republican," skirting a full
embrace of the GOP after dizzying months of Trump tweets, feuds and
scandals. Robinson doesn't think the president's intentions are bad, but
his "delivery" puts her off.
"The policies and the things that they (the
GOP) want to do, I feel like are on the right track," said the
30-year-old African-American who lives in Georgia and was one of several
millennials interviewed by NBC News about Trump. "The people they're
having to use to get there, maybe not so much."
Robinson is hardly alone. A recent NBC News/GenForward poll found that, overall, young Americans don't like what Trump has done as president so far.
Half think he'll go down in history as a poor president, and his bad
marks only get worse when it comes to millennials of color.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
5 Dead as Deep Freeze Grips the Country Ahead of Winter Storm
Millions are returning from the holiday break to below freezing
temperatures that caused at least five deaths. This comes as the east
coast braces for another major winter storm later in the week. NBC’s
Blake McCoy has the report for TODAY from Chicago and Al Roker has the
frigid forecast.
Click here for video.
Americans Running Russian Fund Scrutinized for Trump Links
The Russian Direct Investment Fund’s boss, who met with Erik Prince last year, has deep ties to the United States—and is tight with Vladimir Putin.
By Katie Zavadski
A multibillion-dollar Russian sovereign wealth fund has Americans in
senior positions, despite being sanctioned by the United States.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund drew renewed interest in recent weeks after news surfaced that unofficial Trump envoy Erik Prince
met with RDIF’s CEO, Kirill Dmitriev, days before President Trump’s
inauguration. And an individual close to the bank says Dmitriev is
focused on removing sanctions on the fund, as it tries to attract
investments into Putin’s Russia.
“It’s
an interesting organization, a little bit more open to outsiders than
other state-run organizations,” an individual close to RDIF told The
Daily Beast. “I think now their proportion [foreigners] is smaller, and
that probably represents the overall trend in Russia.”
“Now it’s a little bit like one of those ministries, you can say, the ministry of foreign investment,” the individual added.
Americans
and people with ties to the U.S. have held some of the top spots at
RDIF. For years, the fund’s number two was Sean Glodek, a Stanford alum
and Wharton MBA graduate who previously worked at Deutsche Bank and
Lehman Brothers. The current deputy co-director for RDIF’s Russia-China
investment fund is Oleg Chizh, a Brandeis and Columbia graduate. Other
Americans have served in top investor relations and advisory roles.
RDIF
is a sovereign wealth fund, which oil-rich nations like Russia use to
invest for profit, and has more than $10 billion in assets under
management, according to its website.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
Recreational Marijuana Sales Begin in California
This report was broadcast on January 1.
Source: CBS News
Korean War, a ‘Forgotten’ Conflict That Shaped the Modern World
By Liam Stack
The
Korean War has been called “the Forgotten War” in the United States,
where coverage of the 1950s conflict was censored and its memory decades
later is often overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War.
But
the three-year conflict in Korea, which pitted communist and capitalist
forces against each other, set the stage for decades of tension among
North Korea, South Korea and the United States.
It
also helped set the tone for Soviet-American rivalry during the Cold
War, profoundly shaping the world we live in today, historians said.
As
tensions between North Korea and the United States continue to mount
amid missile tests and l taunts, here is a brief guide to the Korean War
and the impacts that linger more than 60 years after its end.
How did the Korean War start?
The Korean War began when North Korean troops pushed into South Korea on June 25, 1950, and it lasted until 1953. But experts said the military conflict could not be properly understood without considering its historical context.
How did the Korean War start?
The Korean War began when North Korean troops pushed into South Korea on June 25, 1950, and it lasted until 1953. But experts said the military conflict could not be properly understood without considering its historical context.
Korea,
a Japanese colony from 1910 until 1945, was occupied by the United
States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The United
States proposed temporarily dividing the country along the 38th Parallel
as a way to maintain its influence on the peninsula, which bordered
Russia, said Charles K. Armstrong, a professor of Korean history at
Columbia University.
“A divided Korea was something unprecedented,” he said.
“A divided Korea was something unprecedented,” he said.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The New York Times
Democratic Republic of Congo: Will Kabila Step Down?
This report was broadcast on January 1.
Source: Al Jazeera English
Governor Cuomo Announces 2018 Launch of Economic Justice Programs for the Middle Class
This video was published on YouTube on December 31.
