King Cuomo, Errand Boy Eric, Prideful People, and Constitution Lovers

take note. Andrew the Church going Cuomo can't explain why the OTBs in NY will not be open on BOTH Easter Sundays in 2012. NY PML SEC 105 violates the constitutional rights of homosexuals and religious people secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.  NY PML Sec 105 does not even apply to the OTBs.  Put Errand Boy Eric to work and sue. Surely there is a homosexual bettor and a religious zealot who agrees that NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 protects them both? Bettors don't care if Andrew Cuomo goes to church. They do care when their CHURCH, OTB, is not open so that they can pray whenever they wish!

 

there is racing all across the US on both Gregorian Calendar Easter Sunday and Julian Calendar Easter Sunday.

unite married homosexual bettors and religious zealots and bet, bet, bet, if you wish or go to church, OTB Church, or do anything you wish

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News

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Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...

§  105. Supplementary regulatory powers of the board.  Notwithstanding
  any inconsistent provision of law,  the  board  through  its  rules  and
  regulations  or  in  allotting  dates  for  racing  or in licensing race
  meetings at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted  shall  be  empowered
  to:  (i)  permit racing at which pari-mutuel betting is conducted on any
  or all dates from the first day of January through the thirty-first  day
  of December, inclusive of Sundays but exclusive of December twenty-fifth
  and  Palm  Sunday  and  Easter  Sunday; and (ii) fix minimum and maximum
  charges for admission at any race meeting.

Sunday, April 15, 2012 Live Racing

Track  Code	Track Name	Entry	Scratch	1st Post   ET	1st Post   Local	Time   Zone	Stakes Race(s)	Stakes Grade	T.V. Indicator
AQU	AQUEDUCT	72	0	1:00 PM	1:00 PM	EDT
FON	FONNER PARK	48	0	2:30 PM	1:30 PM	CDT
GG	GOLDEN GATE FIELDS	48	24	3:45 PM	12:45 PM	PDT
HAW	HAWTHORNE	72	0	2:30 PM	1:30 PM	CDT
HST	HASTINGS RACECOURSE	96	0	4:50 PM	1:50 PM	PDT
KEE	KEENELAND	48	0	1:15 PM	1:15 PM	EDT
LA	LOS ALAMITOS (MX)	72	48	8:00 PM	5:00 PM	PDT
LS	LONE STAR PARK	72	0	2:35 PM	1:35 PM	CDT
MNR	MOUNTAINEER CASINO RACETRACK & RESORT	72	48	7:00 PM	7:00 PM	EDT
PRX	PARX RACING	120	96	12:25 PM	12:25 PM	EDT
RP	REMINGTON PARK (MX)	48	0	2:30 PM	1:30 PM	CDT
SA	SANTA ANITA PARK	72	24	3:30 PM	12:30 PM	PDT
SUN	SUNLAND PARK	120	24	2:45 PM	12:45 PM	MDT
TAM	TAMPA BAY DOWNS	48	0	12:25 PM	12:25 PM	EDT
TUP	TURF PARADISE	120	0	4:00 PM	1:00 PM	MST
WO	WOODBINE	72	24	1:00 PM	1:00 PM	EDT

Sunday, April 8, 2012 Live Racing

Track  Code	Track Name	Entry	Scratch	1st Post   ET	1st Post   Local	Time   Zone	Stakes Race(s)	Stakes Grade	T.V. Indicator
GG	GOLDEN GATE FIELDS	48	24	3:45 PM	12:45 PM	PDT
GP	GULFSTREAM PARK	72	0	12:35 PM	12:35 PM	EDT
RP	REMINGTON PARK (MX)	48	0	2:30 PM	1:30 PM	CDT
SA	SANTA ANITA PARK	72	24	3:30 PM	12:30 PM	PDT
SUN	SUNLAND PARK	120	24	2:45 PM	12:45 PM	MDT
WO	WOODBINE	72	24	1:00 PM	1:00 PM	EDT

 

Judge Says Suit to Void Marriage Act May Proceed

By THOMAS KAPLAN

Published: November 29, 2011

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Harshly criticizing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for the tactics he used to win approval of same-sex marriage, a state judge has ruled that a lawsuit challenging the enactment of New York’s Marriage Equality Act can proceed.

