New York, NY

Mayor's School 'Reforms' Raise Unions' Hackles; Faces Tenure Battle; CSA Wants Details Of 'Empowerment' By MEREDITH KOLODNER       City unions' reactions ranged from lukewarm to furious last week as they sorted through Mayor Bloomberg's proposals in his Jan. 17 State of the City address to revamp the education system and spend less on pensions. The Mayor's plan to make Teacher tenure more difficult to obtain set off a firesto... More ... P.D. Holds Hostage Its PAPD Applicants; Firemen Not Restricted By REUVEN BLAU       Through an odd twist, city cops have been blocked from transferring to the higher-paying Port Authority Police Department due to the NYPD's strict policy limiting the release of their personnel files, while their counterparts in the FDNY have had no such problems. More ... Whistleblower Aid Bill Gains Steam; Constitutional Right? By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       A new bill that seeks to buttress the rights and protections afforded to Federal employees acting as whistleblowers against government fraud and mismanagement is garnering broad bipartisan support in Congress. The legislation, known officially as the Federal Employee Protection Disclosure Act, was... More ... Rule NYPD Can Withhold Officer Files From PA; Has Effect of Blocking Transfers to Gain Higher Pay By REUVEN BLAU       A State Appellate Division panel has reversed a lower-court decision ordering the NYPD to release the personnel records of 35 of its officers seeking to transfer to the Port Authority Police Department. More ... Unions Mobilize Against War; Will Join Washington Rally By MEREDITH KOLODNER       President Bush's troop escalation, the anti-war sentiment of the new Democratic Congress and the rising cost of the war are motivating thousands of union members to board buses bound for an anti-war protest Jan. 27 in Washington, D.C. The rally is aimed at pressing Congress to end the war and will... More ... Retro Checks In Limbo for 300 Ex-EMS Staff By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       Approximately 300 retroactive paychecks for former Emergency Medical Service workers are being held by the city because recipients haven't stepped forward to claim them, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned. The checks are owed to EMS members under a contract deal reached with the city in June 2006 that g... More ... Job Fatality Aid To Families May Grow; Eye Correction, Sanit By REUVEN BLAU       With the city flush with a budget surplus, the Bloomberg administration last week proposed a bill to automatically provide continuing health insurance benefits to families of all city Correction Officers and Sanitation Workers killed on the job, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned. More ... Sanit Union Trashes Dilapidated Garages; Seeks Facility Repairs By REUVEN BLAU       After an unusually warm and snowless start to the winter, the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association last week urged the Bloomberg administration to use the millions of dollars it sets aside to pay for snow removal to repair its old and dilapidated garages. More ... Arrest EMT for Medical Forgery By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       The Department of Investigation announced the arrest of an Emergency Medical Service worker Jan. 16 on charges that he forged medical forms to explain a string of absences. More ... Union Rights Breach Led to HRA Firing; Judge Orders New Hearing By MEREDITH KOLODNER       A Manhattan judge has granted a new hearing to a city employee who was fired for causing another worker to become ill from inhaling ammonia fumes because the arbitrator who imposed that penalty did so after considering a secret disciplinary memo that violated the worker's union rights. More ... Snow Fun for Firemen, Vets; Wounded During War By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       A group of 20 off-duty New York City firefighters spent last weekend skiing and snowboarding alongside military veterans who have been injured during recent tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. More ... Bill to Prohibit IRS Collection Farmouts; See Privacy Violation By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       A group of Democratic U.S. Senators introduced legislation Jan. 18 that would make it illegal for the Internal Revenue Service to outsource tax collection work to private debt collectors. The legislation was championed by Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Patty Murray of Washington State. More ... Parks Union Seeks Security Upgrades; To Benefit Patrol Staff By MEREDITH KOLODNER       Parks unions and advocates are hoping that newly released crime figures will convince the Bloomberg administration to keep funding an increase in Park Enforcement Patrol (PEP) units and upgrade their facilities. Earlier advocacy by those groups persuaded the city to compile crime statistics by par... More ... Tap Toussaint Jailer For Appeals Court; Imposed Strike Penalties By GINGER ADAMS OTIS       Governor Spitzer Jan. 14 nominated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones Jr., who is best known for sentencing Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail, to the State Court of Appeals. Justice Jones, who has served in Brooklyn for 17 years, gained national prominence when he was assigned to h... More ... The Truth About Reform; Notes to Governor Spitzer By BRANDON WARD       During the course of the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, candidate Eliot Spitzer defined his Albany reform agenda in most dynamic terms: from "Day 1, everything changes." Now that the election has come and gone, Governor Spitzer's reform mandate comes to us courtesy of his lopsided victory over his op... More ... STANDING HIS GROUND:       Joseph Zadroga (left) ignored chilly temperatures Jan. 18 during the five-hour vigil he held at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital for Cesar Borja, 52, a retired NYPD officer being treated for 9/11-related pulmonary fibrosis and in dire need of a lung transplant. Mr. More ... How Changes Will Affect Principals By MEREDITH KOLODNER       One of the changes the Mayor intends to make in the school system concerns how schools utilize educational support services. Currently, there are 332 Principals who chose to become part of the "Empowerment Schools" program. These schools were given less supervision and in return received more mone... More ... FOR THE RECORD       In introducing Mayor Bloomberg to the audience gathered at New York City Technical College for the State of the City speech, Borough President Marty Markowitz referred wistfully to "the City of Brooklyn," prompting the Mayor to subsequently remark, "Unfortunately, Brooklyn is one of the five boroug... 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