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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is weathering criticism for his handling of recently-resigned Assemblyman Vito Lopez's harassment suit. In response, he's announced plans to create an independent investigator for sexual harassment complaints and mandatory reporting of them. Many are calling for the speaker's resignation, including one Assemblyman who threatened to leave the Democratic conference if he didn't step down. Silver has apologized for authorizing a secret settlement in Lopez's harassment suit, but says resignation is "ridiculous." The scandal may have weakened his bargaining power, but he has a strong grasp on power in the state. Gov. Cuomo has reportedly decided not to call a special election to replace Lopez to keep him from wielding influence over his successor. The governor also says the harassment scandal proves the need for passage of his women's agenda.

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NYPD To Step Up Presence Following Anti-Gay Murder (Wall Street Journal)

Judge Criticizes ‘High Error Rate’ Of Police Stops (NY Times)

NYPD Messages To Muslim Informant: 'Get Pictures' (Associated Press)

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The U.S. Court of Appeals decided a Brooklyn judge’s ruling that the Fire Department intentionally discriminated against black and Latino applicants went too far, and ordered a new judge hear that portion of the suit again due to questions of his impartiality. But they left in place many of the judge's other orders, such as finding that previous tests were discriminating, mandating retroactive pay for those who were unfairly screened out, and the appointment of a monitor to track progress in hiring people of color. That monitor's time was shortened to 5 years from 10 years, however. And the city won't have to hire outside consultants to hold minority recruitment campaigns. The court altered or removed 29 of the judge's 69 prohibitions and remedial steps.

Other Stories We're Following

Stuy Town Tenants Face Big Rent Hikes After Judge's Ruling (Daily News)

Lopez Not Expected To Face Charges (NY Post)

Internal Bloomberg Report: Stop-And-Frisk Judge Has Cop Bias (Daily News)

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It has been three months since Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave his State of the State Address and announced a 10-point plan to address injustices facing women in today's society.

Since then, Cuomo has successfully passed major gun law changes and enacted a state budget. 

Supporters of the plan expectthe legislation will resemble the already-proposed Reproductive Health Act that would take abortion out of New York's penal code and make it part of health law. But the wide-ranging proposal was also supposed to deal with human trafficking, pay discrepency and sexual harassment.

Cuomo indicated earlier this week on Susan Arbetter's The Capitol Pressroom radio show that he is in no hurry to introduce precise bill language on the issue. 

“Oftentimes they don’t want the bill to come to the floor for a vote because they don’t want to take the position,” Cuomo told Arbetter, adding, “What we need to do is strip away the devil is in the details as just an excuse.”

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Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that there have been no specific threats to New York City, but the department is reviewing security plans for upcoming public events. The police received 77 reports of suspicious packages in the past 24 hours, while the norm is 21. La Guardia Airport's main terminal was temporarily evacuated after an unattended parcel was found. Mayor Bloomberg used the Boston incident to highlight that the city must remain vigilant against terrorists and that "special interests" must not shape security strategies. He continues to take the subway part of the way to City Hall. The Saudi national that the NY Post had reported on was a witness, not a suspect.

Other Stories We're Following

Raising The Salary Bar For Some State Workers (Albany Times Union)

Medical Marijuana Gaining Steam In Albany, Cuomo Stalls (Daily News)

A Bid To Make Peace In The Food Truck Wars (WNYC)

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Tagged in: Civil Rights NYPD terror

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Speaker Quinn, the frontrunner in the mayoral race, said a council bill to create an Inspector General's office for the NYPD likely has enough votes to override a mayoral veto. The office would be able to issue subpoenas, interview witnesses, and look broadly at police procedures and policies. Individual misconduct cases would still be handled by Internal Affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board. Quinn said talks were also progressing on three companion proposals to set new stop-and-frisk rules. A bill to create an NYPD monitor was introduced in June, but Quinn kept it from a vote. Bill de Blasio, a Democrat also running for mayor, said the monitor needed to have a budget independent of the mayor and City Council. Quinn would still retain Commissioner Kelly, who is opposed to the monitor.

Other Stories We're Following

Deal In Albany Would Extend Higher Taxes On Top Earners (NY Times)

NYPD Officer: Police Brass Dictate Stops, Arrests (Associated Press)

Ten Domestic Violence Victims File Lawsuit Against NYCHA (Daily News)

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A witness now says that the boy fatally shot by police in East Flatbush earlier this week had no gun, as the officers claim. A gun was recovered from the scene, however. On Monday night, a group had splintered from a peaceful protest over the shooting and rioted. Local shops along Church Ave. were shuttering early yesterday in fear of more tumult. An offshoot of the Bloods gang has put out a hit on any cop in retaliation for the killing of the boy, who is said to have been a gang member. Both police involved in the shooting are people of color. During a budget hearing yesterday, Councilman Jumaane Williams said more violence could be expected if the police didn't repair their relationship with poor and minority communities, because the unrest was about more than this isolated shooting.

