L Train Trouble; Brooklyn Bridge Park Lawsuit Update; Nude Melania Trump and More Brooklyn Briefs

Join us for the 84th Pct. #NationalNightOut. Tuesday in Brooklyn Bridge Park at the BBQ area near the marina. 5-8PM pic.twitter.com/6RAqnUZ3iG

— NYPD 84th Precinct (@NYPD84Pct) August 1, 2016

- Yep. The NY Post went and published nude photos of Melania Trump on its cover and inside pages. [The Hill]

- Fresh mischief: Brooklyn Bridge Park seeks to move Pier 6 lawsuit from Manhattan to Brooklyn court. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Atlantic Yards/ Pacific Park report outs the "vapid" Instagram blogger who gushes over 550 Vanderbilt -- another paid promotion by Berlin Rosen. [Atlantic Yards/ Pacific Park]

- It appears that the MTA, NYC and NYS have a lot of planning to do before the L train shuts down and communications does not look all that good. [Politico]

- The 20 best Brooklyn albums this year so far. [BK]

- DUMBO’s First Thursday Gallery Walk, August 4^th from 6 to 9 p.m.,includes  This Land is Your Land,a series of videos projected onto the Manhattan Bridge. [Art in DUMBO]

- Retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who spoke at DNC, says electing Donald Trump could result in ‘civil military crisis.' [Daily News]

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Cuomo's State of the State Was Party Central

By Diana Robinson, Wikimedia

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State Address on Jan. 13 was "like Albany’s version of the Super Bowl," reports the Brooklyn Eagle -- with parties and receptions surrounding the big event.

Parties thrown by City & State, the Brooklyn Eagle, the Queens Tribune, Carl Heastie and Thomas DiNapoli,among others, attracted large crowds.

Because the people's business is hard work.

More here.


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De Blasio on Sheldon Silver's Arrest and Conviction

Sheldon Silver, Assembly

Mayor Bill De Blasio on NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver upon his arrest in January:
"Although the charges announced today are certainly very serious, I want to note that I’ve always known Shelly Silver to be a man of integrity, and he certainly has due rights and I think that we should let the process play out here.”

De Blasio upon Sheldon Silver's conviction Monday on charges of fraud and extortion:
“Today’s verdict is a reminder that the public good must be the only priority for elected officials. The people of New York expect and deserve better.”

More at the Observer.


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Brooklyn Officials Want Medicaid to Pay for Oxygen Treatment that NYS Calls Unproven

By Edward Stauch /Wlm Schultze*

State officials announced legislation Wednesday that would require Medicaid to pay for a medical treatment involving topical oxygen, currently used to treat severe, non-healing wounds of the type common in diabetes.

DOH said it was going to end payments for the treatment, calling it unproven and saying other treatments were available.

State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Park Slope, East Flatbush) and Assistant Assembly Speaker Felix Ortiz (D-Red Hook, Sunset Park) told reporters that the issue is important to Brooklyn residents because the largest percentage of patients using this treatment live in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn suffers from disproportionate diabetes.

For the full story, see the Brooklyn Eagle.

*Illustration courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

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Brooklyn's Lentol Withdraws Bid for Assembly Speaker Spot

Brooklynites just lost their chance to have one of their own in the powerful position of NYS Assembly speaker.

Brooklyn Assemblymember Joseph Lentol suddenly withdrew from the race on Thursday, the Brooklyn Eagle reports. Lentol cited the need for a united front in Albany in the wake of the scandal surrounding Speaker Sheldon Silver.

This gives Bronx Assemblyman Carl Heastie’s bid a boost, the Daily News says.

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Brooklyn Election Factoid: What Percentage Voted for Cuomo on the WFP, WEP Lines?

By Diana Robinson, Wikimedia Commons

Among the Brooklyn election stats uncovered by the Brooklyn Eagle: Roughly 67 percent of Brooklyn residents voted for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the Democratic line on Tuesday. Another seven percent voted for Cuomo on the Working Families Party line.

Only one percent voted for Cuomo on his Women's Equality Party line, "despite sweetly-worded ads made by Cuomo's female family members," the Eagle reports.

About 12 percent of Brooklynites voted for Cuomo's challenger Rob Astorino.

Full Brooklyn election results at the Eagle website.


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Friday Ebola Wrapup: 8 NYS Hospitals | 'It's Really Hard to Catch' | Lockdown Mode? | A 'Giant Hoax'

* On Thursday Gov. Cuomo said eight hospitals across New York state were chosen as special Ebola centers. Four of the hospitals are located in New York City and two in Long Island, leaving just two for the rest of the state -- in Rochester and Syracuse. [More at Brooklyn Eagle.]
Pictured above from left: Dr. Howard Zucker (DOH), Gov. Cuomo, Pat Foye (Port Authority), Tom Prendergast (MTA). 

