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Union officials have used video cameras in employee changing rooms, accessed employee lockers and handled employees' personal possessions, and have even resorted to verbal abuse. Union organizers even took photographs of front-desk clerk Gisel Rodriguez without her consent while she was changing her uniform in an employee changing room. "I was wearing my uniform pants and my bra and holding my shirt to put it on when they started snapping pictures," Rodriguez told the New York Post. "I have no idea what [the union organizer] could be doing with the pictures, and I think that's the worst part," Read the...

Workers at a downtown hotel charge that union goons resorted to outrageous tactics to browbeat them into joining their ranks — going so far as to photograph a female staffer as she changed clothes in an employee locker room, apparently to blackmail her. “I was wearing my uniform pants and my bra and holding my shirt to put it on when they started snapping pictures,” front-desk worker Gisel Rodriguez, 28, recalled of the alleged sneak attack at the SoHo Courtyard Marriott in December. “I was furious, really didn’t know what to do,’’ she said. “They said, ‘We’re allowed to be...

Sometimes zero tolerance makes zero sense. Take the case of former Marine Ryan Jerome, an Indiana jeweler arrested last September at the Empire State Building for carrying a .45-caliber handgun — legally purchased and licensed in his home state. It’s not as if Jerome was trying to hide the gun. He volunteered to security personnel that he was carrying it, and actually tried to check it. Nor is he a notorious gangster; he was carrying some $15,000 in jewelry, and needed the gun for protection. Yes, he did misunderstand New York’s gun laws; possessing an illegal pistol in the Empire...

For the third time in as many weeks, a New York City public school employee has been accused of sexually abusing his charges. Police today arrested 49-year-old P.S. 174 computer teacher Wilbert Cortez, 49, and charged him with second-degree sexual misconduct against a child and acting in a manner to injure a child under 17. According to the Queens DA spokesperson, Cortez "touched the genitals and the buttocks of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old over their clothes in his classroom at P.S. 174 in Rego Park on at least two occasions during the 2010-11 school year." After the accusations were...

ALBANY — State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman proposed Thursday increasing the accountability of 103,000 nonprofits in New York through new board requirements and helping many financially by streamlining state contract payments, reporting and registration rules. Schneiderman, whose office monitors all nonprofits, including 60,000 registered as charities, was endorsing the findings of the review committee he appointed last year. The legislative proposals would give his office and the nonprofits themselves new tools to police fraud and abuse. With 1.2 million paid employees, the nonprofit sector represented 18 percent of the state's private work force in 2010. The state had 22,000 active...

Ex-Governor David Paterson has contacted Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to dismiss the weapons possession charges against retired Marine Ryan Jerome, according to the NY Post. Jerome is currently being prosecuted after attempting to check in his Indiana-registered handgun at the Empire State Building last year. Must Read Suffolk County Police image shows the locations where eight of 10 bodies were found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010Crimes of New York: 2011 Year in Review Lady Gaga, Times Square Make For Special New Year’s Eve in New York CityNew Year's 2012 Shortages Forecast Worldwide, and Not Just Norwegian Butter: A New...

Al Sharpton’s SUV impounded at La Guardia Airport By JOSH MARGOLIN and DAN MANGAN Last Updated: 4:51 AM, February 17, 2012 Posted: 3:07 AM, February 17, 2012 Can I get a witness? The Rev. Al Sharpton tried to move heaven and earth yesterday to keep his SUV from being towed at La Guardia Airport — but no amount of preaching could stop Port Authority cops from impounding the vehicle. An officer rolled up on the 2008 Lincoln Navigator at around 2 p.m. outside the Delta and US Airways terminal as the MSNBC host’s driver waited to pick him up in...

A federal judge today released the audio tape of a 911 call made by a man accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack in New York's subways, as officials say he launched a last-ditch effort to kill someone by deliberately crashing his car into another vehicle. Adis Medunjanin panicked after FBI agents searched his residence in January 2010, and later jumped in his car, sped off at 90 mph, and then slammed into another car on the Whitestone Expressway, a FBI agent testified in Brooklyn federal court. "He thought this would be an act of jihad - that there would...

