Free Republic

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Organizers of a proposed charter school named after the president have rescinded the honor after the Obama Administration informed them of a long-standing White House policy disallowing the use of the president's name while he is in office. The group designing the Barack Obama Community Charter School also learned a state law prohibits naming institutions for a living person without his or her permission. The new name for the proposed K-8 is the Staten Island Community Charter School. One of the organizers, Lorna Harris of Silver Lake, said committee members are disappointed about having to change...

Hey Staten Island! Wake up! Staten Island is one of NYC's five boroughs -- home to cops, firefighters and a mix of hard working blue collar and white collar families. Staten Island was hit real bad on 911. They have no clue how dirty the Working Families Party is. But we do. The Democrats are a racketeering organization using their proxies like the Left wing Working Families Party (how ironic), ACORN, and community organizing organizations to steal elections and usurp the will of free men. (more here) The NY Post came out with this story on the Working Families Party...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It could be a van with a plumber logo on it or a yellow livery cab. Or maybe it's a generic gray sedan, driven by a man who looks like an accountant. The only way you will really know what the top-secret surveillance vehicle that recently hit the streets of the Mid-Island's 122nd Precinct looks like is if you get busted in some criminal act. Similar to the one launched by the Island's MTA police two years ago, the $55,000 high-tech ride was funded by City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) to help combat quality-of-life crimes. The...

S.I. baseball-bat wielding neighbor rescues girl from abductor in woods A baseball bat-wielding Staten Island homeowner was hailed as a hero after he chased away a man who dragged a 15-year-old girl into the woods, police and witnesses said. Patrick Klatt, 51, was inside his Great Kills home Thursday night when he heard the young girl's screams from a wooded area across the street. "He kept telling her to be quiet," Klatt said about the sicko. "[But] she yelled just loud enough for me to hear." Klatt grabbed a baseball bat and ran out his door. As he crossed the...

The speaker is Kevin McCullough: columnist, author and radio-show host. The occasion is the August 2nd Staten Island (NY) Tea Party held at historic Conference House Park. Despite dangerous weather, almost 700 patriots came out to make their voices heard. Kevin makes a reference to Jesus Christ, and then...Watch what happens...!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DR. BETSY McCAUGHEY TO SPEAK AT SECOND STATEN ISLAND TEA PARTY Former Lt. Governor Targets Obama Health Care Plan Staten Island, NY, July 9, 2009 – Dr. Betsy McCaughey, the former Lt. Governor of New York State, health care policy expert and staunch patient rights advocate, has agreed to speak at the Staten Island Tea Party at the Park, on Sunday, August 2, 2009. Dr. McCaughey has been an outspoken critic of government run health care as far back as the Clinton Administration, and was credited at that time with exposing so many flaws in “Hillary-care” that...

For the past two days, visitors to a park in Staten Island's Fort Wadsworth section have stumbled upon a gory mystery -- a mutilated animal, possibly a dog or a goat, wrapped in a white sheet. Parkgoers found two such animals in Von Briesen Park yesterday and this morning, city Parks Department officials confirmed. The discovery has sparked speculation of ritual sacrifice and cult activity, and has led one Port Richmond woman to douse part of the ground where one animal was found with holy water, in an attempt to ward off what she believes is an evil presence. Several...

NEW YORK – Now that's Italian! A Staten Island restaurant is relying on a group of Italian-born grandmothers for its menus. The women take turns cooking at 35-seat Enoteca Maria, using recipes from the different parts of Italy they come from.

Secession fever is burning hotter among Republicans in the state Senate these days, leading GOP Sen. Andrew Lanza to hope that his plan for breaking Staten Island away from New York City will get a jump start.

Note: The following text is a quote: Staten Island Man Sentenced To 69 Months In Prison For Providing Material Support And Resources To Hizballah LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JAVED IQBAL, a/k/a "John Iqbal," 45, of Staten Island, New York was sentenced today to 69 months in prison for providing material support to Hizballah, a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The sentence was imposed by United States District Judge RICHARD M. BERMAN in Manhattan federal court. According to the criminal Complaint, Count Two of the Superseding Indictment, to which IQBAL...

Aiken, Richmond and Columbia counties. Local law enforcement agencies also report hearing the boom, but no one knows what caused it. Chris Turner, and Aiken County resident, told WJBF News Channel 6’s Sheena Bodie what he saw and heard, in a phone interview. We have also been informed that two Aiken County Sheriff’s Office deputies reportedly saw a fireball in the sky. An Aiken County resident describes to WJBF that he saw a fireball in the sky, after a loud boom was heard all over the CSRA around 3:00 a.m., Friday morning. Dr. Gary Senn, the director of the DuPont...

