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Josh is a Partner of the Firm and Chairman of the Litigation Group. His commercial litigation practice is diverse, with varied experience in all areas of real estate litigation, title and easement matters, contract and corporate disputes, commercial landlord-tenant proceedings, employment-related issues and appellate advocacy. Read more at https://www.cuddyfeder.com/attorney/joshua-e-kimerling/#4RmBjZ8zpXpzJWJJ.99
School Where Teacher Held Alleged Mock Slave Auction Agrees to Diversity Plan & challenge to letitia james for her silence on ny pml sec 109 & its unconstitutionality ( ny const art 1 sec 3) & or inapplicabiltyto nassau otb
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
Agreement comes as many private and public schools struggle to deal with incidents involving race
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the Chapel School had agreed to hire a chief diversity officer. PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
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Leslie Brody
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A private school in Westchester County where a teacher allegedly held a mock slave auction of black students said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the New York attorney general to improve its approach to diversity.
In two fifth-grade social studies classes at the Chapel School in Bronxville, a teacher conducted re-enactments of a slave auction as part of March lessons on colonial America, according to a civil rights investigation by the attorney general’s office. It found that a teacher told the African-American students in each class to line up wearing imaginary shackles, and she simulated selling them to white classmates.
“Lessons designed to separate children on the basis of race have no place in New York classrooms, or in classrooms throughout this country,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a release. The school terminated the teacher after the re-enactments, she said. The teacher involved disputes the allegations.
Representatives for the attorney general said their agency didn’t reach out to the teacher or her lawyer, because she had already been fired, and their focus was how the school should proceed.
The school’s agreement comes as many private and public schools struggle to deal with incidents involving race. Some have hired antibias trainers to help students and staff become more thoughtful.
Michael Schultz, principal of the small Lutheran school, said in a release “we accept responsibility for the overall findings, and we are committed to implementing all items outlined by the attorney general to help us deepen our cultural competence.”
A representative for the predominantly white school said 21% of its students were African-American, 9% Hispanic, 6% Asian and 7% unreported.
Ms. James, a Democrat, said the Chapel School had agreed to hire a chief diversity officer and a diversity consultant, develop a plan to diversify its faculty and boost financial aid to diversify its student body.
The school must also revise its code of conduct to address discrimination and ensure discipline is meted out fairly, with details to be approved by the attorney general, among other steps. Ms. James noted that even before the slave re-enactments, parents had complained to administrators about the school’s unequal discipline and lack of racial sensitivity.
Joshua Kimerling, lawyer for the terminated teacher, Rebecca Antinozzi, said she had received overwhelming support from her students and parents, including many African-American families. “The history lesson has been falsely characterized, and many portions of the lesson as reported did not occur,” he said by email. “For instance, she did not conduct a simulated auction of the African-American students and the students did not re-enact the sale of African-American students to their white counterparts.”
The Chapel School’s principal said it was founded on a doctrine of equality, and brought in counselors after the March incidents to help its community heal.
It has about 330 students from preschool through eighth grade, according to its website. Tuition in kindergarten and above runs from $12,400 to $13,900.
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
Cuomo: Mobile sports betting could be legal by next month
Mobile sports betting in New York may not be dead after all.
State legislators could legalize wagering before the end of their session next month, Gov. Cuomo said Tuesday — despite previously insisting it would take years to clear legal hurdles.
“It’s possible,” Cuomo told WAMC radio host Alan Chartock. “I think the time is short and the list is long, so I would counsel the legislative leaders to get the priorities done, because these priorities are not easy.”
Current state law only allows in-person sports gambling at four upstate casinos, and Cuomo has previously said that allowing remote betting via a mobile-phone app would require an amendment to the state Constitution.
But state Sen. Joseph Addabbo has argued that mobile gambling could be legalized without an amendment — a years-long process involving a referendum — so long as the computer servers used in the wagering are physically in those casinos.
But even under his legislative compromise, bettors would still have to first physically go to the upstate casinos to provide ID and register before being allowed to bet remotely.
The Queens Democrat was left surprised but hopeful by Cuomo’s apparent change of course.
“The last conversation I had with . . . the governor’s office was last week, and we were still not on the same page,” said Addabbo, a sponsor of the mobile sports betting bill and chairman of the Senate Gaming and Wagering Committee.
“New York is losing tens of millions of dollar right now — and the money is going to education — [so] everyone should be excited about doing this,” said Gary Pretlow (D-Mount Vernon), the bill’s Assembly sponsor.
“It seems to have been a change in attitude, but he [Cuomo] also mentioned a lot of other priorities that the Legislature has to tackle,” Pretlow said. “I think we finally convinced them that those constitutional questions are invalid.”