A little more than a week ago, Jeremy Lin, then a third-string point guard for the NBA’s New York Knicks, found himself suddenly in the limelight after leading his team to a surprise victory over the New Jersey Nets. Before coach Mike D’Antoni put Lin in the game out of desperation, few Knicks fans, let alone anyone else, had ever heard of the Harvard grad already cut from two other NBA teams. But now, as he leads the Knicks on a seven-game-and-counting winning streak, everyone’s talking about Lin, his underdog story, and his faith. Sports commentators call him the “Taiwanese...

Check out the video of the opening of today's Morning Joe. In just over two minutes, the show ran clips of Knicks player Jeremy Lin hitting a three-point buzzer beater last night . . . no fewer than 10 times. But Morning Joe was far from finished. I counted a total of 28 Lin clips during the course of the show. Donnie Deutsch opined that "this is one of the few things where the 1% and the 99% can agree." Mike Barnicle later expressed a similar sentiment. Clearly the Lin story is moving America. But query how long he will...

On Monday, Israeli embassy workers in the capital cities of India and Georgia were targeted in terrorist attacks that Israeli officials believe were planned and carried out by Iran and its client, the militant group Hezbollah. The bomb in Tbilisi was defused, but the bomb in New Delhi, planted in an embassy worker's car, exploded and injured at least two. Iran's next target could well be on American soil. In Senate testimony last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated that Iranian officials "are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real...

The trouble with situational ethics is that it leaves you with no morals and without morals it is difficult to be morally superior to anyone. This reduces liberals to whining about hypocrisy all the time by holding the other guy to his high standards and being smug about it. The irony is that in order to apply those higher standards liberals must admit that those higher standards are meaningful. If indeed adultery were nothing, they would not mention a 40-year-old affair by Henry Hyde. But cries of hypocrisy are all that is left to them. They sound a lot like...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

Manhattan prosecutors have quietly offered a no-jail, misdemeanor deal to the retired young Marine facing a mandatory 3 1/2-year prison sentence after trying to check his Indiana-registered handgun at the Empire State Building, court papers reveal. But former tow gunner Ryan Jerome — who has garnered letter-writing support from hundreds of current and former Marines — is saying no thanks and continues to ask that the case be dropped altogether. The DA’s conciliatory offer, and the fact that it’s been on the table for two months, was revealed in a letter filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Should religious institutions be able to rent public property just like any other community group? If you’re New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the answer is a resounding no, a decision that has angered local communities and is poised to kick out dozens churches from meeting in New York City public schools even though other groups, including labor unions, are granted full access. “Houses of worship throughout the city consider this policy to be nothing short of discrimination, and we will make that known,� said Fernando Cabrera, a Democratic city councilman representing the Bronx. “Evicting [churches] hurts people and neighborhoods...

MONROE - Village police said Thursday that they plan to seek extradition of a 29-year-old illegal immigrant who stabbed his 23-year-old cousin in Monroe last weekend and then fled to Honduras. The victim is recovering at Westchester Medical Center in Valhahlla after being stabbed once in the back early Saturday morning in the Hillside Trailer Park off Route 17M, Detective James Frankild said. Police say the knife thrust punctured multiple organs. With help from federal immigration agents, investigators tracked the suspect to a flight to his native Honduras, where he was met by State Department officials and Honduran police when...

NEW PALTZ – When it finally happened on Friday, the end of the Occupy New Paltz encampment came with neither a bang nor a whimper, but with an argument. After Occupy supporters refused to file the paperwork necessary to stay at the corner of Hasbrouck Park they’ve settled at since mid-December, the supporters were ordered by the village board earlier this week to pull up stakes – literally – by 12 noon Friday. And when no Occupy members appeared to meet the deadline, village mayor Jason West and crews from the public works department began disassembling three tents and their...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a five-year battle with bureaucracy, a former U.S. Marine finally got New York City to admit on Thursday that he is male and agree to reissue the birth certificate that incorrectly stated otherwise. David Hassan, a bearded Iraq War veteran, was born in Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital 29 years ago. There was never a reason to doubt he was a boy. But it was only in 2003 that it came to Hassan's attention that the hospital had deemed him to be female on his birth certificate, his lawyer said. Hassan was not bothered by the...