Welcome to the blogspot of the Staten Island Tax Day Tea Party. We are not affiliated with any organization; we are simply a group of AMERICAN CITIZENS who refuse to sit idly by and watch the destruction of all the values we hold so dear. Our Congressman, Michael McMahon, has been marching in virtual lock-step with the Obama Administration on all their left-wing legislation, mouthing platitudes to Staten Islanders while essentially helping the Democrats in Congress tear down the foundations of free-market capitalism. We ask you to join us at NOON on TAX DAY - Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 -...

<p>A judge in New York has ruled against a Liberian woman who cited religious reasons for smuggling meat from an endangered species of monkey into the United States.</p> <p>Raymond J Dearie, a federal US district judge, said that Mamie Manneh was wrong when she claimed that her faith - a sect of Christianity - meant that she did not need to apply for permits to import exotic food stuffs.</p>

December 23, 2008 Note: The following text is a quote: http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyfo122308a.htm STATEN ISLAND SATELLITE TV OPERATOR PLEADS GUILTY TO PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT TO HIZBALLAH TV STATION LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JAVED IQBAL, a/k/a "John Iqbal," 45, of Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to providing material support to Hizballah, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. According to the criminal Complaint, the count (Count Two) of the Superseding Indictment to which IQBAL pleaded guilty, and statements during the guilty plea proceeding before United States...

  Buyer beware! Or in this case, booster beware. Staten Island Mall is posting faces of shoplifters on video terminals.   Slapping the faces of convicted shoplifters on video terminals in the Staten Island Mall is a big hit - or not, depending on who you ask."I think it's fabulous," said Dan Ozimek, a 62-year-old mall shopper. "If you want to do something wrong, you should be prepared to have your face on a screen." "I think it's unfair because people should be forgiven," countered Jason Harr, 24. "People make mistakes and shouldn't have their faces publicized for stealing, say,...

BAY RIDGE – Adding to the hotly contested battles to replace outgoing Congressman Vito Fossella is a political “crazy-quilt” pattern to Democrat Mike McMahon’s campaign after his endorsement by Staten Island’s top Conservative, while not so favorite GOP son Robert Straniere is upset over apparent dissentient inter-party “dirty tricks.” In one of Campaign ‘08’s bizarre political twists, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, Richmond County’s Conservative Party executive vice chair, endorsed McMahon. This was accepted by the moderate Staten Island councilman as a logical move, given his working relationship with Molinaro since 2002. Molinaro, who was elected twice as borough...

The two candidates were once friends, with one crediting the other for bringing him into Republican Party leadership. But the competition for the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat on Staten Island has produced a level of rancor that has left the two candidates bitterly sparring and the party in disarray. In the last week, Dr. Jamshad I. Wyne, the finance chairman of the Republican Party on Staten Island and a candidate for Congress, accused his rival in the primary, former Assemblyman Robert A. Straniere, of trying to persuade him to make illegal contributions to Mr. Straniere’s failed 2001 campaign...

NEW YORK — A man was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday for conspiring to blow up a busy Manhattan subway station. James Elshafay, had pleaded guilty and testified against the mastermind of the plot, Shahawar Matin Siraj, at a trial last year in federal court in Brooklyn. Elshafay, the son of an Egyptian father and Irish mother, testified that after meeting Siraj at an Islamic bookstore, they hatched an initial scheme — later abandoned — to blow up the four bridges connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn and New Jersey. He also told jurors at Siraj's trial that...

With the defending Republicans facing twists and turns confirming that truth can be stranger than fiction, the Democrats now appear to hold a solid edge in the battle for the seat New York Republican Rep. Vito J. Fossella left open — after the married father of three admitted in May that he has a daughter from an ongoing extramarital relationship. The Republicans’ lack of a consensus replacement candidate less than two weeks before the July 10 candidate filing deadline, with no top-tier prospects at hand for the party’s Sept. 9 primary, has prompted CQ Politics to change its rating on...

If Staten Island Republicans can't find a candidate to replace GOP Rep. Vito Fossella in Congress, radio talk-show host Curtis Sliwa says he'd think about running. "I'm sure that you will be able to find a well known or well qualified candidate, with a distinguished record of public service," Sliwa said in a letter to borough GOP chairman John Friscia today. "If however the party is unable to, if you think it would be of help, I might be willing to be considered as a possible candidate." For the full text of Sliwa's letter, check out Tom Wrobleski's "Polit.bureau" blog....