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• Times Topic: Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships

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Acting Justice Robert B. Wiggins of State Supreme Court in Livingston County, in the Finger Lakes region, wrote that it was possible that the Republican majority in the State Senate had violated the state’s open meetings law as it discussed whether to bring the marriage bill to a vote.
His ruling offered a flash of hope for the conservative group that filed the lawsuit, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which is asking the court to overturn the marriage law and nullify the weddings that have been performed under it.
The state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, had sought the dismissal of the lawsuit. Justice Wiggins dismissed some elements of the case but said it could proceed on the open-meetings issue.
His ruling, which was dated Nov. 18, was critical of closed-door meetings and expedited voting procedures that preceded passage of the measure in the final moments of this year’s legislative session.
“It is ironic that much of the state’s brief passionately spews sanctimonious verbiage on the separation of powers in the governmental branches,” Justice Wiggins wrote, “and clear arm-twisting by the Executive on the Legislative permeates this entire process.”
In the ruling, which was four singled-spaced pages, Justice Wiggins focused on the legality of private meetings held by Senate Republicans before the vote. Four Republicans ultimately voted for the bill, providing the critical votes for its passage.
The lawsuit alleged that several of the meetings — including one hosted by Mr. Cuomo at the Executive Mansion and another in which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg addressed the Republicans in a closed-door session at the Capitol — should have been subject to the open meetings law, because they included not only the Republican caucus, but also elected officials who are not Republicans.
In a court filing, Mr. Schneiderman rejected that suggestion, saying the sessions were exempt from the open meetings law because meetings of party caucuses can remain private, even if guests are invited to attend.
Justice Wiggins said that there were “not sufficient facts before the court to determine the matter,” and that the case would proceed.
Opponents of same-sex marriage were delighted with the ruling.
“We have said all along that we look forward to our day in court,” said the Rev. Jason J. McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. “Now we will have it. The legality of our legislative process must be protected.”
Same-sex marriage advocates said they remained confident that the Marriage Equality Act would be upheld.
“Some extremist groups are making a desperate attempt to stop the rocket ship of equality with a few feathers in the wind,” said Ross D. Levi, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda. “But we are confident they will not succeed.”
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo declined to comment, and a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman said the attorney general’s office was reviewing the ruling. Mr. Schneiderman is also seeking the dismissal of a separate lawsuit filed by opponents of the marriage law in federal court.
Justice Wiggins was particularly critical of the governor’s use of a procedural maneuver that allowed legislators to vote on the Marriage Equality Act immediately after the bill was drafted, rather than waiting for three days, as is normally required.

another example of people who won't ask for a FREE OPINION from

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman so that bettors can bet at Nassau OTB and workers can work at Nassau OTB (if they do not wish to take vacation) on Easters Sundays and Palm Sunday in 2012.

How can OTB make money when it is not open to take bets?

 

Extension for Nassau in OTB suit

Originally published: November 29, 2011 2:58 PM
Updated: November 29, 2011 10:01 PM
By YANCEY ROY  yancey.roy@newsday.com

Photo credit: Kevin P Coughlin | An unidentified man reads a betting sheet in front of the Nassau Downs Off Track Betting, or OTB, location on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square. (Oct. 18, 2011)

ALBANY -- A judge has granted another extension to the Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp. in its long-running legal fight with New York harness tracks, OTB officials said Tuesday.
Judge Guy P. Tomlinson gave the parties until Jan. 13 to try to reach a settlement, Nassau OTB chairman Joseph Cairo said. Tomlinson is seated in the state's fourth judicial district, which covers Schenectady, headquarters of the state Racing and Wagering Board.
The fight involves lawsuits filed by harness tracks against Nassau and other regional OTBs for annual payments of simulcasting proceeds since 2004. Nassau is liable for $4.5 million, the largest tab for any OTB in New York. The county faced an Oct. 31 deadline for paying $647,000, the amount the Racing Board says Nassau owes for 2010 alone.
"We anticipate, certainly before the holidays, sitting down and trying to settle this thing," Cairo said.

Chechen's can read English and think better than Andrew Cuomo

Dear Sweet Ducky and company:
Please sue send a lawyer to sue Andrew Cuomo to vindicate the rights of New York Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 that are being abridged by the OTBs, public benefit corporations, not being open on all Easter Sundaysin 2012 when races are being run all across the United States that we want to be.  Help us send NY PML Sec 105 straight to hell in a court of the State of New York since the New York State Racing and Wagering Board refuses to ask the New York State Attorney General for a FREE Opinion. See also below

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News

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Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...  

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Horse Racing Draws a Line at Licensing Chechen Leader

Simon Roberts/Getty Images

Two racing boards did not grant a license to Ramzan A. Kadyrov, whose rule in Chechnya, critics say, has been marked by abductions and torture.

By BILL FINLEY

Published: November 28, 2011

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Thoroughbred racing has always attracted a mix of royalty and rogues. Blue bloods like the Whitneys and the Vanderbilts have long been owners. So, too, have mischief-makers like the mobster Arnold Rothstein, who won the 1921 Travers at Saratoga with a racehorse named Sporting Blood.

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• Times Topic: Ramzan A. Kadyrov

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Sweet Ducky won two minor stakes races at Monmouth Park last year but was taken out of the United States when Kadyrov purchased him, only to return.

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James Hill for The New York Times

Ramzan A. Kadyrov at a fashion show in September.

