This blog is not affiliated or endorsed, by Nassau OTB, a public benefit corporation, subject to the New York Freedom
of Information Law, NY Pub Off Law Sec 84 et seq.
Friday, May 29, 2020
joseph cairo does not speak directly to nassau otb
employees.
why bother when arthur walh and kevin mccaffrey acting alone and or in concert can do so?
note
nassau otb may have applied or not for federal funds but deems it of no concern or disclosure to nassau otb employees.
Kevin mccaffrey mispoke at the union. meeting of may 29 when he said otb applied to the treasury or the small business association.
perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that nassau otb had applied for federal funds through a bank?
the freedom of informstion law request filed on monday april 27 is pending and awaiting response
is there a kentucky congressman in the house to orovide assistance. yes sir, there is. he will be in the office on. Monday
House Votes to Relax Paycheck Protection Program Rules to benefit Nassau OTB?
The House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved bipartisan changes to give small businesses more time and flexibility in using emergency loans obtained through the Paycheck Protection Program meant to aid companies and workers during the pandemic.
The details: The $670 billion program provides businesses with fewer than 500 employees with low-interest loans up of to $10 million that can be forgiven if companies meet certain requirements — but business owners said the criteria for forgiveness were problematic, making the program less effective and appealing. In response, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act passed on Thursday would:
Extend the window small businesses have to spend their funds and still qualify for loan forgiveness from eight weeks to 24 weeks;
Reduce the percentage of forgivable loan funds required to be spent on payroll from 75% to 60%, giving business owners the ability to use more of the money they receive on overhead expenses including rent and utilities;
Allow payroll tax deferrals to PPP loan recipients;
Extend the application deadline from June 30 to December 31;
Allow more time to rehire workers;
Extend the repayment time for non-forgiven loans from two years to five years for future borrowers.
The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, passed 417-1. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky cast the only “no” vote.
What’s next: The legislation now goes to the Senate, which is expected to take up the issue when it returns next week.
Senators said last week that they had made progress on their own set of PPP changes, including some changes not in the House bill. The Senate would reportedly have allowed 16 weeks, rather than 24, for spending the loan money and would have kept the 75% payroll requirement. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), one of the architects of the program, has some concerns about the House version, according to The New York Times.
The new proxy voting process used by the House to pass the bill also creates some uncertainty since Republicans have filed a lawsuit arguing that legislation passed in such a manner is invalid.
The sponsors of the bill want the Senate to act quickly and avoid making this bill part of a larger coronavirus relief package that is likely still weeks away.
“I would be both surprised and disappointed if the Senate didn’t pass this immediately and get it to the president,” Phillips said, according to the Star Tribune. And Roy told CNN ahead of Wednesday’s vote: "I hope that Congress doesn't mess this up en route to some grand bargain.”
The IMF approved a two-year $24 billion credit line for Chile on Friday as the South American nation battles the growing impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came a day after Peru secured a two-year, $11 billion credit line, and as Latin America becomes a growing hotspot for COVID-19. The Flexible Credit Line is a renewable funding mechanism granted to countries with strong economic policy track records, and Chile is only the fifth country to receive one.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was severing ties with the World Health Organization, signalling the end of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the UN agency as the deadly coronavirus pandemic rages on. As Europe speeded along the path to reopening after months of crippling lockdowns, Trump's move is likely to spark dismay, especially in other parts of the world where the outbreak has yet to reach its peak. Russia recorded a record number of deaths on Friday and several nations in Latin America are bracing for difficult weeks ahead, especially Brazil, where the toll has soared.
Germany and the European Commission have reached a pact on a giant Berlin-funded rescue plan for coronavirus-hit Lufthansa, a Commission spokeswoman and a source close to the negotiations said Friday. Since the pandemic hit Europe, the Lufthansa group -- which also includes Brussels and Austrian Airlines and Swiss -- has been bleeding one million euros per hour, with around 90 percent of its 760-aircraft fleet grounded. German media had previously reported the European Commission would demand the group give up valuable takeoff and landing rights at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs in exchange for Brussels' green light.
Wall Street finished mostly higher Friday as US President Donald Trump stopped short of threatening tariffs on China, though European stocks tumbled on concerns that mounting tensions between the world's two largest economies could spiral further. Trading in US stocks was choppy throughout the session, with major indices sinking into negative territory as a mid-afternoon White House speech by President Donald Trump began. Trump harshly criticized China's handling of the coronavirus, blaming the country for the deaths of 100,000 Americans, and announcing new actions including an end to funding for the World Health Organization.
A first charter flight carrying Europeans to China following weeks of lockdown departed Germany's biggest hub Frankfurt late Friday, carrying around 200 workers and their families. On arrival, "we expect we'll have very long checks, fever measurements, corona tests, antibody tests, and then we'll have to go into a 14-day quarantine," said Bernd Poth. The quality control worker for Volkswagen subsidiary Audi was one of just a few people dwarfed by the echoing departures hall of Frankfurt's Terminal 1, as he arrived with rolling luggage and facemasks to check in with his partner and young son.
President Donald Trump pushed back Friday against accusations of stoking violence after he provoked outrage -- and an unprecedented sanction from Twitter -- by tweeting: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." Twitter for the first time hid one of Trump's tweets, saying it broke rules on "glorifying violence" when he tweeted about the protests, looting and arson rocking the northern US city of Minneapolis in the aftermath of an unarmed black man's death during his arrest by a police officer.
