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| Human Rights Activists Celebrate word of Senator Addabbo and Senator Huntley changing their positions to YES votes on the Marriage Equality Act in New York State |
6 years ago
Showing posts with label msnbc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label msnbc. Show all posts
Thursday, June 16, 2011
New York Legalizing Gay Marriage? - The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell - msnbc
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Citizens Action NY Justice Works Conference - June 4th and 5th
On June 4th and 5th, hundreds of New Yorkers who fight for justice came together in Albany. Justice Works was a conference that brought together a cross section of progressive politics and activism in New York State. Bringing together people working on different issues, all going in different directions. But the fact is, we are all in this together, fighting for a society where we all do better, where government and the economy work for every person, not just the rich, and where justice is something shared by everyone, regardless of the color of our skin, our sexual orientation, our religious beliefs, where we live or how much money we make. Because Justice Works, we work for it, every day.
The keynote speaker at the event was Melissa V. Harris-Perry professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the project on gender, race, and politics in the South.She is a columnist for The Nation magazine. Harris-Perry is a contributor to MSNBC, appearing as a bi-weekly guest on the Thomas Roberts Show and a frequent guest on the Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word.
The other principal speaker was NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. As Attorney General, Schneiderman is the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the State, responsible for representing New York and its residents in legal matters. Schneiderman has worked to restore the public’s faith in its public and private sector institutions, by focusing on areas including public integrity, economic justice, social justice and environmental protection.
Among the other speakers were Bob Master. Bertha Lewis, Stephen Allringer, Richard Kirsch, Richard McNary, Ana-Maria Archila, Dan Cantor and many others. For bios, click here.
The event was sponsored by Salsa Labs, Solidago Foundation, Public Policy and Education Fund of New York and Citizens Action of New York.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Sen. Sanders Calls for Constitutional Amendment to Overrule Citizens United | Raw Replay
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Appearing with MSNBC’s liberal opinion host Cenk Uygur, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said he would support a constitutional amendment that overrule the Supreme Court’s controversial “Citizens United” decision that repealed nearly 100 years of campaign finance law.
The decision permits corporations to anonymously give unlimited sums of money to groups not officially connected with presidential campaigns.
The Washington, D.C.-based Committee for Economic Development suggested last year that the ruling could have the effect of turning corporations into miniature political parties, leading to what one of the Center’s trustees called the eventual corruption of American democracy.
“We have to pass a constitutional amendment to end [the] Citizens United ruling that brings forth the radical opinion that a Corporation is not a person and a handful of billionaires cannot pollute and take over the political system by spending unlimited sums of money in secret to elect candidates who support their agenda,” Sanders told Uygur.
This video is from MSNBC, broadcast Wednesday, May 18, 2011.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
MUST WATCH VIDEO: Listening to the Voices of America - The Ed Show - MSNBC.com
Click on image to open in a new window...
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Congressman Polis Discusses Failed Marijuana Policy on MSNBC
Check out Congressman Polis' interview with Cenk Uygur on our country's failed drug war.
This Thursday, Congressman Polis was a guest with Cenk Uygur on MSNBC in a conversation about the the nation's failed war on drugs. He discussed the growing support in Congress for reforming marijuana laws and the Fearless Campaign's upcoming attempts to move us forward.
Join their campaign to defund the Drug Czar:
Click here to sign up...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
NYC Needs Runways, But 'Ghost Airport' Quiet by Chris Hawley - msnbc.com
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| A National Park Service hangar emblazoned with the name Floyd Bennett Field glows orange at sunset March 11 at New York City's "ghost airport" in Brooklyn, N.Y. |
Two airports sit less than five miles from each other, their wide-open runways tracing big Xs along the same stretch of Atlantic shoreline.
At John F. Kennedy International Airport, air traffic controllers herd a procession of airliners in what has become a chronic choke point in the nation's air transport system.
At nearby Floyd Bennett Field, things are more laid back. Recently, the one-man control tower, John Daskalakis, leaned against a pickup truck with a portable radio as an ancient C-54 cargo plane lumbered toward Runway 24 for takeoff. Cyclists and joggers hung out on the taxiway to watch.
As planners lament the lack of space for new runways in a region plagued by air delays, Floyd Bennett's wide, inviting runways sit just across Jamaica Bay within a federally protected park.
The old airfield opens a few times a year for special flights, but most of the time it sits idle — its hangars, runway and control tower intact but off-limits to air traffic.
The perfectly preserved former Navy base was once frequented by Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart. Today, in the cavernous Hangar B, aviation buffs gather to restore old airplanes and swap stories. Some of them wonder whether turning Floyd Bennett into a commercial airport is a realistic, achievable way of easing congestion in New York.