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It appears, though, at least in New York and in Kentucky, that there are limits to who can race a horse. Officials in those states have taken steps to exclude from racing a horse owned by Ramzan A. Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, who has been accused by human rights groups of murder, torture and other abuses over the years.
The horse’s charming name, Sweet Ducky, has not seemed to help his case.
Last month at Keeneland racetrack in Lexington, Ky., with Sweet Ducky scheduled to race, the State Department reached out to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to make it fully aware of the longstanding allegations that have been made against Kadyrov. The commission subsequently ordered the horse scratched because Kadyrov and his representatives did not answer a request to appear at a hearing before his request for a license could be approved. Kadyrov, it should be noted, is not a frequent visitor to the United States.
Two months earlier the New York State Racing and Wagering Board had also received an application for a racing license for Kadyrov. Such requests are usually approved within a matter of days, but the New York racing officials, who also consulted with the State Department, delayed processing his application and appeared ready to delay the matter for the foreseeable future.
“Short of the State Department drastically changing its tune on Mr. Kadyrov,” said one New York racing official who refused to be identified by name, “it’s safe to assume he will not be racing horses in New York State.”
Alvi A. Karimov, a spokesman for Kadyrov, said he believed the licensing issue was a flimsy pretext for scratching a horse who was simply too good.
“I have no doubt that all this fuss was raised exclusively with one aim — to kick the horse out of the race,” Karimov said in a telephone interview. “The horse had all the qualities necessary to win the race. I am deeply convinced that there was no other reason than that.”
Karimov added that he regarded the decision as “ideological sabotage against the Chechen authorities,” adding, “Targeted work is being conducted by certain organizations in the United States.”
He said Sweet Ducky had received an invitation that granted him the right to participate, “and then at the last moment they said due to some reasons and so on and so forth.”
Kadyrov, 35, who became the leader of Chechnya in 2007, is an avid horse racing fan and has acquired a stable of top thoroughbreds who have competed in major races in Russia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and England.
He began to assemble his stable around 2008, and one of his first acquisitions was Racecar Rhapsody, who finished fourth in the 2008 Preakness Stakes and later finished fourth in the Russian Derby for his new owner.
In March, Kadyrov purchased Gitano Hernando from American owners for a reported $4 million. Three months later, he won the $2.3 million Singapore Airlines International Cup in Singapore with the 5-year-old horse.
“You have a guy who is very passionate about horses and cares about horses,” Robert Harrison told The Associated Press in an article published in May. The article described Harrison as Kadyrov’s racing manager.
“When his horses are injured, he takes them to Chechnya, where they have a great life,” Harrison added. “There are not very many owners who will do those kind of things. He has a very compassionate side to him.”
The world of horse racing has always thrived, sometimes with a wink, sometimes not, at the sketchy quality of some of its players. Whether it has been Hollywood poking fun at the sport and its nefarious characters or real-life investigations over the years into fixed races, crooked jockeys and the rise of drug usage, racing’s image has always been less than pristine.
Kadyrov, though, seems to have presented a new challenge. It is not hard to see why, given his bloody reputation. Some Australian politicians protested in 2009 when one of his horses entered the Melbourne Cup.
“If this nasty character were to get his hands on the Melbourne Cup, it would be the lowest point in Australia’s sporting history,” Senator Bob Brown told an Australian newspaper. But the horse ran and placed third, winning a purse worth about $450,000.
Sweet Ducky entered Kadyrov’s stable in 2011. Owned by George and Lori Hall, who are based in New Jersey, the horse won two minor stakes races at Monmouth Park in 2010 and was on the Kentucky Derby trail after finishing second this year in the Jan. 30 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. That changed when Kadyrov bought him, turned him over to the South African trainer Herman Brown and sent him to Dubai to run in the United Arab Emirates Derby, where he finished 13th.
It appeared unlikely that Sweet Ducky would return to the United States. Kadyrov had never started a horse in this country and seemed intent on focusing on major races in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. But Sweet Ducky did come back. With Seth Benzel, a trainer based in New York, he had a workout at Saratoga in June and was entered in and then scratched from the Oct. 7 race at Keeneland.
Rachel Denber, the deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, applauded the efforts of regulators to keep Kadyrov’s horses off the track.
“Scrutinizing this person and, especially, looking at where his money is coming from, was absolutely the right thing for these racing commissions to do,” she said. “These are state licensing commissions, and they have a duty to scrutinize Kadyrov.”
Sweet Ducky eventually surfaced at Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, where he was entered in a $78,937 race on Oct. 30.
“We have no reason to deny the man a license,” Gunnar Lindberg, an Ontario Racing Commission steward, said before Sweet Ducky’s race at Woodbine. “All there are at this point are allegations. I have Googled him, and at this point in time, there are no charges against him or any charges pending in North America. He is also licensed in the United Kingdom and is spending a lot of money there on horses.”
The Woodbine race was a disaster for Sweet Ducky. He trailed every step of the way and finished last. He has not raced since, and his whereabouts remain a mystery. The New York Racing Association has a record of Sweet Ducky’s leaving Belmont Park to race in Canada, but not one of any return.

Ellen Barry contributed reporting from Moscow.