The decision by Vito J. Fossella not to seek another term in Congress has roiled the political waters of his reliably Republican district, as both parties are searching for consensus candidates to succeed him when his term ends in January. The departure of Mr. Fossella might seem to present the Democrats with a major opportunity, but the party’s leaders have yet to agree on a candidate, and disputes have broken out over whether the candidate should come from the Staten Island or Brooklyn side of the district. Mr. Fossella’s decision is not clearly a blow to the Republicans. District Attorney...

When cops stopped Rep. Vito Fossella for drunken driving, the married congressman said he was rushing to see his sick daughter on nearby Grimm St. - the home of the mystery woman who later plucked him from jail. Fossella's spokeswoman has insisted the single mom, Air Force Col. Laura Fay, 45, was only a "good friend," but the Staten Island Republican implied to suburban D.C. cops that Fay's 3-year-old was his. "The subject stated that he was driving down from Washington, D.C., to Grimm St. because his daughter was sick and needed to go to the hospital," a police report...

April 23, 2008 Police believe they've found those responsible for the so-called "Ninja Burglaries" on Staten Island, but they're short of evidence, so they're turning to immigration authorities to throw the suspects out of the country. Investigators say they have closed the book on the so-called Ninja Burglar case,without making any arrests. Police sources say an effort is underway to deport a group of illegal immigrants from Albania. Investigators say they don't have enough evidence to charge them, but the men have been arrested for other burglaries in the past. A string of 19 burglaries began last May. The ninja...

The channel between Staten Island and New Jersey meanders past smokestacks, oil tanks and towering cargo cranes, an industrial landscape that overshadows the occasional stretch of marsh or woodlands. It was this gritty waterfront that provided the background for one of nature's stunning revivals, starting in the mid-1970s: the return of herons to New York Harbor. It started when a longshoreman spotted some of the graceful birds wading near islands in the harbor. By the late 1980s, New York Harbor had become home to one of the largest heron rookeries in the Northeast, with several thousand birds nesting on the...

Woman, grandkid cheat death as truck nearly falls on them BY OREN YANIV and TINA MOORE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERSWednesday, September 19th 2007, 4:00 AM Truck driven by James Christian dangles from Staten Island Expressway after plunging off it onto South Ave., its wheels striking car driven by Jenetta Christophersen. Jenetta Christophersen, who was traveling with her granddaughter, Kayla, escaped injury. A baby girl and her grandmother escaped death by just inches yesterday when a big rig drove off an elevated highway and plunged in front of their car on Staten Island."I can't believe I'm alive," said Jenetta Christophersen, 61, who...

Standing atop a pile of rocks in Lower New York Bay nearly four miles north of Sandy Hook, the faded Romer Shoal Lighthouse has a colorful past and an uncertain future. The 109-year-old lighthouse was recently honored with a designation as an historic site on both the national and state registries. But that doesn't ensure it will even remain in New Jersey. While the sparkplug-like, 54-foot-tall lighthouse still throws its signal of two white flashes every 15 seconds as far as 15 miles to sea, it is a forlorn sight. Dirty paint -- top-half red, bottom-half white -- is peeling...

Authorities descended on a Staten Island home Thursday after learning of the presence of large amounts of potassium nitrate, authorities said. Police discovered more than a ton of the substance in a storage facility near the home. Small amounts of potassium nitrate, mercury, peroxide and sulfur were found inside the residence. The resident, a man in his 50s, was taken into custody and charges were pending. His name was not released. The substance is often used in pyrotechnics, but NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Thursday there was no evidence the man was involved in making bombs or selling bomb-making materials....

A budding teenage athlete has died after 'overdosing' on a common topical muscle cream. The medical examiner announced on Thursday that the 17-year-old track star, Arielle Newman of Castleton Corners, N.Y., died from a toxic dose of sports cream, the Staten Island Advance reported. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's officer told the Advance that the Notre Dame Academy track star's blood contained lethal amounts of methyl salicylate, the active ingredient found in muscle rubs such as BenGay and Icy Hot. Borakove said the petite girl used the topical medication excessively, allowing the poisons to accumulate in her...

The 20-year building boom on Staten Island, long the city’s fastest-growing borough, is decelerating drastically, thanks largely to a reining-in of the island’s freewheeling zoning laws, officials say. According to city figures released yesterday, permits for new buildings plunged by 43 percent last year. So substantial was the decline that Staten Island almost single-handedly accounted for a 10 percent dip in building permits citywide last year, which was the first drop in the city in a decade. ... Staten Island, still by far the least-populous borough in the city, was the fastest-growing county in the state, according to the 2000...