"That would be a dream — that would really be something," said Dante Dimille, a volunteer. "This would make a great civil aviation field again."
Some experts say it's not unthinkable: a new traffic-control system being installed by the FAA could enable planes to fly into Floyd Bennett without conflicting with those headed to JFK. But others say it would be too costly to realign and lengthen its runways. And getting the airport back from the National Park Service, which now controls it, would be near impossible.
"Physically, it would work, with limitations," said Thomas Chastain, an airport planning consultant. "Practically and politically, I don't see them ever using Floyd Bennett Field again."
Too close to JFK?
Still, he said, it's a tantalizing prospect.
New York desperately needs more runway space. JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York, plus Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, together handle about 3,500 flights per day, and passenger demand is projected to increase from 104 million to 150 million by 2030.
In bad weather, the number of flights that air traffic controllers can put on each runway drops. As a result, nearly one-third of flights in New York were delayed or cancelled in 2009, according to a November report released by U.S. Department of Transportation.
The three main New York airports have nine runways between them but haven't built a new one since the early 1970s. Meanwhile, 17 other major airports have added runways just in the last decade, including Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta Hartsfield, Boston Logan and Washington Dulles.
In January, a report commissioned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the region's airports, said any expansion would be difficult. Three of the five options it recommended would require filling in parts of Jamaica Bay to build runways at JFK.
Floyd Bennett has four existing runways, the longest of them 6,000 feet. But it has space for an 8,500-foot runway, longer than any at LaGuardia.
But experts with the Regional Plan Association, which wrote the study for the Port Authority, decided that the distance between such a runway and JFK would cause airspace conflicts.
"We dropped that early on," said Jeffrey Zupan, one of the authors. "It's just too close to Kennedy."
But not everyone believes that's an obstacle.
A new satellite-based air traffic control system, known as NextGen, will soon allow airplanes to make better use of tight airspace, said Paul Freeman, head of flight testing for ITT Corp., which is building the system.
"That's not really a valid excuse anymore," said Freeman, who in his free time runs a website about defunct airports. "We're working on technology that will really free up a lot of the traditional limits of air traffic control. It definitely would allow something like a Floyd Bennett Field to be active again."
Frozen in time
Floyd Bennett wouldn't be the first New York-area airport to close and reopen. Newark airport closed in 1939 after LaGuardia was built, only to reopen in World War II. Flushing Airport in Queens closed in the 1970s, later reopened and then closed for good in 1984.
Floyd Bennett Field was built between 1928 and 1931 and quickly became the preferred launching site for record-setting flights by Hughes, Earhart, Wiley Post and other aviation pioneers. The airport sported unusual innovations, like a turntable for rotating aircraft and tunnels under the tarmac that passengers used to reach their planes.
The Navy took it over in 1941. Most of the airport closed in 1971, though the New York Police Department still uses a corner of it as its helicopter base.
Unlike other airports that have been ripped up to make way for housing developments and shopping malls, Floyd Bennett remains frozen in time.
The hangars are rusting and missing some windows but still standing. The old terminal is being restored and will reopen as a museum later this year. Runway 33 is now a road, but the others are mostly untouched. The Park Service even mows the grass between the runways, part of an effort to accommodate migrating geese.
In 2007, the Park Service opened the old runways for a fly-in of World War II fighter planes, biplanes and a modern Air Force C-130 cargo plane.
In Hangar B, Dimille and other volunteers with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Project show off their collection of old planes to school groups and aviation buffs. A hulking Boeing Stratofreighter, one of only two such airplanes still flying, looms over the other planes like a condor in a nest of sparrows.
The Stratofreighter and a former Navy C-54 cargo plane dubbed "The Spirit of Freedom" are owned by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, which keeps them at Floyd Bennett under an agreement with the Park Service.
One March afternoon, the C-54 took off, beginning a summer of visiting airshows around the country. A dozen aviation enthusiasts turned out to take pictures of the takeoff.
Daskalakis listened on his radio as the old cargo plane rumbled to the end of the runway and called for takeoff clearance from controllers at JFK. He had filed a special flight permit with the FAA a few days before.
The huge, piston-powered engines roared. The Spirit of Freedom surged forward, past the joggers and the cyclists and the geese. Then it raised its nose skyward.
For a moment at least, Floyd Bennett Field was an airport again
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
America's 51st State: Baja Arizona? - msnbc.com
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Forget calls for unity and common ground.
The former Democratic Party chairman for Pima County is so fed up with Arizona's conservative politics that he wants the county to secede and form a 51st state in southern Arizona.