Disgraced 'ogle' teacher retires The city's king of the "rubber room" has stepped down. Disgraced educator Alan Rosenfeld, 66, retired on February 3, after a decade of milking tax payers for a $100,049-a-year salary even though he hasn't set foot in a classroom since 2001, school officials said today. The retirement came just days after the Post ran a series of stories exposing Rosenfeld, including how he was banished to a "rubber room" in 2001 for allegedly ogling eighth grade girls -- but then spent his time working on a personal real estate portfolio worth up to $10 million. An...

Is $26 million worth the reputation of a venerable, 1.4 million member environmental group ? The Sierra Club may be about to find out. the 120-year-old organization’s hushed financial marriage to the natural gas industry — and its just-as-secretive divorce — have left some long-time supporters feeling angry, betrayed or misled. The news cut especially deep for activists who have spent years fighting the spread of shale gas drilling in states like New York and Pennsylvania. The Sierra Club quietly accepted $26 million in donations from gas industry interests from 2007 to 2010 — years when the group’s national leaders...

Twenty-One Republican Candidates Take Steps Toward ‘Young Gun' Status Washington- The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) today announced its newest round of ‘On the Radar' candidates. By reaching the second step of the four-step ‘Young Guns' program, these Republican candidates have reached the fundamental benchmarks to place them on the road to victory. Now, these 21 candidates are ready to take on the Democrat establishment and return fiscal sanity to Washington. "These candidates have worked hard to meet the benchmarks that have been laid out before them and are determined to hold Washington Democrats accountable this November," said NRCC Chairman...

ALBANY — Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s Long Island district is on the chopping block as state leaders begin redrawing congressional boundaries, the Daily News has learned. State Senate and Assembly negotiators are looking at merging McCarthy’s Nassau County district into a Nassau-Queens district now held by fellow Dem Gary Ackerman, sources close to the planning said. McCarthy’s current district “collides” with Ackerman’s, making it a perfect candidate for merger, insiders said. The lines are expected to be drawn in a way that favors Ackerman in a potential primary. McCarthy, 68, was first elected in 1996, three years after her husband...

Faust is the main character in a German legend of a smart, important man in the local village that is bored with his life. He decides to call up the devil and make a bargain. In exchange for even more knowledge and power he agrees to sell his soul. This fairy tale like so many others ends happily as Faust is forgiven in the end. This story has been repeated many times from “The Devil and Daniel Webster” to “The Devil went down to Georgia” but it seems the lessons haven’t.

In 1991, University of Iowa student Gang Lu shot five university employees. In 1996, San Diego State University student Frederick Martin Davidson killed three professors. However, the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre is the most memorable shooting on a college campus, as it left 32 innocent students dead after they were picked off by a crazed gunman. On Dec. 8, 2011, another shooting occurred on the Virginia Tech campus, leaving a police officer dead. Apparently the school’s ban on guns failed yet again, considering that the perpetrator of this incident did not obey it. But how many people actually believe that...

Man, 43, had storied past of rage at Middletown mayor MIDDLETOWN — A Middletown man armed with a shotgun and a long-standing grudge against the mayor was shot to death by court officers Wednesday morning as he stormed into Middletown City Court. Tim Mulqueen, 43, of 14 Liberty St., was dead on arrival at Orange Regional Medical Center later Wednesday morning, according to Middletown police. Mulqueen was arrested last summer after he showed up with a machete, a razor and a nail-studded piece of wood at Mayor Joe DeStefano's home in Middletown and threatened DeStefano's daughter, DeStefano said. In 2000,...