Sen. John McCain's announcement that he's exploring a 2008 presidential bid has Staten Island power brokers enthused about the popular lawmaker's prospects and his ties to the borough. "He's been a frequent visitor to these shores," said former Borough President Guy Molinari last night. "He's near and dear to my heart. He'd be a great president." Molinari -- who headed McCain's New York campaign in 2000 after initially backing George W. Bush for president -- still has strong ties to McCain. But he's got strong ties to another possible 2008 contender -- former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani, whom Molinari recruited...

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced plans yesterday for the most sweeping reorganization in its history of more than 150 years, recommending the closing of 31 parishes and 14 schools throughout the metropolitan region.At the same time, the archdiocese recommended creating five new parishes in Staten Island, Orange County and Dutchess County and constructing several new church buildings, mostly in northern Westchester County, Rockland County and Dutchess County, where many Catholics who have left the city have relocated.The closings would hit the archdiocese the hardest in its southern parts — the Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Yonkers and central...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The pilot at the helm of a Staten Island ferry during a 2003 crash that killed 11 people was sentenced Monday to a harsher-than-expected 18 months in prison. The city's former ferry director was sentenced to one year in prison. Assistant Capt. Richard Smith apologized to victims' families and recalled how he was too exhausted to have been working that day. "I will regret for the rest of my life that I did not just call in sick," Smith said. "I was on the wheel. I was responsible. I stand ready to suffer the consequences." The...

NEW YORK -- More than two years have passed since John Healy and 10 other passengers died in the horrific crash of the Staten Island ferry. But neither time nor a criminal case have calmed his wife's outrage. "This cut short people's lives," Kathy Healy said of one of the worst mass-transit disasters in city history. "No one has ever even gotten an apology."

RUSH: I'm going to mention this again today. It's from Slate.com. It's by Daniel Gross, and it's just... Well, it speaks for itself. It may also explain why journalists are so mean and nasty and jealous and vengeful is because they have no money. (clearing throat) Daniel Gross, Slate.com, Tuesday December 20th, actually, this ran. "The New York real-estate boom is claiming a different kind of casualty, according to an article in Sunday's New York Times. Keying off a new report issued by the Center for an Urban Future, Jennifer Steinhauer noted that, thanks to high housing prices, many...

NEW YORK (AP) -- The captain of the Staten Island ferry that crashed in October 2003, killing 11 people, is suing the city. Michael Gansas wants his job back, with back pay, or he wants the city to arbitrate his grievances in front of a labor panel. He claims city officials made him a scapegoat by firing him the month after the crash and that they made false statements about ferry regulations. In the suit, Gansas says it's untrue that he violated rules requiring two captains to be in the pilot house when a ferry docks because there was no...

Parents miss Mass, kids get ax The pastor of a Staten Island Catholic church is playing holy hardball - kicking hundreds of kids out of religious ed classes because their families aren't showing up at Mass. The Rev. Michael Cichon, pastor of St. Joseph/St. Thomas in Pleasant Plains, used each family's bar-coded donation envelope to track attendance. He's tossed about 300 kids from classes and told them not to reapply until next April. Without the classes, children cannot receive the sacraments, meaning some youngsters who thought they'd be making their First Communion next year will have to wait. The...

Mexican Mafia grows in Staten Island BY CARRIE MELAGO AND JOSE MARTINEZ New York Daily News NEW YORK - (KRT) - At the foot of the Bayonne Bridge, in the Staten Island neighborhood known as Little Mexico, crime is down - falling by more than 6 percent this year. But troubling signs remain.Fights regularly break out in the Port Richmond neighborhood's Latino nightclubs, and even more unnerving are the graffiti scrawlings for M13, a street gang with ties to the notorious Mexican Mafia."We've got a lot of problems right now with the gangs," said a 28-year-old Mexican man who ran...

N.J. Rescue teams planned to resume their search Monday morning for the body of a boy scout who fell off a whale watching boat this weekend and is presumed drowned. Nicholas Johs, 14, of Boy Scout Troop 26 of Staten Island, N.Y., fell off the Whale Watcher II at about 2 p.m. Saturday. At the time, the 90-foot boat was about 200 yards off Cape May Point, and the crew encountered some rough seas. Witnesses told police that despite several warnings, Johs and some other troop members were jumping up and down in the front of the boat in time...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — State Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell made an impromptu appearance on a radio talk show Wednesday to heatedly berate its host over a news story about the impending birth of a child to the party leader's girlfriend. The host of the show on WROW-AM in Albany is Fred Dicker, the New York Post's state editor. "I just came in to let your radio listeners know what a piece of slime that you are," Farrell declared in the Post's state Capitol office where Dicker was broadcasting his morning show. "You're a bully." Dicker defended his handling of the...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- International Speedway Corp. has paid $100 million to buy land in Staten Island to build a New York City track.  The company, which owns or operates 11 of NASCAR's major tracks, hopes to build a $600 million facility on dormant industrial land. Officials said Wednesday it could represent the largest construction project the motorsports giant has undertaken, nearly triple the amount it spent to build tracks in Kansas City, Kan., and the Chicago area.  Lesa France Kennedy, president of the family-controlled ISC, said the company has to complete a feasibility study before deciding whether to...