Dear Christian Goode,

Please sue Governor Andrew Cuomo for violating the rights of New York State Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. The New York OTBs must be open on each and every day of the year that your slot machines at Aqueduct are running. NY PML Sec 105 does not apply to the OTBs. NY PML Sec 105 is vague, indefinite and/or overly broad as there are two Easter Sundays in 2012. See the Gregorian and Julian Calendars. 

See also Steve Crist's recent column at drf.com.

 

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News

articles.nydailynews.com/.../18220335_1_racing-and-wagering-boar...Cached

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Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...

 

Dreaming of a New Vegas in Miami

• 
  

By ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES And ALEXANDRA BERZON

A battle is brewing in South Florida over proposed legislation that would allow Las Vegas-style casinos, including what would be the largest casino in the world in Miami. Arian Campo-Flores has details from Miami on The News Hub.

MIAMI—A Malaysian gambling company wants to build what could be the world's largest casino on prime land along Miami's waterfront. It has spent about $450 million on real estate, pledged to help rebuild part of an interstate highway and hired 23 lobbyists to press for a new Florida law.
The focus of Genting Bhd.'s costly campaign is a proposed $3.8 billion casino resort with six towers, 50 restaurants and a shopping mall overlooking Biscayne Bay. Florida state law largely limits casino gambling to resorts operated by Indian tribes and slot machines at horse- and dog-racing tracks.
Genting's land purchase and lobbying appear to have helped revive a push for new casinos that appeared moribund when the state legislature adjourned in May. But some politicians and casino-industry insiders worry that by coming on too strong Genting could sink the effort to expand gambling in the state.
Last month, state lawmakers introduced a bill that would authorize three new casinos in South Florida's Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which Genting hopes will allow it to gain a gambling license. Las Vegas Sands Corp., another gambling company seeking to enter the state, argues that three casinos are too many for the area and backs a plan to add just one or two.
"We think everything is lined up, and this is going to go forward," said Christian Goode, Genting's chief financial officer in the U.S. "We want to be a player."
The company, whose holdings include a $4.7 billion casino in Singapore, has seized the chance to expand in the U.S. as more states consider opening up to gambling in hopes of shrinking their budget deficits and unemployment rolls. Genting is flush with cash from Asian operations, while many of its U.S. rivals have been hobbled by heavy debt.

Last month, Genting opened a new slot-machine casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York's borough of Queens. In Massachusetts, where the governor signed a bill last week that would authorize the state's first casinos, Genting affiliate Kien Huat Realty has formed a partnership with an Indian tribe that has a good chance of getting one of the new gambling permits.
In Florida, however, some political and business leaders say the company's highly public campaign, a departure from the behind-the-scenes approach the gambling industry typically prefers, risks galvanizing the opposition, which includes many social conservatives and business interests, including Walt Disney Co. and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
"It certainly does appear that Genting has taken a full-frontal-assault approach to lobbying the issue," said Dean Cannon, the socially conservative Republican speaker of the Florida House and a key figure in the casino debates. "Whether that strategy inures to their advantage or disadvantage remains to be seen," added Mr. Cannon, who hasn't declared his intentions toward the bill but has said he is wary of wider gambling in the state.
Genting's cash-rich status gives it an advantage over many overburdened U.S. casino operators, who embarked on building sprees or leveraged buyouts just as the casino market in the U.S. began to sour. The company, which grew out of a single casino in Malaysia but now has holdings in a range of industries, reported $3.4 billion in profit last year on $15 billion in revenue.
Genting startled competitors in May when it said it had paid $236 million in cash for the Miami Herald's waterfront headquarters and planned to build a casino there, if it secured approval. Under the deal, the newspaper will be able to stay in the building rent-free for two years.
In September, Genting gained control of the $206 million mortgage on the adjacent Omni Center, doubling its footprint.
Several casino-industry insiders said they believe this could be the first time in the U.S. that a company has bought land for a casino that hasn't yet been authorized by law, rather than leasing or taking an option on it.
"It surprised us all that they were so far out in front with the land purchase given still the level of uncertainty in Florida," said Tim Wilmott, chief operating officer at Penn National Gaming, who has conducted pro-casino campaigns around the country.
Genting also hired a slew of high-priced lobbyists and public-relations consultants. State lobbying disclosure forms list 23 lobbyists working for four different Genting entities. Its competitors are conducting somewhat quieter campaigns. Las Vegas Sands hired eight lobbyists, while Wynn Resorts Ltd., listed as Development Associates in state records, has hired four.
Among the heavyweights Genting has enlisted are Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a former congressman, and Harkley Thornton, a close friend of Mr. Cannon, the House speaker. According to state records, the company also has contributed $186,000 to the Florida Republican Party, which controls the legislature and the governor's office.
Mr. Goode said Genting is trying to strike a deal with the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, which borders the proposed casino site, for a long-running show to accommodate the resort's guests. Genting would back the show with a guarantee to buy a block of tickets.
Genting also has offered to build a parking garage for the arts center and help to overhaul the outdated interstate adjacent to it, said Mike Eidson, chairman of the Performing Arts Center Trust.
Genting says its resort would bring thousands of jobs to Miami-Dade, where unemployment is 10.7%, and a new source of tax revenue to a state facing what could be a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall next year.
Yet as the casino debate has heated up, local leaders are increasingly questioning the resort's size, its impact on traffic and its potential to siphon revenue away from local businesses.
Among the interests mobilizing against the casino bill's passage are the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Disney, which has historically opposed attempts to expand gambling in the state and whose theme parks in Orlando could face a competitive threat from new casinos. Among other things, opponents fear the new casinos could tarnish Florida's family-friendly image.
Genting's "strategy appears to be just layering dollars on top of dollars," said Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber, adding that the company offered his organization a five-figure contribution, which it declined. "I think the bet they made was that Florida was for sale. That's a big gamble."
Genting's Mr. Goode said the company expects its dealings in South Florida to pay off regardless of the gambling bill's fate: "We think we got great value."
Write to Alexandra Berzon at alexandra.berzon@wsj.com