Source: NYGovCuomo
Governor Cuomo Announces Minimum Wage Increases and Paid Family Leave
This video was published on YouTube on December 31.
Source: NYGovCuomo
Mayor Bill de Blasio's 2018 Inaugural Ceremony
This video was published on YouTube on January 1.
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
City Scoop: Homeowners Water Bill Relief, DWI Crack Down, Gifts for 2,500 Foster Care/Shelter Families
This video was published on YouTube on December 29.
Source: NYC Mayor's Office
Empire Report NY Generates 12 Million Pageviews in 2017
Click here to read a letter of thanks from J.P. Miller, Founder and Publisher of Empire Report New York.
From The G-Man applauds and congratulates Mr. Miller on his amazing accomplishment.
Governor Cuomo Takes Aim at Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Governor Andrew Cuomo today unveiled the 18th proposal of the 2018 State
of the State: a multi-pronged agenda that targets sexual harassment in
the workplace. Governor Cuomo will propose legislation to prevent public
dollars from being used to settle sexual harassment claims against
individuals, void forced arbitration policies in employee contracts, and
mandate that any companies that do business with the state disclose the
number of sexual harassment adjudications and nondisclosure agreements
they have executed.
"2017 brought a long overdue reckoning where the secret and pervasive poison of workplace sexual harassment was exposed by brave women and men who said this ends now," Governor Cuomo said. "Our challenge in government is to turn society's revulsion into reform, and we in New York must seize the moment and lead the way. There must be zero tolerance for sexual harassment in any workplace, and we can and will end the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled harassment for far too long."
Governor Cuomo will advance legislation to prevent taxpayer funds from being used for settlements against individuals relating to sexual assault and harassment and to ensure that individual harassers are held accountable.
To further ensure accountability, the Governor proposes a uniform code of sexual harassment policies binding on all branches of state and local government and an independent and anonymous whistleblower process to help individuals to communicate complaints across state and local government without fear of retribution or consequence. To help bring justice to victims of sexual harassment, Governor Cuomo also proposes legislation that would void forced arbitration policies or clauses in employee contracts that prevent sexual harassment cases from consideration in law enforcement investigation and court trials.
To combat the culture of silence that too often shields abusers from accountability, Governor Cuomo will take a series of actions to promote transparency while simultaneously protecting survivors' identity and privacy. Governor Cuomo will propose legislation to prohibit confidentiality agreements relating to sexual assault or harassment for all public entities and branches of government -- state and local -- unless it is the express preference of the victim. In addition, Governor Cuomo proposes mandatory annual reporting for any companies that do business with the State that will require disclosure of the number of sexual harassment violations and nondisclosure agreements executed by that company. These measures will ensure that all employees are provided with a safer work environment, to which they all should be entitled.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
"2017 brought a long overdue reckoning where the secret and pervasive poison of workplace sexual harassment was exposed by brave women and men who said this ends now," Governor Cuomo said. "Our challenge in government is to turn society's revulsion into reform, and we in New York must seize the moment and lead the way. There must be zero tolerance for sexual harassment in any workplace, and we can and will end the secrecy and coercive practices that have enabled harassment for far too long."
Governor Cuomo will advance legislation to prevent taxpayer funds from being used for settlements against individuals relating to sexual assault and harassment and to ensure that individual harassers are held accountable.
To further ensure accountability, the Governor proposes a uniform code of sexual harassment policies binding on all branches of state and local government and an independent and anonymous whistleblower process to help individuals to communicate complaints across state and local government without fear of retribution or consequence. To help bring justice to victims of sexual harassment, Governor Cuomo also proposes legislation that would void forced arbitration policies or clauses in employee contracts that prevent sexual harassment cases from consideration in law enforcement investigation and court trials.
To combat the culture of silence that too often shields abusers from accountability, Governor Cuomo will take a series of actions to promote transparency while simultaneously protecting survivors' identity and privacy. Governor Cuomo will propose legislation to prohibit confidentiality agreements relating to sexual assault or harassment for all public entities and branches of government -- state and local -- unless it is the express preference of the victim. In addition, Governor Cuomo proposes mandatory annual reporting for any companies that do business with the State that will require disclosure of the number of sexual harassment violations and nondisclosure agreements executed by that company. These measures will ensure that all employees are provided with a safer work environment, to which they all should be entitled.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
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