A Colombo crime-family associate who arranged union jobs for sons of mob bosses also arranged them for the son of the Staten Island borough president, court documents obtained by The Post reveal. Ralph Garguilo, a master mechanic for Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, was cooperating with the prosecution in a sweeping racketeering case involving organized-crime control of Locals 14 and 15.

It is not often that an incumbent with 24 years in office loses a primary. But Assemblyman Robert A. Straniere of Staten Island did just that on Sept. 14, raising questions about tensions within the Republican Party in the borough, and about voter dissatisfaction with Albany. Mr. Straniere, who was about to become the most senior Republican member of the Assembly, confronted two of the rarest circumstances in New York City politics earlier this month: a hotly contested Republican primary and an incumbency lost in a Republican bastion in New York City. Mr. Straniere said his defeat was as unanticipated...

<p>Prosecutors will unseal an indictment against the captain and pilot in last year's Staten Island ferry (search) crash on charges that include 11 counts of manslaughter, law enforcement sources said Tuesday.</p> <p>Richard Smith (search), an assistant captain who piloted the Staten Island ferry that crashed last year and killed 11 people, is expected to plead guilty Wednesday, when prosecutors announce the results of their 10-month investigation.</p>

[SNIP]Racing promoters have held preliminary discussions with economic officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration about constructing a NASCAR track on Staten Island, The New York Times reported Friday. NASCAR has looked at various locations in the region since plans to build a speedway at the Meadowlands in New Jersey foundered, said David Talley, a spokesman for the International Speedway Corporation, which owns 13 tracks nationwide. [SNIP]

HOUSTON — One evening two winters ago, a man in Staten Island, N.Y., absent-mindedly flipped through his mail. Inside one envelope was a stack of fake documents, including United Nations (news - web sites) and Defense Department identification cards, and a note: "We would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands."

When Representative Vito J. Fossella strode into a Staten Island senior center on a recent snowy afternoon, he was greeted as something of a conquering hero. After entering the dining area, he was introduced by the center's director, who mentioned that he was a possible candidate for mayor. "Maybe he'll run for mayor and we can get rid of Bloomberg," the director said. With that, the group of about 50 people erupted with wild cheers and sustained applause. It is not uncommon these days for Mr. Fossella, a Republican from Staten Island, to be described as a possible challenger to...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN) -- Michael Gansas, captain of the Staten Island ferry that crashed into a pier in October, has been fired by the New York City Department of Transportation for not cooperating with investigators.</p> <p>In a statement released Wednesday, the DOT accused Gansas of "failure to cooperate with National Transportation Safety Board and city investigations into the October 15 tragedy of the Andrew J. Barberi."</p>

Staten Island Democratic Association's meeting this week featured "guest of honor" criminal defense lawyer Lynne Stewart, a former Islander who is facing charges of terrorism. Ms. Stewart keynote address updated the group on the government's case against her. Ms. Stewart, a former Stapleton resident who graduated from Wagner College, was arrested in 2002 for allegedly providing material support for terrorism, among other charges. New charges have just been filed against Ms. Stewart charging her with conspiracy to commit terrorism by using convicted World Trade Center bomber Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman as "personnel" to carry out her acts. Additionally, she is...

NEW YORK (AP) -- There was no evidence that the pilot at the controls of a ferry that crashed last month had taken prescription drugs, a city official said Saturday, a day after federal prosecutors took over the investigation. Assistant Capt. Richard Smith said in the hours after the crash that he had taken blood pressure medication earlier in the day and slumped over the controls. However, a city official familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that blood tests showed the pilot had not taken prescription drugs during the 12 to 14 hours before the...

<p>Ten current and former Staten Island Ferry workers say last Monday was the first time the city ever notified them of a rule requiring the captain, rather than the assistant captain, to be in the dockside pilothouse every time the boat lands - a rule the city says Capt. Michael Gansas broke during the fatal ferry crash two weeks earlier.</p>