NEW YORK – A former employee of one of the world’s largest international banks who has provided WND with more than 1,000 pages of evidence alleges the Internet giant PayPal and American Express are implicated in an international money-laundering scheme involving hundreds of billions of dollars. The whistleblower, John Cruz, was a relationship manager in the southern New York region for the London-based global bank HSBC. “I found many accounts where PayPal and American Express were used as conduits through which hundreds of thousands of dollars were deposited or withdrawn from HSBC customer accounts in a pattern of suspicious transactions...

STAFFORD, N.Y. (AP) - Authorities say a Rochester man has been charged with spray painting disparaging remarks about President Barack Obama on a bridge over the Thruway in Western New York. State police say they arrested 54-year-old Oliver Glover on Tuesday and charged him with criminal mischief, making graffiti, possession of graffiti instruments and unlawful dealing with fireworks. Troopers say Glover "tagged" a bridge over Interstate 90 in the Genesee County town of Stafford, about 20 miles southwest of Rochester. Police say he left graffiti on the same span several times after Thruway work crews had removed it.

A Long Island pharmacy is taking a high-tech approach in the fight against prescription drug theft. New technology installed there makes robbing a bank seem like an easy task. Authorities hope the beefed-up security catches on at pharmacies across the area, to prevent any more tragedies. You could call it the drug store of the future. "We're carrying the medications that nobody wants to carry," said Marc Wiener, co-owner of Linden Care. But Syosset's Linden Care is more than a fantasyland of computerized pill counting and labeling machines, it's more like a fortress. Co-owners Marc Wiener and Jordan Fogel call...

Reid’s floor maneuvers leave some Senate Democrats frustratedBy Alexander Bolton - 02/07/12 05:15 AM ET Some Democrats are grumbling over how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has run the floor this year. The frustration is felt mostly among junior lawmakers, who want more of a role in decision-making and have yet to resign themselves to the traditional pace of the Senate, where seniority rules and lawmakers often have to wait years to have significant influence. They say Reid’s style leaves them feeling out of the loop. Colleagues have second-guessed Reid’s decision to greenlight a deal with Republicans on the...

Accuser had said she was raped after boozy night EXCLUSIVE: Manhattan prosecutors cleared TV anchor Greg Kelly of rape, the Daily News has learned. “We have concluded that the established facts do not constitute a crime under New York criminal law,” said Joan Vollero, spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. News of the prosecutor's decision was first reported on NYDailyNews.com. ANALYSIS: KELLY STILL HAS A FUTURE IN TV A 28-year-old paralegal had accused the “The Good Day New York” host and son of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly of raping her in October after a boozy night at a...

President Obama will attend a star-studded fundraising gala in New York City on Mar. 1, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The Obama Victory Fund 2012 will host the event at ABC Carpet & Home in Manhattan’s upscale Flatiron District, according to the official online invitation. Special guests are expected to include hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, New Age self-help guru Deepak Chopra, and culinary bigwig Jean-Georges Vongerichten, among others. Prospective partygoers can choose from three levels of tickets, “Event Chair” ($35,800), “Event Host” ($10,000), or for those with shallower pockets, “Gala Attendee” ($1,000 a piece). Their massive wealth notwithstanding, Simmons...

The New York Giants on Tuesday will be showered with confetti and greeted by throngs as they are feted with the city’s most storied honor: a parade through its Canyon of Heroes. But all the fanfare — the parade this week is the fourth since 2000 to honor a sports team — has touched off anger and unease among some returned Iraq veterans, who are eagerly awaiting their own recognition. “Everybody recognizes that the Giants deserve a parade,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. But, he added, “If a football team gets...

U.S. media is reporting that “thirty-three civil rights groups” have written a letter to the New York Attorney General complaining about police documents recommending increasing surveillance of Shiite mosques. According to an AP report: NEW YORK — Thirty-three civil rights groups from around the country complained to the New York attorney general Friday about police documents that showed the New York Police Department recommending increased surveillance of Shiite mosques based on their religion. The letter urged Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate NYPD’s surveillance operations, revealed by an Associated Press investigation, which monitored entire neighborhoods and built databases about everyday...