* There are only four hospitals with biocontainment facilities in the United States, and they have 11 beds that can be used at any one time for Ebola patients. Four of those beds are currently being occupied by Ebola patients. [More at ABC News]

* Obama on Thursday urged Americans to keep the matter in perspective.  "Ebola is really hard to catch." Just a handful of cases, people. [White House YouTube]

* 75% of those who die from the Ebola virus are women. That's because most of the primary caregivers, nurses, and cross-border traders in those counties are female. [More at Bust]

* The situation in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is deteriorating. [More at W.H.O.]

* Preppers are prepping to go into Ebola Lockdown Mode. [More at The Daily Sheeple]

* And finally: Ebola is a giant hoax: "It's not the Ebola that's going to get you, it's the vaccination" . . . "The thing they put to your temple that you think is reading your temperature? It's a mind-control device." [More at Free Radio Revolution]


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Cuomo's Declares Yogurt To Be NYS's 'Official Snack'

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on Wednesday making yogurt the official snack of New York.

According to the Governor's office, New York is the top producer of yogurt in the nation. The "tremendous boon in Greek-style yogurt" is one of the reasons for this.

According to The Hill, the United States Department of Agriculture has announced that it will test out Greek-style yogurt in school lunches in four different states. This test was backed by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.

According to Reason.com, New York based Chobani, which sells the most Greek-style yogurt in the U.S., is a prime beneficiary of the school lunch test.

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Six Weeks Till Election: Today Is National Voter Registration Day

Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day!

Volunteers, celebrities, and organizations will hit the streets to register tens of thousands of voters.

Are you 18? Election Day is November 4. You can register online.


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Mad As Hell? Tuesday Is Primary Day and Your Vote Will Actually Do Something

Don't like hospitals and libraries closing? How about crowded schools or condos going up in your park? So few people vote in primaries that the ones who do have the strength of many. So vote, and rule the world.

Tuesday is #NYCPrimary. Not sure who to vote for or who @superwuster is? For full wrap-up of #Brooklyn races, visit http://t.co/wlhVnajpw2
— Brooklyn Daily Eagle (@BklynEagle) September 8, 2014

Brooklyn 2014 Primary Guide

- Brooklyn cyclist may have found her hit and run driver, but cops too busy to question him.  [Gothamist]

- Illegal pink clothing bins are popping up all over Gowanus. [PMFA]

- Real estate agent boldly re-imagines Bed-Stuy without black people. [Brokelyn]

- In related news, two non-white Brooklyn women tired of 'white people moving into the area' force tenants out at gunpoint. [NY Daily News]

- Brooklyn libraries to have longer hours. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- NYPD launches crackdown on drivers illegally passing school buses. [Sheepshead Bites]

- Drag kings and queens wigged out at the cross-dressing fest Bushwig over the weekend in Bushwick. [Brooklyn Paper]

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Kathy Hochul, Cuomo's Running Mate, Sure Talks Like a Republican, Walks Like a Republican

Zephyr Teachout, running for Governor of NYS, and Tim Wu, running for Lieutenant Governor, have put together a video Gov. Cuomo's running mate Kathy Hochul.

In her own words, Hochel describes herself as basically a Republican.

She lists as her selling points things like "I've always had the Conservative Party endorsement," and "Of course, I've voted many times to repeal [Obamacare], and "I support the Keystone Pipeline, unlike the President and his administration.

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Common Core: Weird Stuff Going On with NYC's State Test Numbers?

Photo: Renato Ganoza

 Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters, reveals some odd discrepancies in the number of kids the state says took the NYS Common Core tests, and the number the city says took them.

The state initially said more than 22,000 NYC kids opted out of the NY state ELA exams and more than 26,000 the math exams. This is more than three times last year.

It seems the state would have failed its own math exams.

"State officials suspect there was an error in the way a large group of city students were coded in the state database of third- through eighth-graders who took the tests," the state told the News.

Haimson said, "My response to all this: with such erratic and unreliable information, how can anyone trust any of the test score data from NYSED?"

Full story by Haimson here.


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Schneider Charges Nurse with Overbilling . . . Brooklyn Still Waiting to Hear About SUNY

#Medicaid fraud will not be tolerated in New York: We've charged #ROC nurse with billing for hours she didn't work → http://t.co/5OJGuH8dsy
— Eric Schneiderman (@AGSchneiderman) August 20, 2014

Eric Schneiderman caught a nurse stealing Medicaid money. Bravo! Glad to hear Medicaid fraud won't be tolerated.

We assume that SUNY and Gov. Cuomo are next on his hit list?

@AGSchneiderman Glad you got nurse. Now go after #SUNY for misplacing $100 million at #LICH. #Brooklyn #saveLICH #NYC http://t.co/tyLyffeA9C
— Brooklyn Trending (@BKTrending) August 20, 2014

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McBrooklyn Down On the Farm

Seriously large geese. Photos MK Metz

McBrooklyn and friends took off a couple of days to visit an organic farm upstate. The poultry, cows and pigs appeared to be glowing with health. (At least to us Brooklynites.)

