New York State and the federal government have come to a deal to use $8 billion in Medicaid savings to, in part, help revive Brooklyn hospitals. Struggling hospitals will receive $500 million of the funds for short-term survival, while $6.42 billion will go to help hospitals and other institutions across the state find long-term solutions. Brooklyn hospitals including Interfaith Medical Center, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Brookdale University Hospital are expected to be saved by the funds. Mayor Bill de Blasio made saving Brooklyn’s hospitals one of his major campaign platform planks. Last summer, De Blasio was arrestedprotesting the closure of Long Island College Hospital, which is still open. A tentative deal on the Medicaid savings was reached between the feds and the State in February, but a final agreement was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "We will finally be able use the billions in savings we generated by reforming the state's Medicaid system to protect and improve health care services for millions of New Yorkers," Cuomo said in a statement.
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Politicos are marveling at the fact that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing a problem he can’t make easily go away now that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has seized the files of The Moreland Commission on Public Corruption and made clear that he is willing to investigate the governor’s influence on the commission as well as broader legislative corruption. Capital New York writes that Cuomo won’t be able to disembowel Bharara like he has his political rivals in the Democratic Party because Bharara’s position is so powerful and independent of the governor. Members of Moreland continue to speak anonymously about the Cuomo Administration’s meddling and “bullying” and a group has launched an ad blitz attacking Cuomo for abandoning his fight against corruption. The trouble comes for Cuomo as he gears up for reelection and tries to keep the dissatisfied Working Families Party from endorsing a challenger on his left. Cuomo already faces the criticism of Republican opponent Rob Astorino and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, as well as good government groups and other activists.
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U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara escalated his criticism of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to shutter the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, which had only just begun. “It was disbanded before its time,” he said on WNYC's "Brian Lehrer Show." “Nine months may be the proper and natural gestational period for a child, but in our experience it is not the amount of time necessary for a public corruption prosecution to mature.” Bharara's office had a truck pick up documents from the commission yesterday, files full of "unseemly" information on elected officials. Bharara went on to stress the importance of independence in an investigative body, and said if there was interference into the commission's probes, it should be taken very seriously. Cuomo defended his actions, saying the commission was never meant to be a permanent body and that it produced tangible positive results. It was created after a rash of arrests of state lawmakers, brought on by Bharara's office.
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De Blasio 100: What the Mayor Said, and Didn't
Ben Max examines the mayor's speech on "the future of New York City," noting some key elements included and missing.
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Kill Fee: The Price of Silencing Moreland
David King reports on the money spent by the corruption commission convened and disbanded by Governor Cuomo with minimal results.
De Blasio's Hundred Days, Then and Now
Ben Max outlines Bill de Blasio's first hundred days as mayor, as public advocate, and as a city council member, finding some common threads.
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