Paul Eckerstrom says he wants to restore the region's credibility as a place that is welcoming to others. He and fellow Tucson attorney Peter Hormel have formed a political committee called Start Our State to explore process of making Pima County a separate state.
The mood of frustration has been "been building for the last couple of years," Eckerstrom said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC's Tamron Hall. "A lot of folks down here have been very, very frustrated with the extremist policies coming out of our state Legislature.”
Anti-immigration bills, education cuts and attempts by conservative lawmakers to "nullify" federal laws prompted the secessionist movement.
Start Our State lists its mission as: "To establish a new state in Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional machinations of the Arizona legislature and to restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors."
Eckerstrom said Start Our State, which had more than 2,350 "likes" on its Facebook page as of Tuesday night, wants to put a non-binding resolution for secession before Pima County voters next year. If approved, the measure would need the OK of either the state Legislature or a statewide referendum. Congress and America's 51st state: Baja Arizona? No joke, say Pima County Dems who want split from 'un-American' part of Grand Canyon State the president would also have to approve the new state.
"It has been so darn frustrating watching fringe legislators trying to dismantle our state and to tarnish our state’s reputation,” said state Senate Minority Whip Paula Aboud, a Tucson Democrat, who recently offered a secessionist amendment to a Republican-backed bill that would create a legislative committee to decide which federal laws to nullify. (The amendment was defeated.)
Eckerstrom said he has received several suggestions for a name for a new state, including Baja Arizona, South Arizona and Gadsden. The latter is a reference to the 1854 Gadsden Purchase of southern
Arizona from Mexico.
Pima County, with a population of about 1 million, is in the south-central region of Arizona, which became the 48th U.S. state in 1912. The county seat is Tucson, where a gunman killed six people and
wounded 12 others, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a meeting of Giffords constituents in January.
According to voter registration records, 35.8 percent of Arizona voters are Republicans, 31.7 percent independents, and 31.6 percent Democrats, according to The Daily Courier. In Pima County, about 38
percent of voters are Democrats vs. 31 percent Republicans. Pima, whose more-conservative neighbor is Maricopa County, is by far Arizona's most populous state.
The prospects for creation of a new secession state are dim at best.
Since the formation of the U.S. Constitution, only two states have been created from parts of an existing state: Maine, which seceded from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1820, and West Virginia, which split from Virginia during the Civil War.
Eckerstrom acknowledges the secessionist movement faces significant hurdles, but he said he hopes the publicity will at least send a wake-up call to others.
“We would like to at least send a message to the state Legislature and Arizona’s voters (that) hey, we need more moderation in our policies and at the same time tell the rest of the country that we’re rational, moderate people in Pima County. Don’t boycott us. Come here and bring your business here," he told MSNBC.
At least one critic openly scoffed at the secessionist notion.
Blunt-talking Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — who calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff” —called the idea “stupid."
"If you don't like the elected officials, just get rid of them and put somebody in there where you like their philosophy and agendas. You don't just form a new state!" Arpaio recently told KGUN9-TV. "What's the next step? Include Mexico? Is that what they want? I guess Mexico can take over Baja Arizona as time goes on. "
No joke, say Pima County Dems who want split from 'un-American' part of Grand Canyon State
Some Pima County, Ariz., residents are angry enough with the rest of their state that they are considering an attempt to form the 51st state of "Baja Arizona." Organizer Paul Eckerstrom discusses with msnbc's Tamron Hall.
Forget calls for unity and common ground.
The former Democratic Party chairman for Pima County is so fed up with Arizona's conservative politics that he wants the county to secede and form a 51st state in southern Arizona.
Paul Eckerstrom says he wants to restore the region's credibility as a place that is welcoming to others. He and fellow Tucson attorney Peter Hormel have formed a political committee called Start Our State to explore process of making Pima County a separate state.
The mood of frustration has been "been building for the last couple of years," Eckerstrom said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC's Tamron Hall. "A lot of folks down here have been very, very frustrated with the extremist policies coming out of our state Legislature.”
Anti-immigration bills, education cuts and attempts by conservative lawmakers to "nullify" federal laws prompted the secessionist movement.
Start Our State lists its mission as: "To establish a new state in Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional machinations of the Arizona legislature and to restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors."
Eckerstrom said Start Our State, which had more than 2,350 "likes" on its Facebook page as of Tuesday night, wants to put a non-binding resolution for secession before Pima County voters next year. If approved, the measure would need the OK of either the state Legislature or a statewide referendum. Congress and America's 51st state: Baja Arizona? No joke, say Pima County Dems who want split from 'un-American' part of Grand Canyon State the president would also have to approve the new state.
