Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Bedford Park News: Bx. Woman Wins Nearly $200G at Empire Casino

Bedford Park News: Bx. Woman Wins Nearly $200G at Empire Casino: Bx. Woman Wins Nearly $200G at Empire Casino #Jackpot #EmpireCity BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 27— A Bronx women hit a $191,023 jac...

Bx. Woman Wins Nearly $200G at Empire Casino

Bx. Woman Wins Nearly $200G at Empire Casino
#Jackpot #EmpireCity
BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 27—A Bronx women hit a $191,023 jackpot at Empire City Casino on January 24, the second six-figure score in January. There are still seven jackpots worth six-figures reading for the taking at the Yonkers casino.
The winner made a $6 wager at one of the popular Wheel of Fortune slots, and a life-changing $810,000 jackpot is still up for grabs, would-be record at Empire City.
Last November 14, Moosue Stefern of Bergenfield, New Jersey hit the record $509,121.96, more than double the previous record, and currently the largest in the eight-year history of Empire City (opened in 2006).
According to New York State Lottery reports, Empire City Casino returned nearly $7.2 billion to bettors in 2014.

Bedford Park News: So Long Shelly

Bedford Park News: So Long Shelly: So Long Shelly Which Bx. Pol may profit from Silver’s Demise? #SheldonSilver #Politics #NYS 100 PERCENT By Robert Press B...

So Long Shelly

So Long Shelly
Which Bx. Pol may profit from Silver’s Demise?
#SheldonSilver #Politics #NYS
100 PERCENT
By Robert Press
BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 28- It looks like the end of the road for current New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was taken into custody by the FBI last week. He was arrested and charged with using his position to gain over $4 million in bribes and kickbacks by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. The U,S, Attorney took over the investigation of the Moorland Commission which was set up by Governor Andrew Cuomo to root out corruption in Albany. Cuomo disbanded the Mooreland Commission over 18 months ago when the U.S. Attorney's office got hold of the information collected by the Mooreland Commission.
There are five charges pending against Speaker Silver dating back to 2000. Charges include Silver's association with the law firm of Weitz and Luxenberg, and another unnamed real estate firm. If found guilty Silver could face up to 20 years on each of the five counts in the complaint. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com archive on the lower left to the January 22nd listing titled New York State Assembly Speaker arrested to read more on these charges. Speaker Silver's court date is February 23rd, and he can continue to remain as speaker and an assemblyman until he is convicted.
As always with most powerful political leaders such as Silver has been, almost all of his colleagues in the assembly are standing with him, as is NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio. I spoke to several Bronx assembly members who all spoke off the record, but when it came to a new speaker only one mentioned the name of the current Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie, and it was not the first name.
There are now questions of why governor Cuomo shut down the Mooreland Commission. Was the commission getting too close to what the U. S. Attorney has found, because it was legislatures like Speaker Silver who were balking at the inquires of the commission? Could it have been that Governor Cuomo when he ended the Mooreland Commission in mid 2013 did not want any bad publicity or even worse arrests, such as has happened to Speaker Silver and whomever might be next including the governor himself possibly? Or was it that Governor Cuomo shut the Mooreland Commission down because he had an arraignment with the U.S. Attorney's office to continue what the governor did not want to do, that being arrest his fellow colleagues in Albany?
State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Mike Benedetto, Councilman Jimmy Vacca, Several Community Board 10 members, and local Ferry Point community residents last Friday protested the use of the closed Capri Motel located at 555 Hutchinson River Parkway (just before the Whitestone Bridge) to house two known level 2 and 3 sexual predators in with the 200 people and children at the city shelter. All said that they were not against the shelter, which the city did not communicate with the community on, but the lack of screening that has allowed the at least 2 sexual predators to live in the 94-unit former motel with children. You can go to my blog to read more and see photos of the elected official, and the old Capri Motel in the background that is now a homeless shelter.
Finally, with the primary for the 15th Congressional seat a little over a year away, former Harlem Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell (and previous candidate) has announced that he will be going for the soon to be vacated seat by current Congressman Charles Rangel, which Adam's father held before Congressman Rangel. Take this for what it is, as we don't believe this will be the last term for Congressman Rangel, especially with the possibility of the speaker's position opening up in the state assembly. Manhattan Assemblyman Keith Wright was a front runner for Rangel's seat, but he is also a front runner to replace current Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver should Silver have to leave office from his charges of corruption by the U.S. Attorney's office. I believe should Assemblyman Wright become the speaker of the assembly that Congressman Rangel will run for at least one more term.
If you have any political information that you want to share or have checked out, any comments about this column, or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Bedford Park News: Blizzard Overblown