Dear Steve Crist:

1. Please join in my Petition to the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to ask the New York State Attorney General for a Formal Opinion.
2. Sue!  I will be glad to be a plaintiff. OTB cashiers who work Sunday are paid time an half. Vacation is for when the cashier want to take it.  It is paid at straight time.
3. Bettors have rights secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3.  You are a Bettor?
4.  NY PML Sec 105 is clearly, vague, indefinite and/or overly broad as the term "Easter Sunday" does not define a SINGLE SUNDAY in 2012. See eg the Gregorian and Julian Calendars.
5. The Board of Law Examiners should put the analysis of NY PML Sec 105 on the summer bar examination to reward betting future lawyers and readers of the Daily Racing Form.

You are a disappointment Steve Crist. There are three branches of Government and with the Opinion of the Attorney General in hand you can make a fair bet on the likely outcome of litigation.

The Legislature of the State of  New York is...........


Even the big boss, the Governor, is charged by the New York State Constitution with seeing that the laws, eg NY PML Sec 105 are faithfully carried out. Let him ask the Attorney General for an Opinion.

NY PML Sec 105 does not apply by its own terms to the OTBs which take bets on races run without the State of New York and detailed in your article.

I will bet you a cold beer at a bar on a corner of Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square that the New York State Attorney General when asked by an appropriate requester will give an Opinion that :
1. NY PML Sec 105 is not constitutionally defensible.
2. NY PML Sec 105 does not apply to Nassau OTB.
3. NY PML Sec 105 violates the rights of New York Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3
4. NY PML Sec 105 is vague, indefinite and/or overly broad as the term Easter Sunday does not define a single Sunday in 2012. See the Gregorian and Julian Calendars.

Legislation?  For people who ran out of toilet paper.  Put a lawyer to work for free and get the New York State Attorney General to issue an Opinion and bet accordingly.

Petition the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to ask the Attorney General for an Opinion now!

Published on Daily Racing Form (http://www.drf.com)

Home > News > Categories > Columnists > Crist: New York restrictions defy belief

---

11/25/2011 1:35 PM

Crist: New York restrictions defy belief

By

Steven Crist

Top left position photo: 