The Mormon Church owns one of the most active and unregulated gun sale portals on the web, according to a national investigation released by the New York City Mayor's office. The website in question is KSL.com, the online hub for Utah's NBC affiliate and sister radio station, which are both owned and operated by the for-profit arm of the Mormon Church. In addition to local news, KSL.com produces a popular classifieds section that reaches millions of users well beyond Utah.The LDS connection drew little notice when Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a leading financier of the gun control movement, published the report...

The 2012 Super Bowl ultimately went against the New England Patriots by 21-17, much like in 2008. Now that the New York Giants have beaten the Patriots in the final minutes for the second Super Bowl in a row, it has made everyone rethink the legacies of both teams. New England should have the greatest dynasty in NFL history and even in sports history by now. While Brady and Belichick still have their three titles, ... they should have six or even seven instead - and that has now started to overshadow the rings they do have. If New England...

Young people in Western New York have a unique opportunity to learn safe and effective firearms handling in many venues. The award-winning Teen Shooting Academy (TSA) offers young people of qualifying ages instruction in shotgun, rifle, and hand gun use. Rifle and shotgun classes are held for those ages 12 to 20; handgun instruction is provided for those ages 14 to 20. The 8-session rifle class begins Feb. 20 at Mohawk Rifle and Pistol Club, 857 Sheridan Drive, Town of Tonawanda. Instruction goes from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month. The Mohawk club...

The next time people try to tell you how much the data-driven education reform programs of President George W. Bush (No Child Left Behind) and President Obama (Race to the Top) have raised academic standards in America, suggest that they take a look at the Jan. 24, 2012, New York State English Regents exam. This year, for the first time, high schools students must score at least 65 on the English exam, as well as on four other state tests — math, science, global history and United States history — to earn a diploma. The three-hour English test includes 25...

INDIANAPOLIS -- On one last Hail Mary try, Tom Brady heaved it up for his two star tight ends in the end zone. Neither Rob Gronkowski or Aaron Hernandez, who both got a hand in the play, could come down with it. The New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI, the second time the Giants beat the Patriots in the last four years in the NFL's title game. Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw scored the go-ahead touchdown with 0:57 left in the game.

MYFOXNY.COM - New York City will throw a parade Tuesday morning for the New York Giants to celebrate their Super Bowl title. The victory parade will travel through the financial district's Canyon of Heroes. Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/new-york-giants-super-bowl-victory-parade-2012#ixzz1lZJBD5iA

The Occupy movement lost one of its most ardent supporters in the media Friday night. On HBO's Real Time, host Bill Maher surprisingly said of the protesters, "As I watch them on the news now I find myself almost agreeing with Newt Gingrich. Like, you know what - get a job...Now it's just a bunch of [d-bags] who think throwing a chair through the Starbucks window is going to bring on the revolution" (video follows with transcript and commentary, vulgarity warning): BILL MAHER: Let me ask you about another occupation, because this is - and you would be good on...

NEW YORK — Lawyers for the Newburgh Four have launched their appeal, arguing that a lying FBI informant used money, religion and even love to lure their clients into a terroristic scheme. The men were arrested in May 2009, minutes after they placed bombs outside a synagogue and Jewish community center in the Bronx. The explosives were fakes supplied by the FBI as part of an elaborate sting operation. The four men — James Cromitie, David Williams, Laguerre Payen and Onta Williams — were convicted of terrorism charges in 2010 after a two-month trial and sentenced to 25 years in...

'Politics have no place in health care," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement Thursday. That pronouncement may strike New Yorkers, who've spent a decade complying with Mr. Bloomberg's nanny-state mandates on smoking and trans-fats, as ironic. Most recently, his administration has come under fire for using fake photos of diabetic amputees in subway ads about the dangers of sweetened beverages. But Mr. Bloomberg was referring to the one area of "health care" that he believes should be left to individual choice: abortion. He announced a personal donation of $250,000 to Planned Parenthood, America's leading abortion provider, in response to...

