Cardinal Governor Andrew Cuomo scrambles Greek Bettors by

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• failing to see that the OTBs are open every day in April when tracks are running all across the United States that bettors want to bet. NY State is one FREE New York State Attorney General Opinion Eric Schneiderman Opinion short of seeing that the rights of New York State Bettors secured by NY Const. Art 1, Sec. 3 are not violated . NY PML Sec 105 is not constitutionally defensible.
• NY PML Sec 105 does not even apply to Nassau OTB. Won't someone please put  Attorney  General Eric Schneiderman to work for the bettors of the State of New York?
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• Orthodox Calendar - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

  calendar.goarch.org/
  Containing the saints and feasts commemorated each day, the life of the saint. Also indicates fast days. From the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.

• EUROPE NEWS
• April 4, 2012, 2:07 p.m. ET

Shortage Scrambles Eastern Europe's Egg Hunt

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH

BOGATYNIA, Poland—Outside a supermarket in this small town, Dagmar Berkova gingerly loaded her sport-utility vehicle for the trip across the border to her home in the Czech Republic. Her prized cargo: five dozen eggs.
With Easter coming Sunday and egg prices surging as stricter European Union rules for chicken farmers take effect, people across Central and Eastern Europe are traveling to neighboring countries, visiting rural markets and raising hens to secure less-expensive supplies.

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Reuters

A vendor sold eggs at a market stand in Budapest last month. Prices have more than doubled across Eastern Europe over the past year.

"We're stocking up for the holiday," said Ms. Berkova, a 42-year-old pharmacist. Eggs in Poland cost about 40% less than in the stores near her house, she said. Ms. Berkova said 20 eggs were for her mother. The rest were for her family to decorate and eat for Easter.
Europe's annual pre-Easter bump in demand, which usually makes eggs more expensive in February and March, is this year coinciding with a drop in supply as farmers adjust to the new EU rules mandating roomier cages for laying hens. The result: soaring prices.
In the Czech Republic, the average price of 10 fresh eggs in mid-March was €2.07 ($2.76), more than double what it was at the same time last year, according to the government statistics office. Prices also have more than doubled in Poland and Bulgaria.
On average, consumers across the EU had to pay 76.5% more for eggs at the end of March, compared with a year earlier, according to EU figures. The jump is especially painful for households and economies in the less-affluentformer communist countries in the EU's east, where incomes are lower and basic foodstuffs such as eggs account for a bigger proportion of consumer spending.

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"The price has gone up a lot, so I am buying less," said Jana Patakova, 26, a mother of four young children out grocery shopping in the northern Czech city of Liberec. "We used to eat eggs every day. Now, it's down to twice a week."
Ms. Patakova expressed frustration with the West's focus on animal rights, which she said is harder for people in poorer Central and Eastern Europe to stomach. "Yes, chickens deserve better living conditions. But this is too much," Ms. Patakova said.
Central bankers are keeping a watchful eye on egg prices, which have been contributing to inflationary pressures that are making it harder for monetary authorities to cut interest rates despite anemic economic growth.
Czech National Bank Gov. Miroslav Singer last week attributed the price jump in the Czech Republic to the fact that people in Central and Eastern Europe "value Easter more" and to Czechs' "hoarding impulse" from the days of central planning. Still, he said he expects the situation to ease after the holiday.
"My general experience is that eggs are very desirable before Easter, but less desirable after that because everybody is too fat by then" from eating holiday treats, he said.
EU agriculture officials also expect prices to fall as egg production rebounds from the current shortfall that has occurred as some egg producers halt operations to upgrade their facilities, while others have abandoned the business instead of investing in new equipment. "This is a temporary phenomenon," said Roger Waite, a spokesman for the EU's agriculture and rural-development commissioner.
The EU issued a directive in 1999 requiring member states to phase out the use of small so-called battery cages for hens at factory farms. Producers were given until the start of this year to switch to "enriched" cages offering chickens more space, bedding and perches.
"Standards cost money. Europe demanded comfort for hens," Poland's agriculture minister, Marek Sawicki, told radio listeners on Tuesday. "It's not roosters who'll pay for the upgrade of cages. The consumer has to."
That is one reason that many countries—and their egg producers—delayed making the required changes. The EU has started legal proceedings against 14 of its 27 members, including Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Latvia, for failing to comply with the new rules.
As egg producers switch over to the new cages and ramp up, shortages will ease. Still, price effects could linger. The EU estimates that while egg production will come back in 2012, annual output in the EU will remain about 2.5% below 2011 levels.
Higher egg prices are also contributing to price pressure on baked goods and packaged foods that use eggs as raw materials.
While that lasts, it hurts. "I've really cut back on eggs, but I still have to buy some," said Hana Maresova, a 65-year-old retiree in Liberec. She said she hopes a friend with a car can make a shopping trip to Germany to buy cheaper eggs there before the holiday.
"You have to have eggs for Easter," she said. "How can you make potato salad without eggs? It's impossible."
—Sean Carney and Leos Rousek contributed to this article. Write to Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com