Other Stories We're Following

Courts Rein In Bloomberg’s Power to Make Policy (NY Times)

Minority Groups And Bottlers Team Up In Battles Over Soda (NY Times)

Soda Ban Faces Long Battle Ahead (Wall Street Journal)

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Thousands of barrels of biological evidence in criminal cases were damaged by Sandy flood waters in Brooklyn warehouses. Each barrel can contain several pieces of evidence such as bloodstained clothes and bedding. Hundreds of cars and motorcycles held as evidence were also inundated. Thousands of bicycles were as well. It's unclear how many cases will be affected. It could depend on whether damage is done to exclusive evidence needed to prove a case. Often, evidence in storage facilities has already been processed.

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A civil rights organization is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor the general election in Queens County after the city announced it would not provide Bengali-language ballots as required under federal law.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund announced today that it had submitted a letter to the DOJ requesting that monitors be deployed to oversee voting in six states, including New York.

AALDEF has been at the forefront of underscoring the failure of the city's Board of Election to adhere to federal law requiring language assistance for Asian voters in Queens.

The BOE says it has a plan to provide translators and some materials in Bengali for the general election on Nov. 6. But it blames technical problems with the voting machines for being unable to provide ballots translated into Bengali.

"Although the Board of Elections has offered to provide translated sample ballots, comparing a Bengali ballot to an English ballot is cumbersome for voters," AALDEF attorney Glenn D. Magpantay said in his letter to the DOJ.  "The use of translated sample ballots is a new and completely untested procedure in New York City. Moreover, there is little assurance that such translated sample ballots will even be at poll sites for Bengali-speaking voters to access."

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Testimony began today on a class-action suit against an NYPD program that allows police to stop-and-frisk anyone in the halls and stairwells of private buildings enrolled in the 20-year-old Clean Halls program, which gives them permission to do so. The New York Civil Liberties Union and six black or Latino plaintiffs from the Bronx say the stops are unconstitutional and unwarranted. They claim the police have unlawfully stopped more than 1,000 minority residents for trespassing in those buildings. The Bronx District Attorney’s office has been tossing arrests made under the program unless the arresting officer was interviewed. Meanwhile, the department issued a directiveordering cops to document when an assistant DA refuses to take a case so it can be reported to and tracked by the legal bureau.

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Commissioner Kelly has called for a grand jury investigation into the fatal shooting of a driver by police last week on the grand Central Parkway. The officer is said to be 'anxious' to testify in order to clear his name. It is routine for prosecutors to bring fatal shootings by the police before a grand jury. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown is ultimately in charge of empaneling a grand jury and is investigating the shooting already. Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg says appointing an inspector general to oversee the NYPD would bring crime back to the streets of the city.

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The officer who shot an unarmed man on the grand Central Parkway last week was previously named in two lawsuits alleging civil rights violations and police brutality. He says he thought the victim shot Thursday was reaching for a gun. There was a hand drill on the floor but no weapon. Meanwhile, community members rallied in front of Police Headquarters to protest another recent fatal shooting - this one a case where it's questioned whether officers followed protocol for dealing with 'emotionally disturbed persons' barricaded in their homes. In an additional case, the department is now apologizing for sending a bill for damages to a cop car to the mother of a man killed by that car after a chase. The death is being investigated by prosecutors.

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A police officer shot and killed an unarmed man after pulling him over on the Grand Central Parkway last night, and the passenger says his hands were on the wheel when it happened. It's still unclear why the officer shot his gun. The driver, an Army reservist, was pulled over for cutting the officer's truck off.

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A judge ruled that hundreds of protestors at the Republican National Convention in 2004 were arrested without probable cause on Fulton St. The city may now be liable for significant monetary damages. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan said police could not have known whether each individual there intended to break the law. He denied requests to make the same ruling for a group of protestors on 16th St. during the convention. The judge also decided that police broke the law by fingerprinting protestors with identification who were arrested that day. But the fact that protestors were arrested rather than issued summonseswas deemed acceptable, since intelligence sources found that demonstrators planned unlawful activity.

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Civil rights and educational organizations are alleging that New York City's single-test admittance policy for eight top specialized high schools discriminates against black and Hispanic students. The groups filed a lawsuit yesterday to have the policy found in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the entrance exam, saying "life isn't always fair." “We’re not here about equal results. We’re here about equal opportunity," he continued.

 

In the Press...

NYC: World's Tallest Ferris Wheel Planned For Staten Island (Gotham Gazette)

McDonald to abandon re-election bid (Gotham Gazette)

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