Bedford Park News: Blizzard Overblown: Blizzard Overblown ‘Historic’ Screwup Shuts City Down #Blizzard #Cuomo #MayordeBlasio Photo by David Greene By Dan Gesslein ...

Blizzard Overblown

Blizzard Overblown
‘Historic’ Screwup Shuts City Down
#Blizzard #Cuomo #MayordeBlasio
Photo by David Greene
By Dan Gesslein
BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 27- You call that a Blizzard? Bronxites awoke to find the Storm of the Century was anything but as the city received half to three times less snow than was forecast.
Yesterday Mayor Bill deBlasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo urged residents to stay in their homes because of the massive historical snowfall heading for New York City. Planes were grounded. The subways were shut down and the highways and roads were banned of all traffic except for emergency vehicles. Drivers breaking the ban were threatened with tickets costing up to $300.
The true effect on local restaurants is unknown since the mayor grounded takeout deliveries. The ban on non-
(Fear the snow. Gov. Cuomo told residents to stay home because of the "historic" blizzard)
emergency vehicles was extended to bicycles and scooters leaving restaurants to only deliver takeout by foot.
Instead of the big dig, Bronxites woke up to a mere 
sprinkling of the most 12 inches of snow not the 24 to 36 inches that were forecast. Many residents breathed a sigh of relief and were happy that the cleanup would go quickly.
There were no major outages reported throughout the borough by Con Edison.
(Road conditions the day BEFORE the blizzard were far worse than the blizzard itself. -Photo by Dan Gesslein)
“As of 11:30 am Tuesday I am getting reports that asphalt can be seen on main thoroughfares and that the Sanitation Dept. is well on its way to addressing side streets,” said Councilman James Vacca. "The fact that this storm was not as bad as anticipated will certainly mean a quicker snow cleanup on the week ahead."
Travel was worse the day before the storm with limited plowing and salting on the Hutch and I-95 which snarled the rush hour traffic home. Those who raced back from work to get home before the supposed massive storm were instead forced to brave snow and ice covered roads of the traffic snarled I-95 and Hutchinson River Parkway. Riders jammed subways before being stuck in the city.
As for the hysteria caused by the build up to the snowstorm, the reaction among officials was simply “My Bad.” The massive press conferences at a sanitation garage declaring the state of emergency by deBlasio was replaced with a simple one sentence statement issued this morning by the mayor’s stating that the roads were reopened. 
Who is to blame for shutting down the city? Well one weather forecaster took to Twitter to voice his mistake.
“My deepest apologies to many key decision makers and so many members of the general public,” tweeted National Weather Service meteorologist Gary Szatkowski. “This is a big forecast miss.”
Many took the screw up in stride but were not sure how this could be such a miss.
“They do realize that we get snow storms in January right?” asked one frustrated commuter. “This is the Bronx. A few flakes is not the end of the world.”
"I do not criticize forecasters," Gov. Cuomo said at a news conference after the storm. The governor said he would rather be "safe than sorry."

Friday, January 23, 2015

Bedford Park News: Restaurant Owners Busted for Tax Evasion

Bedford Park News: Restaurant Owners Busted for Tax Evasion: Restaurant Owners Busted for Tax Evasion  #Taxes #NYPD #Restaurant BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 23-  The New York State Department of Taxat...