Pretlow said part of the sponsors’ argument was that mobile betting has long been permitted at New York Racing Association horse tracks, where the servers are located on the premises.
“This is non-controversial,” he said, noting that the proposal has bipartisan support. “This is basically a no-brainer.”
A spokesman for Cuomo said after the governor’s radio appearance, however, that his misgivings about legalized mobile sports betting remained in place.
“Our position on constitutional concerns has not changed,” Rich Azzopardi said. “But we remain in discussions with the Legislature.”
Cuomo also mentioned in his radio spot that before the session ends he hopes to see progress on issues including rent regulation, marijuana legalization and offering driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
While Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers debate a litany of issues before the Albany session adjourns on June 19, former GOP US Sen.-turned-powerhouse lobbyist Al D’Amato is co-chairing a “Long Island cocktail reception” fundraiser in Great Neck Sunday for the governor, The Post has learned.
And he has also hit up his roster of 90 clients to kick in to Cuomo’s campaign kitty.
“I’m doing something with a group of people for Gov. Cuomo, I will be a participant,” D’Amato told The Post.
The Park Strategies lobbying firm founder said he reached out to clients to see if they want to donate to Cuomo, but the former “Senator Pothole” stressed, “I didn’t put my arm on them.”
He added: “Those who want to give, give.”
And they’ve been asked to give a lot.
Tickets per head start at $5,000 for a “friend” to $25,000 for a “co-chair.”
Among D’Amato’s many clients include the New York Cannabis Association that could be impacted by the legalization of recreational marijuana — which the governor and the Legislature are now discussing.
The Cuomo campaign invite for the event glowingly describes the former lawmaker-turned-mega lobbyist as “Hon. Alfonse D’Amato,” even though it’s been two decades since he last served in elected office.
He joined the lobby industry after losing his US Senate reelection bid to then-Congressman Chuck Schumer in 1998 and has been peddling his influence for his well-heeled clients ever since.
D’Amato’s involvement in the fundraiser gives the perception of pay-to-play politics at work, said one government watchdog.
“Companies and organizations are buying influence through contributions of this size,” said Alex Camarda, a campaign finance analyst with Reinvent Albany. “It contributes to the notion that government isn’t acting with integrity. It breeds cynicism.”
The top-dollar fundraiser for Cuomo — who has said he’s interested in running for a fourth term — will be held at the Great Neck home of Arbor Realty honcho Ivan Kaufmann.
Other bold-face names attending Sunday’s shindig include industrialist Dennis Mehiel, Battery Park City Authority Chairman George Tsunis, Triangle Equities developer Lester Patracca and Nassau and state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs.
Cuomo’s campaign declined comment on D’Amato’s role in the fundraiser and referred The Post to comments made by the three-term executive Tuesday on public radio station WAMC.
Cuomo said he can’t be bought by donations.
“If anybody ever walked up to me and said ‘I contributed to your campaign and I therefore want you to do me a favor,’ Cuomo said, “I would knock that person on their rear end in a nice, polite, legal way.”
He added: “If you can be bought off for a contribution I don’t care for 10 dollars or $5,000 or $50,000, you are unethical or you are criminal.”
The legislative session ends June 19.
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan in Albany
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
It looks like Cuomo is losing control of spending but he continues to keep the noose on ny const art 1 sec 3 infidels, bettors, workers & nassau otb
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo loves to brag about his fiscal conservatism, routinely brandishing Power Point slides that show he has kept the growth of state spending at 2% or less for what’s now nine straight years. Problem is, that’s only by his accounting — and independent numbers paint a much more troubling picture.
The gov is focused, fairly enough, on state-funded spending, not cash that flows from Washington to fund federal programs. In that light, he says, he again kept the rise in outlays to 2% for the new budget year.
But the Citizens Budget Commission (among others) says otherwise. Its latest report adjusts for various fiscal gimmicks, and finds that fiscal year 2020 state spending actually jumps 4.9%.
And that follows actual growth rates of 2.8% in FY 2018 and 2.5% in FY 2017, after six years that (by the CBC’s count) did average 2% growth.
In other words, Cuomo has failed to meet his own mark for three straight years now, and the problem’s getting much worse.
The gov can try to conceal this by accounting tricks such as moving some spending off-budget or into future years, but he’s not fooling anyone who’s paying attention.
Yes, things might be worse if Cuomo weren’t at least shooting to meet his cap: The same tricks might have let him report 5 percent spending growth when it was really 9%.
But the trend suggests that this governor has met his limit when it comes to restraining New York state’s spending — which was already far too high back when he first took office in 2013.
And if he’s lost control now, the state will be facing major fiscal trouble long before 2022, when Cuomo now says he’ll be running for a fourth term.
Stop scratching on holidays Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays. New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state. “You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?” Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday. “I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.” OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running. One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000. Easy money.