"It has been so darn frustrating watching fringe legislators trying to dismantle our state and to tarnish our state’s reputation,” said state Senate Minority Whip Paula Aboud, a Tucson Democrat, who recently offered a secessionist amendment to a Republican-backed bill that would create a legislative committee to decide which federal laws to nullify. (The amendment was defeated.)
Eckerstrom said he has received several suggestions for a name for a new state, including Baja Arizona, South Arizona and Gadsden. The latter is a reference to the 1854 Gadsden Purchase of southern
Arizona from Mexico.
Pima County, with a population of about 1 million, is in the south-central region of Arizona, which became the 48th U.S. state in 1912. The county seat is Tucson, where a gunman killed six people and
wounded 12 others, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a meeting of Giffords constituents in January.
According to voter registration records, 35.8 percent of Arizona voters are Republicans, 31.7 percent independents, and 31.6 percent Democrats, according to The Daily Courier. In Pima County, about 38
percent of voters are Democrats vs. 31 percent Republicans. Pima, whose more-conservative neighbor is Maricopa County, is by far Arizona's most populous state.
The prospects for creation of a new secession state are dim at best.
Since the formation of the U.S. Constitution, only two states have been created from parts of an existing state: Maine, which seceded from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1820, and West Virginia, which split from Virginia during the Civil War.
Eckerstrom acknowledges the secessionist movement faces significant hurdles, but he said he hopes the publicity will at least send a wake-up call to others.
“We would like to at least send a message to the state Legislature and Arizona’s voters (that) hey, we need more moderation in our policies and at the same time tell the rest of the country that we’re rational, moderate people in Pima County. Don’t boycott us. Come here and bring your business here," he told MSNBC.
At least one critic openly scoffed at the secessionist notion.
Blunt-talking Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — who calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff” —called the idea “stupid."
"If you don't like the elected officials, just get rid of them and put somebody in there where you like their philosophy and agendas. You don't just form a new state!" Arpaio recently told KGUN9-TV. "What's the next step? Include Mexico? Is that what they want? I guess Mexico can take over Baja Arizona as time goes on. "
Thursday, February 17, 2011
"Wall Street -The Untouchables" Exposing Wall Street’s Banks with Cenk Uyger - msnbc tv:
Watch video...
Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi exposes how the government is doing more to protect the banks than prosecute them...
Read: Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
Financial crooks brought down the world's economy - but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them...
Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi exposes how the government is doing more to protect the banks than prosecute them...
Read: Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?
Financial crooks brought down the world's economy - but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Justice Thomas Too Close to the Koch Brothers? - Rachel Maddow Show
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Conflict of Interest Questions Continue to Swirl Around Justice Clarence Thomas
Common Cause submitted a letter to the Department of Justice on January 19th raising questions about whether Justices Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia had attended closed-door strategy and fundraising sessions sponsored by Koch Industries.
The Supreme Court responded that Justice Thomas' involvement was limited to "a brief drop by." But that answer, coupled with a Common Cause review of financial disclosure statements, raises more questions than it answers.
Read more in the New York Times.
Press release: Feb. 14 letter to the Supreme Court clerk
Conflict of Interest Questions Continue to Swirl Around Justice Clarence Thomas
Common Cause submitted a letter to the Department of Justice on January 19th raising questions about whether Justices Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia had attended closed-door strategy and fundraising sessions sponsored by Koch Industries.
The Supreme Court responded that Justice Thomas' involvement was limited to "a brief drop by." But that answer, coupled with a Common Cause review of financial disclosure statements, raises more questions than it answers.
Read more in the New York Times.
Press release: Feb. 14 letter to the Supreme Court clerk
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Rep Weiner and 73 Other Democratic Representatives Calls on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to Recuse Himself on Health Care Bill - The Ed Show - msnbc
Congressman Anthony Weiner talks about why he and 75 other members of Congress are calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from ruling on any health care legislation while his wife is actively engaged in defeating it...The Ed Show - msnbc.com
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Help is on the Way for the 99'ers - The Ed Schultz Show - msnbc.com
Ed Schutz gives his take on new legislation introduced by Rep Barbara Lee ad Rep Bobby Scott, which would give help to unemployed Americans for more than 99 weeks...
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Olbermann out at MSNBC - Keith Olbermann - Salon.com
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MSNBC host Keith Olbermann announced Friday that he is leaving the network and has taped his last "Countdown" show. (Watch his full announcement below.)
MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network's most popular show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics.
Olbermann did not explain why he was leaving.
"MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network said.