Canada had hoped to welcome a record wave of immigrants in 2020 but will likely take in approximately half the previously expected number of people due to the coronavirus pandemic, a study published Friday showed. In March, the government announced that it planned to accommodate some 370,000 new permanent residents this year. Ottawa announced its plan to allow a heightened number of immigrants just four days before Canada implemented travel restrictions that have virtually halted immigration.
Turkish mosques reopened on Friday for mass prayers after more than two months as the government further eased strict restrictions to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Turkey has been shifting since May to a "new normal" by easing lockdown measures and opening shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said many other sites -- restaurants and cafes as well as libraries, parks and beaches -- will reopen from Monday.
President Donald Trump said Friday he was severing US ties with the World Health Organization, which he says failed to do enough to combat the initial spread of the novel coronavirus. Trump first suspended funding to the UN agency a month ago, accusing it of mismanaging its handling of the global pandemic. "Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization," Trump told reporters.
President Donald Trump said Friday he would strip several of Hong Kong's special privileges with the United States and bar some Chinese students from US universities in anger over Beijing's bid to exert control in the financial hub. In a day of concerted action, the United States and Britain also raised alarm at the UN Security Council over a controversial new law for Hong Kong, angering Beijing which said that the discussion had no place at the world body. In an announcement at the White House that Trump had teased for a day, the US president attacked China over its treatment of the former British colony, saying it was "diminishing the city's long-standing and proud status."
The suspected key figure in a ring of people smugglers has been arrested in Germany over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants in a refrigerated truck in Britain last year, several sources told AFP. On Tuesday, 26 other suspects were arrested in the greater Paris region and in Belgium in a coordinated police swoop. The driver of the lorry has already admitted manslaughter over the deaths but Tuesday's arrests targeted the ring of smugglers suspected of organising the migrants' journey.
Two UN peacekeepers in Mali have died from the coronavirus, officials said Friday. Out of the some 100,000 UN troops deployed on about 15 different missions around the world, these two are the first whose deaths were directly linked to the pandemic. "Unfortunately, I also want to say that yesterday and today two of our military colleagues have passed away due to COVID-19," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, during a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York to honor the peacekeepers killed in conflict.
The ban, which began in April and will now run to October, has been tightened to include passenger boats and other vessels with more than 100 passengers and crew, the ministry of transport said in a statement. The move will deal a blow to several Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Quebec and Montreal, where the cruise industry makes an important economic contribution. In 2019, Canada was visited by 140 cruise ships from a dozen countries with some two million tourists on board, according to the ministry.
US President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a probe into the actions of Chinese companies listed on American financial markets as tensions flared anew between the world's two biggest economies. The announcement followed Beijing's move to implement a new security law on semi-autonomous Hong Kong that critics say would stifle freedom, as well as with Trump's claims that China obfuscated the origins of the coronavirus that has killed more than 100,000 people in the United States. "I'm instructing my presidential working group on financial markets to study the differing practices of Chinese companies listed on the US financial markets with the goal of protecting American investors," Trump said, without providing details on what steps his administration might take.
The Minneapolis police officer accused of killing an unarmed African American man was arrested and charged with murder Friday as authorities sought to restore peace after three nights of violent protests left parts of the city in flames. Derek Chauvin is one of four officers fired after an explosive video emerged showing him kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed George Floyd for at least five minutes on Monday. "This case is now ready, and we have charged it," said county prosecutor Mike Freeman amid outrage over the latest death of an African American at the hands of the police.
Chile's antitrust regulator said on Friday it had approved "without conditions" Uber's purchase of Chilean online grocery provider Cornershop, clearing a key hurtle for the ride-hailing company as it seeks to expand into the delivery of groceries and other goods. Uber said in late 2019 it would buy a majority stake in the Santiago-based Cornershop, but the deal was subject to the approval of regulators in Chile and Mexico.
Lyft Inc was sued on Friday by a former driver who accused the ride-sharing company of failing to provide required paid sick leave to drivers in Washington, D.C., a policy she said could fuel the spread of the coronavirus. Cassandra Osvatics, of Bowie, Maryland, accused Lyft of subjecting current and former drivers to a "Hobbesian choice" between having to risk their livelihoods by staying home when sick, or "risk their lives (and the lives of their passengers)" by working through their illnesses. Underlying the proposed class action is a belief that Lyft drivers qualify as employees, entitling them in the nation's capital to about seven paid sick days annually based on 2,000 hours worked.
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will restrict Chinese students and start reversing Hong Kong's special status in customs and other areas, as Beijing imposes a controversial security law. Trump said the Chinese government has been "diminishing the city's longstanding and very proud status." "This is a tragedy for the people of Hong Kong, the people of China, and indeed the people of the world," Trump told reporters.
A Minneapolis policeman accused of killing unarmed African-American George Floyd by kneeling on his neck was taken into custody Friday and charged with third-degree murder, officials said. Derek Chauvin is one of four officers who were fired shortly after an explosive video emerged showing a handcuffed Floyd lying on the street as an officer identified as Chauvin pinned his knee to Floyd's neck for at least five minutes on Monday. The death of the 46-year-old Floyd has sparked days of sometimes violent demonstrations in Minneapolis and other US cities over police brutality against African-Americans.
New York, the US city worst-hit by the coronavirus, is "on track" to start reopening the week of June 8, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday. The financial capital of eight million people, where COVID-19 has killed around 21,500, is close to meeting seven metrics that will allow it to slowly emerge from its lockdown of more than two months, Cuomo said. New York City has already met guidelines surrounding falling deaths and declining hospitalizations and is expected to meet criteria concerning hospital and testing capacity next week, Cuomo told reporters.