Photo

It’s only 126 days until Palm Sunday and seven more until Easter, more than enough time for New York to repeal its antiquated and unreasonable ban on racing those two days. It should have been done years ago, and in 2012 there will be three more good reasons to change the law: the Aqueduct racino, the Fair Grounds Black Gold 5, and the Gulfstream Rainbow Six.
As things now stand, Aqueduct will not be allowed to stage live racing or accept simulcast wagers through its NYRA Rewards account-betting service on April 1 or April 8, the 2012 dates for Palm and Easter Sunday. This already was an absurd prohibition, completely out of step with the rest of the country and with other commerce within the state – you can drink, buy lottery tickets, visit your local peep show on those two holidays, but not bet on a horse race.
The opening of the Resorts World casino at Aqueduct last month makes the situation all the nuttier: No law prevents the slot machines and robot-dealt table games from running on those Sundays, so it will be business as usual at the casino but no racing and wagering at the track itself. If there is a theological justification for this bizarre piece of public policy, its mysteries have not been revealed.
If this indefensible contradiction is somehow not enough to convince lawmakers it is time to scrap the ban, they should consider that the way the racing and religious calendars coincide next year further discriminates against New York horseplayers: Those two Sundays are the closing dates of two major meetings, with mandatory payouts of jackpot bets currently scheduled for two days that many New Yorkers would be shut out of those pools.
Sunday, April 1, is not only Palm Sunday and April Fool’s Day but closing day of the Fair Grounds meeting that opened on Thanksgiving with a new Black Gold 5 wager – a daily pick five where 50 percent of the net pool is carried over unless there is a single, unique winning ticket. It remains to be seen whether the new bet will attract much national interest and handle – the opening-day pool was just $5,465, with a $2,049 carryover to Friday – but the closing-day pool should be a good one because of the mandatory payout: Any carryover, and the entire net pool, will be paid out April 1 whether zero or 100 people pick five. New Yorkers could spend the winter playing the bet and then be excluded from participating on the day of the payout.
That was what almost happened last year with the final day of Gulfstream’s Rainbow Six, a 10-cent, six-race version of the Black Gold 5. Once again Gulfstream’s closing day is scheduled for Easter Sunday this year, which is April 8. Last year, because New York and Kentucky bettors would not be able to play it on Sunday, Gulfstream moved the mandatory-payout day to Saturday, which was an improvement but still left Easter-deprived horseplayers on the outside of playing a one-day mandatory-payout pool on Easter Sunday.
Every racing entity in the state is in favor of racing on Palm and Easter Sundays, and no one can argue with a straight face that lotto and slots are okay on those occasions but racing horses would be sinful. Still, no politician has been willing to sponsor a change, fearful of angering a tiny number of religious zealots who would accuse of them launching a War on Palm Sunday.
Perhaps, though, the racino situation and the growth of these national jackpot bets are enough to move the argument outside of religious territory. The prohibitions on those two Sundays stems from a time when racing was the only legal form of gambling in New York, and they make no common or legal sense in an era of always-open lotteries and racinos. If they can’t see that, perhaps the legislators can see that continuing these bans will only encourage more New Yorkers to open out-of-state betting accounts, shipping money out of state instead of through the New York tracks and OTB’s.
That reduces it to a pretty simple proposition: The Aqueduct racino was opened to step the exodus of local casino-betting betting dollars to neighboring states. How about opening the Aqueduct racetrack those two Sunday to do the same?

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Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m

BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Monday, April 14, 2003

New York City Off-Track Betting made history yesterday, taking bets on Palm Sunday.
Since 1973, when Sunday racing was made legal in New York State, race tracks have been allowed to operate every Sunday except for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.
While Aqueduct kept its doors shut, NYCOTB had its betting parlors open despite a letter from the New York State Racing and Wagering Board stating that it couldn't do so.
"We're not a race track," NYCOTB president Ray Casey said. "OTB's business is a simulcasting business."
Bettors responded by wagering an estimated $2 million yesterday on tracks from around the country, including Keeneland in Kentucky and Gulfstream Park in Florida.

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Local 707 and a private employer; Local 707 swallows OTB union, public

employer.

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/15225_PublicSafety2008Contract.pdf

Local 707 Swallows OTB Union trucking is not what it once was?

2011 TC Pressroom

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In Contract

Published in
3/23/2005

Images

Pictured here are Kevin McCaffrey (front row, fourth from left), President of Local 707, and Fred Schnur (front row, fourth from right), Vice President of Finance and Administration, with members of the negotiating team (front row, left to right) Dennis Chambers, Wavely Cannady, John Zirpoli, McCaffrey, Schnur, Sarah Phillips, Debbie Kahlstrom, Jim Mitchell (second row) Dennis Dumais, Gary Lord, Randy Glazer, Steve Grady, Dominick Gennaro (back row) Tom Goltsch, Jim O’Brien, Mike Spratt, Rance Osborne, Tony Bonano, John Bruff, Bill Manning and Clarence Houston.

An agreement was reached between Teachers College and Local Union No. 707 that was signed and authorized in February. Union 707 represents the custodial, security and trades staff at TC. The bargaining team had been meeting since the summer of 2004 to negotiate the new contract, which is effective from September 1, 2004 through February 29, 2008. Pictured here are Kevin McCaffrey (front row, fourth from left), President of Local 707, and Fred Schnur (front row, fourth from right), Vice President of Finance and Administration, with members of the negotiating team (front row, left to right) Dennis Chambers, Wavely Cannady, John Zirpoli, McCaffrey, Schnur, Sarah Phillips, Debbie Kahlstrom, Jim Mitchell (second row) Dennis Dumais, Gary Lord, Randy Glazer, Steve Grady, Dominick Gennaro (back row) Tom Goltsch, Jim O'Brien, Mike Spratt, Rance Osborne, Tony Bonano, John Bruff, Bill Manning and Clarence Houston.previous page

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Ethics Reporting Site

John Kelder v Kevin MccCafrey

Barry Yomtov and Laura Campione  transferred the cash stream of Teamsters Local 858 to Local 707 in return  or.... eg Barry Yomtov's paid position with Local 707

Don't know? Ask and see what you get for an Answer?