A spokesman said Phil Griffin, MSNBC's president, would not comment on Olbermann's exit. Spokesman Jeremy Gaines would say only that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.
Olbermann was suspended without pay from the network for two days in November for donating to three Democratic candidates, which violated NBC News' policy on political donations. Olbermann complained that he was being punished for mistakenly violating an inconsistently applied rule that he had known nothing about.
The host apologized to fans -- but not to the network.
Olbermann, before leaving the show with a final signature toss of his script toward the camera, thanked his audience for sticking with him and read a James Thurber poem.
"This may be the only television program where the host was much more in awe of the audience than vice versa," he said.
He thanked a series of people, including the late Tim Russert, but pointedly not Griffin or NBC News President Steve Capus.
Olbermann's prime-time show is the network's top-rated. His evolution from a humorous look at the day's headlines into a pointedly liberal show in the last half of George W. Bush's administration led MSNBC to largely shift the tone of the network in his direction, with the hirings or Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell in primetime.
But Olbermann was known for a mercurial personality behind the scenes and he was almost fired last year for the political donations. He quit a prime-time show on MSNBC in the late 1990s, complaining that management was making him report too much on President Bill Clinton's impeachment scandal.
He was particularly critical of Fox News Channel and his direct competitor, Bill O'Reilly, frequently naming him his "Worst Person in the World" in a segment popular with his fans. Bosses at NBC had discussed trying to keep the tone of the vitriol down.
MSNBC announced that O'Donnell, who had frequently filled in for Olbermann before starting his own 10 p.m. show, will take over Olbermann's time slot starting Monday. "The Ed Show," with Ed Schultz, would move to 10 p.m. Cenk Uygur of the Web show "The Young Turks," will fill Schultz's vacated 6 p.m. time slot.
Olbermann had signed a new four-year contract with MSNBC two years ago. It's unclear what his plans are now.
He could give a boost to struggling CNN's prime-time lineup, but Olbermann would mean CNN would make an abrupt shift in its nonpartisan policy. It was not immediately known how quickly Olbermann could switch to another job if he wanted to.
"Countdown" star who revived cable network abruptly announces he is stepping down
MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network's most popular show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics.
Olbermann did not explain why he was leaving.
"MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors," the network said.
A spokesman said Phil Griffin, MSNBC's president, would not comment on Olbermann's exit. Spokesman Jeremy Gaines would say only that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.
Olbermann was suspended without pay from the network for two days in November for donating to three Democratic candidates, which violated NBC News' policy on political donations. Olbermann complained that he was being punished for mistakenly violating an inconsistently applied rule that he had known nothing about.
The host apologized to fans -- but not to the network.
Olbermann, before leaving the show with a final signature toss of his script toward the camera, thanked his audience for sticking with him and read a James Thurber poem.
"This may be the only television program where the host was much more in awe of the audience than vice versa," he said.
He thanked a series of people, including the late Tim Russert, but pointedly not Griffin or NBC News President Steve Capus.
Olbermann's prime-time show is the network's top-rated. His evolution from a humorous look at the day's headlines into a pointedly liberal show in the last half of George W. Bush's administration led MSNBC to largely shift the tone of the network in his direction, with the hirings or Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell in primetime.
But Olbermann was known for a mercurial personality behind the scenes and he was almost fired last year for the political donations. He quit a prime-time show on MSNBC in the late 1990s, complaining that management was making him report too much on President Bill Clinton's impeachment scandal.
He was particularly critical of Fox News Channel and his direct competitor, Bill O'Reilly, frequently naming him his "Worst Person in the World" in a segment popular with his fans. Bosses at NBC had discussed trying to keep the tone of the vitriol down.
MSNBC announced that O'Donnell, who had frequently filled in for Olbermann before starting his own 10 p.m. show, will take over Olbermann's time slot starting Monday. "The Ed Show," with Ed Schultz, would move to 10 p.m. Cenk Uygur of the Web show "The Young Turks," will fill Schultz's vacated 6 p.m. time slot.
Olbermann had signed a new four-year contract with MSNBC two years ago. It's unclear what his plans are now.
He could give a boost to struggling CNN's prime-time lineup, but Olbermann would mean CNN would make an abrupt shift in its nonpartisan policy. It was not immediately known how quickly Olbermann could switch to another job if he wanted to.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
8 Arrested for Dumping Raw Sewage Into Sheepshead Bay by Jonathan Eiseman - msnbc.com
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Eight people have been arrested for dumping raw sewage and restaurant grease into Shell Bank Creek in Sheepshead Bay, the Kings County District Attorney's office announced Wednesday.
