Judge Blocks Cuomo's School Aid Cut
State Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez temporarily blocked Gov. Andrew Cuomo's from witholding $260 million in aid to New York City schools saying that students should not be punished because the Bloomberg administration and the teachers union could not reach a deal on teacher evaluations. The judge says funds can't be witheld until the lawsuit is resolved but the Cuomo administration has said it plans to appeal. Cuomo set a January deadline for the city to come up with a teacher evaluations deadline but last-minute negotiations brokedown and both sides have been playing the blame game ever since. Cuomo has since said he will impose a teacher evaluation system on the city if negotiations aren't successful by June. The judge noted this saying, "There are alternate means of achieving [evaluation] goals while preserving federal grant funds without the long term effects of financial sanctions on the students," he wrote.
In the Press...
Quinn Bloomberg At Odds Over Bill to Cut Street Vendor Fines (NY 1)
Mayoral Candidates Tangle Over Business (Wall Street Journal)
"Sequester" Means Cuts to NY's Economy, Schools (Lower Hudson Journal)
Court Temporarily Halts Plan to Close Brooklyn Hospital (NY Times)
State Starts Hotline to Report Gas Price Gouging (Lower Hudson Journal)
Wright Introduces Legislation to Eliminate High Paying Jobs at City Housing Board (Daily News)
Cuomo Administration Publicly Rebukes State Worker That Spoke to the Press (NY Times)
Con Ed Official Questioned Over Spectra Pipeline (Chelsea Now)