If Patty Vella and other Nassau OTB employees have questions about Local 707 and Kevin MccAffrey they might entertain the opinion of  John Kelder?


big1john63@yahoo.com

SHOWING OF INTEREST

I am employed by the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation, a public benefit

corporation, and I  sign this Showing of Interest in support of a Representation Petition to be filed by  the
 
NASSAU COUNTY OFF-TRACK BETTING WORKERS ASSOCIATION 

with the New York Public Employment Relations Board to certify the petitioner and/or to decertify the

current negotiating agent with respect to the following negotiating unit:

Assistant Manager, Assistant Manger Data Comm. Branch Attendant, Branch Manager I,
Claims Clerk, Clerk Typist, Clerk, Steno, Communications Aide, Communications Co-ordinator, Custodian, Customer Service, Data Communications Manager, Financial Analyst, Financial System Examiner, Lead Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance Carpenter, Messenger, Operations Aide, Payroll Clerk, Payroll Supervisor, Racing Service Representative, Receptionist, Regulatory Compliance Coordinator, Restaurant/Hotel Supervisor, Senior Accountant, Senior Payroll Clerk, Shift Manager, Storekeeper Messenger, Part-time Cashier, Part-time Custodian, Part-Time Attendant, Part-time Night Driver



FULL NAME (PRINT):________________________________________

ADDRESS:__________________________________________________


TITLE:_________________________________________________

WORK  LOCATION:__________________________________________

SIGNATURE:________________________________________________

DATE:____________________________________________________________

Teamsters Local 707 swallows defunct NYC OTB Union Local 858

 

which also represents Nassau OTB employees.  And you thought Elliot Spitzer was the only guy with a steamroller?

 

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YRC workers add concessions

Cuts in pay, pension and vacation time

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YRC, formerly known as Yellow Transportation, has been having financial problems for some time. It has a terminal in Maybrook, above.Times Herald-Record/JEFF GOULDING

By Christian Livermore

Times Herald-Record

Published: 2:00 AM - 11/02/10

Drivers and other workers at YRC Worldwide have agreed to another round of concessions aimed at keeping the company financially viable.

The vote, tallied Saturday, extends a 15 percent pay cut workers had agreed to last year to March 31, 2015, reduces vacation by one week for workers with four or more weeks of vacation, and continues the company suspension of payments into union pension plans until the end of May. When payments resume June 1, they will be at 25 percent of the previous contribution rate.

The deal will reportedly save YRC $350 million a year. YRC did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Lawsuit challenges union agreement

Another shipping company has filed a lawsuit seeking to void the agreement YRC Worldwide reached Saturday with union workers, saying it violates the National Master Freight Agreement, the collective bargaining contract that covers most union trucking workers.

ABF Freight System filed the lawsuit and a separate grievance Monday against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, YRC and others.

ABF is also seeking about $750 million in damages.

--Christian Livermore

Union officials have said the concessions — the third set that workers have agreed to — are necessary to keep YRC afloat.

"We're saying, look, save this company to make it a well-capitalized company that's not choking on its own debt," said Kevin McCaffrey, president of Teamsters Local 707. "Otherwise we're just playing kick the can down the road, where you're running out of cash again and coming back to the union."

But John Kelder, a driver who works at YRC's Maybrook terminal, said the company is asking for too much, and over too long a period of time. He voted against the concessions.

"When they came to us for the 5 percent giveback, they said they had to have it, and experts have looked at it and it would save the company," he said. "Then they came back for a second round of concessions that included freezing pensions, and they said experts have looked at it and it's enough to save the company. Then they came back again and said they need more from us. So somebody doesn't know what they're doing."

Ongoing financial troubles

YRC has been having financial problems for some time.

It narrowly avoided filing bankruptcy less than a year ago by convincing bondholders to swap $470 million in debt for equity.

But that wasn't enough. The company is still carrying about $1.2 billion in debt to banks and lending groups, McCaffrey said, much of it from the pre-recession days when times were good and YRC borrowed money to acquire New Penn, USF Holland and other companies, thinking it would have the money to meet the debt load.

As part of this agreement, McCaffrey said, YRC has to convince its lenders to forgive half the debt, renegotiate the other half and turn it into equity, and find a new equity investor willing to put $300 million into the company.

The company's financial picture has been improving in recent days. It posted a net loss of $9.5 million for the second quarter of 2010 compared with a loss of $309 million in the second quarter of 2009.

And its shipping activity picked up in the second quarter. Its National Transportation subsidiary's tons shipped per day were up 11 percent compared with the first quarter, and Regional Transportation's tons shipped per day were up 15.5 percent compared with the first quarter.

clivermore@th-record.com

Take the CUNY Legal Analysis challenge

Dear Students of CUNY:

 Please answer the following questions and try to get the New York State Attorney General to issue a Formal or Informal Opinion before preceding to court:

1 Does NY PML Sec 105 apply to the OTBs?

2. Is NY  PML Sec 105 constitutionally defensible?

3. Does NY PML Sec 105 violate the rights of betting CUNY Students secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3?

4. Is NY PML Sec 105 vague, indefinite and or overly broad as the Gregorian and Julian Calendars do not define the same Sunday to be "Easter Sunday" in all years. 

We hold the answers to the above questions to be obvious and consistent with the Opinion of the Counsel for NYC OTB, see below. Note NYC OTB employees who worked on any Sunday were paid double time.