Three corporations, including Regal Cinemas multiplex and TGI Friday's, also face charges in connection with the illegal dumps, District Attorney Charles Hynes said.
“There is no excuse for the disgraceful pollution of our waterways and beaches,” said Hynes. “In 2008 I set up an Environmental Crimes Unit within the Rackets Division, to investigate and prosecute polluters and clean up our rivers and beaches. Thanks to the continued cooperation of the DEC and DEP on this and other cases, we have had great success.”
The defendants ignored orders to have their sewer lines repaired, Hynes said.
An investigation began with complaints from residents in 2009. The investigation revealed that, in spite of these notices, noxious odors, fecal matter and toilet paper from the movie theater’s septic system were present in the creek as recently as this year.
Craig Novoa; Knapp Street Bagels and its manager, Simon Shin; and Deauville Marina and its manager, David Matalon, all face charges related to dumping untreated human waste into Shell Bank Creek. Knapp Street Bagels, Shin, and TGI Friday’s and its landlord, Alex Spivak, are also charged with dumping untreated waste grease and oil into the creek.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
GOP Continues to Say No - Senator Gillibrand Speaks Up for Working Class - msnbc video
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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaks to Andrea Mitchell on GOP obstructionism and lame duck agenda...
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Rudy Giuliani Still: A Noun, a Verb and 9-11 at Cyclones Game...
The Brooklyn Paper mentioned on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann...
This video from The Brooklyn Paper lets you in on the fun...
Brooklyn Paper reporter Stephen Brown asked Rudy Giuliani the tough question at a Cyclones game last week — was he rooting for the hometown Cyclones or the visiting Staten Island Yankees? Well, Rudy’s answer earned Brown a mention on a subsequent telecast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”
Friday, August 27, 2010
Report Sparks Welfare Check on Reclusive Heiress By Bill Dedman - msnbc.com
Wally Bock is a long time member of Community Board 9 Queens...
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Photo slideshow...
Msnbc.com readers have prompted New York City officials to start checking on the welfare of Huguette Clark, the reclusive 104-year-old heiress with three empty mansions.
Msnbc.com readers have prompted New York City officials to start checking on the welfare of Huguette Clark, the reclusive 104-year-old heiress with three empty mansions.
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| This is the last known photo of Huguette Clark, taken 80 years ago. She has hidden away in a New York hospital room for at least the past 22 years. This photo was made on Aug. 11, 1930, the day of her divorce, in Reno, Nev. |
After msnbc.com's series of reports last week on the men handling Huguette Clark's half-billion-dollar fortune, at least 140 readers contacted Adult Protective Services, according to Rima Rivera, director of the agency's central intake unit.
"Your readers contacted us from all over the country," Rivera said. "They were saying: 'You'd better do something. This happened to my grandmother. Don't let it happen to this woman.'"
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| Wallace "Wally" Bock, attorney for Huguette Clark. He and accountant Irving H. Kamsler have owned property together that was signed over to them by an elderly colleague and client |
Msnbc.com reported last week that Clark's attorney and accountant became the owners of the New York City apartment of another elderly client after his last will and testament was revised six times. Attorney Wallace "Wally" Bock arranged to quietly sell Clark's Stradivarius violin for $6 million and a Renoir painting for $23.5 million, and one of her three luxury homes is on the market now for $24 million. Msnbc.com also revealed that her accountant, Irving H. Kamsler, has a criminal conviction for sending pornography to underage girls in an AOL chat room, according to court records.
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| A booking photo from the arrest of Huguette Clark's accountant, Irving H. Kamsler, charged with attempting to distribute indecent material to 13- and 15-year-old girls online. He pleaded guilty in 2008 and remains a registered sex offender. |
'Income Doesn't Matter'
On Monday, the agency reached out to Clark's distant relatives and the hospital where she lives. A caseworker will try to get permission to visit her in the hospital and to gather other information, Rivera said.
If that permission isn't granted, the agency could then seek a court order. The agency will evaluate her physical and mental condition and living conditions, and look for signs of abuse, neglect or financial exploitation. Adult Protective Services will work with the district attorney to share information, she said.
"The person's income doesn't matter," Rivera said. "Whether you're broken and homeless or you have a billion dollars, we must do what we can to make sure the elderly are not exploited."
A third front could be opened if someone asks a court to appoint a guardian to handle Clark's affairs. That person would usually be a relative, friend or financial institution, but anyone can make the request, lawyers who specialize in guardianship cases said.