Sanctions against two attorneys who insist that former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld caused the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have been upheld by a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that refused to disqualify itself from the case. Dennis Cunningham and co-counsel William W. Veale were ordered on Feb. 2 to pay a total of $15,000 in addition to double what the government spent defending against their lawsuit. In addition, the judges in Gallop v. Cheney, 10-1241-cv, ordered Mr. Cunningham to notify federal courts in the circuit about...

The New York Times Company suffered a net loss of almost $40million in 2011, with its fourth quarter profits falling by 12.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2010. The company is grappling with sinking advertising revenue and a recent change in the top management after losing CEO Janet Robinson, who received a multimillion dollar severance package. They said it continued to add subscribers for its digital products in the fourth quarter.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman sued three of the nation's largest banks over a private national mortgage registry system, contending it has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, names units of Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo Corp. as defendants, as well as MERSCorp., which owns and operates the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, known as MERS. In his complaint, Mr. Schneiderman alleges that MERS has effectively eliminated the public's ability to track property transfers because those...

In the third fatal shooting involving New York City police this month, an off-duty officer shot and killed a teenager who allegedly tried to rob him on a Brooklyn street, authorities said. The 50-year-old officer, whose name wasn't released, was walking to the subway on his way to work just before midnight Sunday when he was accosted by two teens on the Bushwick street, police said. One, a 15-year-old, gestured as if he had a gun in his pocket and grabbed the officer from behind. In the next instance, the officer was struck in the face with a wooden cane...

Administration is adding nearly 200 workers to tackle the problem of long wait times and overcrowding. The city's welfare agency is on a hiring spree, adding more than 200 workers to handle a spike in the number of poor flocking to its centers for benefits. The Human Resources Administration hired more than 100 employees in July and plans to fill nearly 100 more positions to accommodate food-stamp and rent-assistance applicants jamming their offices, officials said Tuesday. “The alleviation of crowding at our office is a high priority,” HRA Deputy Commissioner Patricia Smith testified at a City Council hearing. The struggling...

ALBANY – Former Governor George Pataki told the New York State Conservative Party’s annual political action conference in Albany Monday that conservatives make the difference, not only in fiscal policy, but in fighting crime. Pataki said the Republican Party, with the support of Conservatives, must defeat Democratic President Barak Obama in the fall. He would not back one particular candidate, though. “I think the weakest Republican candidate would be a dramatic improvement over this president,” Pataki said. Former Congressman Rick Lazio, who ran unsoccessfully for governor and US Senate, told the Conservative Party members that he supports Mitt Romney as...

MIDDLETOWN – Three Middletown residents have been arrested on felony first-degree possession of marijuana charges after they received a package containing 45 pounds of the drug that was shipped to a Bedford Avenue address in Middletown on Monday. Arrested were Anastacia Woolcock, Levaughn Mitchell, both 24, and Jerome Chambers, 29. The marijuana, packaged for shipping in cardboard, was discovered by US Post Service postal inspectors who contacted the Drug Enforcement Agency and Middletown City Police. Authorities went to the Bedford Avenue residence and found the pot. The suspects were taken into custody and charged.

Did the New York Times learn nothing about rushing to judgement and presumption of innocence from its Duke lacrosse “rape” hoax debacle? More than any other media outlet, in 2006 the Times trumpeted black stripper's Crystal Mangum's rape accusations against three white Duke lacrosse players, accusations that quickly fell apart in a mass of contradictions and shifting stories. Yet even as the case fell apart and other liberal media outlets backed away, the Times issued a now-notorious, error-riddled 5,000-word lead story by Duff Wilson, concluding that there was enough evidence against the players for Michael Nifong, the soon-to-be-disgraced-and-jailed local prosecutor,...