 

New York's OTBs must be open on any day when tracks across the US are running that bettors want to bet,  NY Slot machines are operating, and when you can buy a NY Lottery Ticket.  OTB workers would be wise to consider the choice of whether to work or not while they still have jobs?  NYC OTB died in Bankruptcy Court and Suffolk OTB has filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy.  No sane person closes a public benefit corporation on a law such as NY PML Sec 105 does not pass the laugh test.

Let's get the NY Attorney General to issue an Opinion before  proceeding to court.

This is a great statute to play with for those looking to audition for law school by beating the State of New York for good reasons.

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News

articles.nydailynews.com/.../18220335_1_racing-and-wagering-boar...Cached

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...

§  105. Supplementary regulatory powers of the board.  Notwithstanding
  any inconsistent provision of law,  the  board  through  its  rules  and
  regulations  or  in  allotting  dates  for  racing  or in licensing race
  meetings at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted  shall  be  empowered
  to:  (i)  permit racing at which pari-mutuel betting is conducted on any
  or all dates from the first day of January through the thirty-first  day
  of December, inclusive of Sundays but exclusive of December twenty-fifth
  and  Palm  Sunday  and  Easter  Sunday; and (ii) fix minimum and maximum
  charges for admission at any race meeting.

 

 

N.Y. / Region

---

Advertise on NYTimes.com

---

November 21, 2011, 6:53 pm

CUNY Students Protesting Tuition Increase Clash With Police

By ALICE SPERI and ANNA M. PHILLIPS

Ozier Muhammad/The New York TimesStudents gathered at the entrance to Baruch College on Monday as City University trustees met over proposed tuition increases.

A daylong rally by City University of New York students against a planned tuition increase turned turbulent Monday evening when marchers ignored police requests to clear the lobby of a building at Baruch College where the university’s trustees were meeting and 15 people were arrested.
The students were pushed to the ground and taken away in handcuffs from the lobby of the college, in Manhattan, while protesting against the proposal for tuition increases, which CUNY’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on next Monday.
Carlos Pazmino, 21, a City College student who helped organize the protest, said that after students began opening doors to the auditorium where the CUNY trustees were to hold a public hearing at 5 p.m., CUNY police officers surrounded the entrances and pushed back, using their batons, and that when students formed a line to push past, the officers began hitting the students with the batons.
“I saw two people knocked down by cops,” Mr. Pazmino said. “They were arrested and one guy’s head was bleeding.”
Video posted to Facebook by the Baruch College newspaper, The Ticker, (see below) and photos showed a chaotic scene and its aftermath.
During the fighting, students on higher floors dropped books down on the police, and captured the scuffle on video. A crowd of 200 to 300 protesters outside beat on the lobby’s windows, also shouting, “Shame.”
The police did not immediately say how many people were arrested.
The meeting went on as scheduled on the 14th floor of the building, where people who had made it into the hearing started receiving text messages about the events in the lobby.
The protest had begun with a handful of organizers from Students United for a Free CUNY, who marched through the school cafeteria at City College at lunchtime. The group is demanding the repeal of the tuition increase approved last summer by the city and the state: $300 a year for each of the next five years.
Later in the afternoon, the protest moved to Madison Square Park, where CUNY students from other colleges had agreed to meet. The growing crowd then marched on to Baruch College, at Lexington Avenue and 24th Street.
Videos posted on YouTube by user Michael Alexander Gould-Wartofsky showed a line of officers pushing into a crowd of students.
At Baruch, the campus police restricted access to the hearing to those who had registered, and set up barricades around the building, the William and Anita Newman Vertical Campus Conference Center.
With the room at capacity and hundreds of people surrounding the building, the police told those in the lobby that they would be arrested for trespassing. At that point, the students in the lobby sat down, and some were pushed to a wall by the campus police. Nearly a dozen people were arrested as officers cleared the room as several hundred people protested outside.
“We have made it clear to the university that violent response to students who are protesting nonviolently is not acceptable,” said Barbara Bowen, the president of the CUNY Professional Staff Congress, who was at the meeting while the students were being arrested.
At the afternoon protest at Madison Square Park, protesters chanted, “Banks got bailed out, students got sold out.”
A small group of New York University and New School students joined the rally to support CUNY students, apparently part of an unrelated campaign by Occupy Wall Street organizers called Occupy Student Debt. Andrew Ross, an N.Y.U. professor affiliated with that group, said it was aiming to get one million students to pledge that they would not pay back their loans.
But Denise Romero, 19, a junior at Baruch and one of the organizers of Monday’s protest, insisted that the CUNY protest was independent of Occupy Wall Street. “We support them and they support us, but we are not affiliated,” she said.
She added that CUNY students were protesting not only tuition increases but also the university’s push for a public-private partnership. CUNY received $1.4 billion in private philanthropy this year, according to a university spokesman.
“We want more student representation,” said Ms. Romero, who had registered to speak at the hearing Monday. “We want to change the way they decide things.”