Criminal Investigation
The criminal inquiry is being conducted by the Elder Abuse Unit of the New York County District Attorney's Office, which investigated the finances of Brooke Astor, the society matron and heiress whose son and attorney were convicted in 2009 of siphoning $10 million from her. Astor died in 2007 at age 105, with an estate worth $131 million.
Huguette Clark's wealth is said to be roughly four times Astor's, or about $500 million. It is not known whether Clark, who has lived in New York City hospitals for at least 22 years and has no children, has signed a will.
New York City detectives assigned to the office of DA Cyrus Vance Jr. are investigating the case, including the actions of Bock and Kamsler, the attorney and accountant, who control Clark's wealth and access to her hospital room.
A spokeswoman for Vance, Erin Duggan, said the office has a policy of not confirming whether an investigation is being conducted. Msnbc.com confirmed independently that detectives are making inquiries.
Empty Mansions
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| Le Beau Château, Huguette Clark's country home in New Canaan, Conn., is on the market at $24 million. Huguette bought it in 1952, expanded it, and never moved in. |
Clark's assets include more than $200 million in three unoccupied luxury homes:
A $100 million Pacific cliffside estate on 23 acres in Santa Barbara, Calif. She hasn't visited it in at least 50 years.
A country house on 52 acres in New Canaan, Conn., on the market now for $24 million. She expanded the house in 1952 but never moved in.
A massive apartment in New York City, 907 Fifth Ave. at 72nd Street, the largest apartment on that storied avenue overlooking Central Park. Her 42 rooms on two floors occupy 15,000 square feet. A real estate agent who has sold apartments in that building values Clark's at roughly $100 million. She hasn't been seen here in about 22 years.
In a series of stories since February, msnbc.com has reported that Huguette Clark has lived alone, secluding herself in her home with her French dolls and dollhouses for the past half-century and has been in hospital rooms in New York City, though her health was said to be good.
Msnbc.com also disclosed:
Bock, 78, arranged to sell the $6 million Stradivarius violin that her mother gave her for her 50th birthday, according to the dealer who handled the sale. The buyer signed a confidentiality agreement when Clark was 95 years old, agreeing not to disclose who sold the violin for at least 10 years.
Kamsler, 63, pleaded guilty in 2008 to sending pornography to underage girls in an AOL chat room, according to court records. He was using the AOL handle IRV1040 (as in his first name, Irving, and the IRS 1040 tax form). He also, like his client Clark, had a federal tax lien for unpaid taxes.
The attorney and the accountant became owners of property that was signed over to them by another elderly client in New York City, according to court records. The man, who was Bock's law partner, suffered from dementia in his later years, according to his goddaughter and neighbors. Before he died, he signed over to Bock and Kamsler his New York apartment in the Dorchester, at 57th Street near Park Avenue, as well as his Mercedes and $200,000 — in addition to the $380,000 in fees they collected for managing his $4 million estate.
Bock and Kamsler arranged to sell Clark's Renoir in 2003 for $23.5 million. Her country home in New Canaan, Conn., is on the market for $24 million.
Access to her is tightly controlled. Relatives who tried to visit her New York hospital room have been turned away by the attorney, though one persistent half-great-niece got as far as the room where Clark was asleep. (We are not revealing the name of the hospital.)
Kamsler is said to visit regularly. Bock told msnbc.com in January that he speaks with her frequently by phone and has met her only twice — the first of her seven attorneys to meet her face to face.
Bock and Kamsler have declined to answer questions about any of their actions.
Update: Bock told the TODAY Show that he "denies all allegations," but would not say more.
A Famous Father
Huguette ("hue-GET") Marcelle Clark is the last surviving child of William Andrews Clark (1839-1925), a copper miner and U.S. senator who in his time was said to be neck and neck with John D. Rockefeller for the title of richest American. Clark made a fortune in Montana copper, banks and railroads, collected a museum full of art from Europe, and owned the land that would become Las Vegas, where Clark County is named for him.
William Andrews Clark was caught in a bribery scandal during a campaign for the U.S. Senate — he was said to describe the Montana legislators this way: "I never bought a man who wasn't for sale." Though the Senate refused to seat him, he was re-elected and served one term, from 1901 to 1907, as a Democrat from Montana. During that term the widower Clark announced that he had secretly been married in Paris and had a child with his former ward, Anna, 39 years his junior. ("THEY'RE MARRIED AND HAVE A BABY," thundered one headline.) A second daughter, Huguette, was born in 1906. Her sister died at age 16, leaving her the only surviving child of this second marriage.
When Sen. Clark died in 1925, he left a gaudy 121-room house then at Fifth Avenue and 77th Street and a fortune divided among Anna, Huguette and four adult children from his first marriage. Anna died in 1963, leaving her share to Huguette.
