Must-reads headlines from around the city, curated by the WNYC Newsroom.
HOUSING
Tenants Suing Over Invasion of Rats at NYCHA Apartments (NYDN)
Greg Smith reports: “For hundreds of residents of the city Housing Authority’s Claremont apartments in the Bronx, life has become exile on rat street. In the last few months, they say rats have been invading their NYCHA apartments, crawling inside the walls and even venturing out into living rooms and kitchens in broad daylight... Residents interviewed Wednesday by the Daily News described rats everywhere. One resident, Alvin Wilmore, produced a video of a dead rat he said fell or was tossed out of window Monday onto closed-off Findlay Ave. where kids were playing hopscotch and skateboarding.”
POLITICS
No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global (NYT)
Azam Ahmed and Ben Protess report: “A criminal investigation into the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and the disappearance of about $1 billion in customer money is now heading into its final stage without charges expected against any top executives.’”
POLITICS
David Dinkins Backing Robert Jackson For Manhattan Borough President (NYDN)
Celeste Katz reports: “Former Mayor David Dinkins is throwing his support behind City Councilman Robert Jackson's quest to become Manhattan's next borough president, The Daily Politics has learned. The councilman, whose current district encompasses Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, called Dinkins ‘an historic trailblazer who knows this office and loves this city’”.
EDUCATION
Coalition Aims to Link School Group and Romney (NYT)
Michael M. Grynbaum reports: “The coalition, New Yorkers for Great Public Schools, said it planned to highlight donors who supported both Mitt Romney and StudentsFirstNY, a political group formed as a counterweight to teachers’ unions that oppose much of Mr. Bloomberg’s education agenda.The line of attack is somewhat selective — the StudentsFirstNY board includes several major Democratic donors, as well as several well-heeled Romney contributors — but the offensive, described in interviews this week, is a sign of the increasingly blunt gamesmanship in the continuing debate over the future of the city’s schools, a topic that is expected to be a key issue in the 2013 mayoral race.”
HOUSING
Will You Be Happy with a 2.9% Raise? (Crain’s)
Greg David reports: “A new survey says New York workers—or at least those at larger companies—can expect raises of 2.9% next year. The good news is that that would be the largest increase in more than four years; the bad news is that is it less than in other cities. The figure comes from the human resource company Aon Hewitt, which surveyed 1,300 employers nationally about the pay increases they are handing out, including 34 in New York.”
RELIGION
Cardinal Dolan Defends President Obama Invite to Al Smith Dinner (NYDN)
Jonathan Lemire reports:”Dolan acknowledged he has received “stacks of mail protesting the invitation to President Obama” from Catholics furious with the new federal health care regulations, which require employers to provide insurance plans to cover contraceptives. The city’s top Catholic was himself outraged by the administration’s decision and has vowed to fight it all the way to the Supreme Court — but Dolan said he never considered rescinding the President’s invitation to the October white-tie event, an annual fund-raiser for Catholic charities.”
HOUSING
FDNY Saves 86-Year-Old Queens Nun From Flash Flood (NYDN)
Anthony Delmundo and Corky Siemaszko report: “Sister Claudia Bradshaw and her two pals, caught off guard by a flash flood, were trapped in a sinking car beneath a Queens overpass Wednesday afternoon. Bradshaw, 86, prayed for deliverance, while her friends frantically called 911. The water was up to Bradshaw’s neck when her prayers were answered — by a pair of plucky Fire Department EMT’s.”
TRANSPORTATION
Wheelchair User Fights the MTA Over Subway Platform Gaps (DNAInfo)
Janet Upadhye reports: “Sitting at the DeKalb Avenue station on a recent Monday afternoon, Kaplan waited for the train. The first to pass was approximately six inches above the platform. She didn’t even attempt to board. The next was a little closer, so she backed up her wheelchair, gaining momentum to get past the gap. Her small front tires made it over, but the back tires got stuck. The third train was also closer to the the platform. Kaplan tried to board, but once again her back tire became stuck. The conductor encouraged her to try again, but fear and frustration drove her to tears. The train left without her on it.”
REAL ESTATE
Down On Its Luck: Revel Jobs, Revenue Falling Below Expectations (The Star-Ledger)
Jarrett Renshaw and Salvador Rizzo report: “The shiny $2.4 billion resort, acclaimed for its beauty and amenities, is on pace to take in $200 million in gaming revenue during its first 12 months of operation, according to a Star-Ledger analysis of records filed with Economic Development Authority and the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. That would mean Revel will fall roughly $360 million short of what the Christie administration banked on when it agreed to help salvage the project last year.”
POLICY
$1 Million Camera Program in 2 Brooklyn Neighborhoods Stalls (NYDN)
Jarrett Renshaw and Salvador Rizzo report: “A state-funded program expected to put 150 cameras in two Brooklyn neighborhoods has been stalled ... [Assemblyman Dov] Hikind tapped Agudath Israel, a powerful organization of Orthodox Jews, to administer the Leiby Kletzky Security Initiative. The group has been criticized for arguing that a rabbi must grant permission before authorities are notified of a sex abuse accusation. The controversial stance helped fueled concerns over who might monitor the cameras in Borough Park and Midwood and whether video of crimes caught on the cameras would be shared with police.”
CULTURE
With Arena, Rapper Jay-Z Rewrites Celebrity Investors’ Playbook (NYT)
Jay-Z’s (real name Shawn Carter) stake in the Brooklyn Nets is tiny (one-fifteenth of one percent), but his influence in the project has been outsized. He chose the black and white design of the team’s logos, is helping to choose the music to be played during games (less Bon Jovi, more Santigold) and even showed security guards how to be respectful while searching attendees for weapons. But as David M. Halbfinger he expects to get a lot out of the deal as well: “Suite owners will have access to a Champagne bar serving Armand de Brignac, an expensive bubbly that Mr. Carter promotes and in which he holds a financial interest, according to a biography by a writer for Forbes. The arena will contain a 40/40 Club, an iteration of his sports-bar-style nightclub chain. There will be a Rocawear store, selling his clothing line, on the arena’s exterior. Even the advertising agency used by the Nets, Translation, is half-owned by Mr. Carter.”