Cuomo Wants More Money for Security to Guard Against Hate Crimes against the wandering dago food truck
Justia Opinion Summary
WD filed suit against OGS, alleging that defendants violated its rights under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the New York State Constitution by denying WD's applications to participate as a food truck vendor in the Lunch Program based on its ethnic-slur branding. The Second Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant, holding that defendants' action violated WD's equal protection rights and its rights under the New York State Constitution. In this case, it was undisputed that defendants denied WD's applications solely because of its ethnic-slur branding. In Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017), the Supreme Court clarified that this action amounted to viewpoint discrimination and, if not government speech or otherwise protected, was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court rejected defendants' argument that their actions were unobjectionable because they were either part of OGS's government speech or permissible regulation of a government contractor's speech.
New York should spend an additional $25 million for bolstering security for organizations that could be vulnerable to hate crimes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday.
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
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 wants the money included in a final budget agreement, due to pass by March 31.
"The vile acts of intolerance in our state and our country are repugnant to our values, and we must stand united in solidarity in condemning this rising tide of hate," Cuomo said in a statement. "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. [The] government's number one responsibility is to ensure public safety, and these aggressive new efforts will provide religious and cultural institutions the support they need to protect themselves and keep their communities safe."
Newly released data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services this month found there has been a decline in the overall number of hate crimes, but there has been an uptick in hate crimes directed at Jewish targets, both people and property.
The grants proposed by Cuomo come after his trip to Poland earlier this week for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.