Huguette Clark is said by relatives to be quite alert, or she was the last time anyone besides her attorney and accountant was able to speak with her by phone, some years back.
The district attorney's office has put greater emphasis on investigating and preventing crimes against the elderly since Vance, son of the former U.S. secretary of state, took office in January. The Elder Abuse Unit has been expanded under the direction of an experienced prosecutor, Elizabeth Loewy, who headed the Astor case.
A Previous Client
Bock drew up the wills for one of his law partners, Donald Wallace, who died in 2002 at age 76. Wallace's will — the sixth one drawn up by Bock — left his apartment to Bock and Kamsler, gave each man $100,000 and left Kamsler his Mercedes sedan. Though the co-op board refused to hand over the apartment to the two men, a change to Wallace's will left it to the attorney and accountant. In his final days, when according to his goddaughter and a neighbor he had severe dementia, Wallace was subletting his own apartment from his attorney and accountant, according to probate records in the Surrogate's Court in New York City. (You can read the documents in this PDF file.)
Bock wrote in court documents, "At no time did I ever request or suggest, directly or by implication, to DLW that he provide for me in his will," referring to Donald L. Wallace. "On the contrary, I said to him that he was being overly generous, that he had done enough for me with various gifts given over the years. He insisted however, stating that the people he named as beneficiaries in his Will were 'his family' and that is what he wanted to do."
The Arrest
Her accountant, Kamsler, was arrested on Sept. 6, 2007, in Nassau County on Long Island in an Internet sex sting. The indictment alleged that in 2005 and 2007 he had tried to entice 13- and 15-year-old girls in an AOL chatroom to meet with him, sending them pornography and describing touching their private areas. These girls turned out to be police officers. Police said Kamsler was using the AOL handle IRV1040 (as in his first name, Irving, and the IRS 1040 tax return).
Kamsler told police that he thought he was in an adult chat room and was just "pretending" with women that they were girls. He pleaded guilty in October 2008 to all the charges: six counts of attempting to disseminate indecent material to minors in the first degree and nine counts of attempting to endanger the welfare of a child. He got no jail time, just five years of probation, a $5,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and sex-offender restrictions.
IRS Difficulties
Property records in New York show Kamsler also had trouble with the IRS, with a tax lien in 2003 for $18,853, paid off three months later. Huguette Clark has had her own tax liens — four times the IRS has filed to collect taxes from her.
The Stradivarius
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| One of the finest violins made by Antonio Stradivari, La Pucelle, or The Virgin, was locked away in Huguette Clark's New York apartment for nearly 50 years, after her mother gave it to her as a birthday present. Her attorney arranged to sell it in 2001 for $6 million. The tailpiece depicts Joan of Arc, the virgin warrior. |
In 2001, Clark's Stradivarius violin was sold. It is one of the most famous, known as La Pucelle, or The Virgin, because its works were unopened for more than a century after it was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1709. Huguette Clark's mother, Anna Eugenia La Chappelle Clark, gave it to her for a 50th birthday present in 1956.
The premier violin dealer Charles Beare described it as "almost certainly the finest Stradivari that's not in a museum and certainly the best-preserved."
The first draft of the confidentiality agreement proposed by Bock was so onerous, Beare said, that it would forbid the purchaser from revealing that he owned the violin, much less who he bought it from, or even the seller's gender. He could not play it in the presence of anyone, ever.
Beare said the buyer who paid $6 million, retired software developer David Fulton, balked at those terms but agreed to a 10-year-ban on revealing the previous owner. Fulton would not comment to msnbc.com, citing the confidentiality agreement, which runs until early 2011.
The Renoir
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| Renoir painted "In the Roses" in 1882. Huguette Clark's attorney sold it for her in 2003 through Sotheby's for $23.5 million. The buyer was Steve Wynn, the developer of casinos in Las Vegas — where the land once was owned by Huguette Clark's father. |
In 2003, the year she turned 97, one of Huguette Clark's paintings was sold by Sotheby's for $23.5 million. Reports at the time said the painting came from "the estate of Huguette Clark," though she was alive.
No Comment
Neither Bock nor Kamsler would respond to questions about these incidents.
Bock, in an interview early this year at the Lexington Avenue office of the law firm of Collier, Halpern, Newberg, Nolletti & Bock, would say only that Huguette was quite a beauty in her day, that he talks to her regularly on the phone and that her mind is clear though her eyesight and hearing have dimmed with age. He also said he would not pass on to her a request for an interview and that she doesn't care about publicity or reputation. He threatened to get a judge to stop msnbc.com from printing a word about his client.
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