The grass really is greener on the other side of the fence!

This one got out of the pen and into the lush, green grass. Run chicken, run! (Buggers are quicker than you would think.)

We'll be back Monday.

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Schumer: Regulate Pesky Drones

Shrike drone. Photo courtesy NYC

Out of control.

That's what Sen. Charles Schumer worries is happening with drones, which are apparently spying on us, delivering drugs for dealers, and crashing into things.

He wants FAA to rein these babies in.

When drones are outlawed, will only our overlords have drones?

Previous drone story

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Cuomo Fires Salvo at Zephyr Teachout in Brooklyn Supreme Court

In papers filed on Tuesday in Supreme Court in Brooklyn, two Cuomo proxies argued that Zephyr Teachout, trying to get on the Democratic primary ballot for Governor of New York, “has not been a continuous resident of the state” from November of 2009.

Teachout says bring it on, Governor.

More at Capital New York.


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That Awful 'Brooklyn Girls' Video; LIRR Strike Talk; Brooklyn Food Tour and More

Here is Catey Shaw's  "Brooklyn Girls" music video -- the one that has caused so much hate it's gone viral. This may be the thing that breaks the back of Brooklyn Cool.

- Would you cancel your vacation in Italy just because of a LIRR strike? [Brooklyn Eagle]

- What's a couple dozen thousand? Brooklyn beep Eric Adams failed to include $36,000 rental property income on botched financial disclosure form. [NY Daily News]

- There's a Brooklyn food tour. [Trip Advisor]

- WTF? The Public Authorities Control Board just signed off on a loan from the state’s clean water fund to finance the new Tappan Zee Bridge. [Streetsblog]

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Cuomo Wants to Bring the Olympics to Brooklyn. Oh, Oh

By Alistair Ross, Flickr

Gov. Cuomo has apparently tapped Mayor Bloomberg’s failed 2012 Olympic go getter, Daniel Doctoroff, to try to bring the Olympic games to New York City in 2024.

Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn was considered a potential gymnastics venue for the 2012 bid, as was Williamsburg, where an Aquatic Center was planned.

But what will happen if there's an outbreak of MERS or (heaven forbid) a terrorist attack -- in a Brooklyn without enough hospitals?

The emergency departments are already stacked high at NY Methodist and Brooklyn Hospital. Shockingly, Cuomo is closing (on May 22) Long Island College Hospital, just two miles from Barclays and four miles from Williamsburg.

The Governor's foolish theory that Brooklynites don't need hospitals will be projected onto the world's screen if a disaster strikes. He should give up his grandiose plans and develop a health care plan for Brooklyn.

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Boy, 5, Killed in Crown Heights; LICH Bidding Attracts Hospital Operators; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Boy, 5, struck and killed by van in Crown Heights after stepping onto street. [NY Daily News]

- Fire in Boerum Hill sends five people to the hospital Sunday, including four children. [NY1]

- LICH bidding attracts strong interest from full service hospital teams. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Just next to Floyd Bennett Field sits Dead Horse Beach, which not only contains the remnants of dead horses, but also perfume bottles from the early 1900s, creepy toys, and even (reportedly), old hand guns. [Urban Exploration]

- 25-bed rehab center proposed for Beard Street in Red Hook.  [CB 6 pdf]

- Activists pitch historic designation for Gowanus. [Brooklyn Paper]

- Orthodox Brooklyn brothers plead guilty in "get" coersion. [Jewish Voice]

- NY State's open government websites. [Gotham Gazette]

- Guess you knew that: Teacup pigs are a scam. [Treehugger]

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This Is Why We Needed Occupy Sandy: NY State's Emergency Services Too Devastated and Demoralized to Function

Sandy volunteers in Red Hook. Photo: MK Metz

A post-Sandy report obtained by the Albany Times-Union offers a scathing peak peek inside the operations of New York State's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services during and after Superstorm Sandy.

What it reveals is a demoralized agency operating out of a cold-war bunker in Albany using a computer system incapable of communicating with other systems, trying to cope after its most experienced and knowledgeable staff -- fully 50 percent of its personnel -- took early retirement after being labeled "non-essential" the year before the storm.

The report (posted below, click on the bottom right rectangle to expand) exists in two versions. The one below contains additional text in blue, bolded type meant only for the eyes of DHSES Commissioner Jerome Hauer.

While the report is couched in terms non-critical of Gov. Cuomo, it paints a clear picture how his demand to set up a "regional" OEM center for himself in Manhattan caused chaos, sucking the "A team" out of HQ in Albany, and leaving a resentful and understaffed "B team" trying to function without its most experienced leaders.

This may also explain why a study of Brooklyn's critical surge-capacity hospital and health needs has never been carried out.

Sandy "Notes" After-Action Report

Also mentioned in the Huffington Post.

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