Caption Chuck Schumer and a dirty bomb lithium ion cartridge

Still inauguratin' and still vaccine discriminatin'

 

*MEDIA ADVISORY***

COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE WON INAGURATION

WHAT: Council Member Julie Won will be celebrating her inauguration ceremony tomorrow at the Museum of the Moving Image.

** PROOF OF VACCINATION WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENTER THE EVENT**

WHEN: Saturday, April 23, 2022.

DOORS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT 1:30. THE EVENT WILL BEGIN AT 2:00 PM. RUN OF SHOW BELOW:

2:00pm: Carl Goodman ED of MOMI

2:00pm: Helen Ho emcee welcomes guests and begins the program

2:05pm: Korean Drum Group: Nantah

2:10pm: Invocation Denise Rhrissorrakrai

2:12pm: CCD Executive Director - K Bain

2:15pm: Senator Chuck Schumer

2:20pm: Attorney General Tish James

2:25pm: State Senator John Liu

2:30pm: Comptroller Brad Lander

2:35pm: Manhatitlan Mexican Folkloric Dance Group

2:40pm: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

2:45pm: Queens Borough President Donavan Richards

2:50pm: Swearing in by former borough president Sharon Lee

2:55pm: Julie Won closing remarks

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Digital Learning Suite

3:00pm: Food & Refreshments - outdoor seating also available

3:05pm: Tibetan Community Center Dance

3:15pm: Irish Community Center

3:25pm: Thank you for coming, enjoy the space and feel free to explore the exhibits upstairs

WHERE: Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave, Queens, NY 11106

For inquiries, please contact: Kevin Kiprovski, 646-771-3240

What's with the vaccination requirement Jules? The Key to NYC was abolished months ago. Besides the blatant discrimination banning the public for not getting the failed vaccine injected into their bodies, this museum is actually breaking the law since their will be indoor dining at 3 P.M. When will this bullshit cease?

And what a collection of fauxgressive shitlibs too. (Oh, the absent public advocate got COVID a few weeks ago too)

Ida flood homeowner victims are still getting shafted by Biden

Queens Post 

Nearly four months after the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed 13 New Yorkers, residents in the hardest-hit areas like Woodside are still struggling with government agencies for financial assistance to repair flood damage.

Many of the victims allege that the damage to their homes is the result of the city’s failure to fix the drainage and sewerage system. They cited decades-long calls for updates to the sewer system.

Linda Carlson, who has lived in her Woodside home since 1994, took on four feet of water when Ida struck on Sept. 1, with three inches of rain falling in just an hour. A contractor quoted her $34,000 in damages. “I was one of the lucky ones,” she said.

Carlson was approved for $11,773.68 in assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, more than what many of her neighbors were approved for, she said.

She was granted an additional $1,419.86 when she appealed the offer—and said others affected by Ida should also contest what’s offered. “Everybody should. This was caused by the city,” she said. “We’ve been fighting for decades to have the infrastructure upgraded.”

Danette Rivera nearly drowned in her Woodside home where she’s lived for 14 years. Her son, who is legally blind, had to pull her out of the basement through a small window as it filled with seven and a half feet of water, she said.

“I’m grateful that I’m a survivor. Not everyone has that story to tell,” she said. “But I’m angry, I’m upset and I’m pissed off. This shouldn’t have happened to me, and it shouldn’t have happened to anybody else. People shouldn’t have died.”

Rivera, who estimates that the cost to repair the damage to her home is about $64,000, also applied for assistance from FEMA, but would not say how much she was offered.

The amount she was approved for fell well short of the cost of the damage, she said.

Like Carlson, she appealed her offer, but received a letter asking for documentation she said had already been sent to the agency. “The appeal process seems like it’s a gimmick,” Rivera said. “Basically, it’s like a runaround.”

FEMA spokesman Scott Sanders told the Queens Post late last year that there could be a variety of reasons why someone might receive less funding than they had hoped. “If you gave me a thousand different applicants, there’s a thousand different stories in there,” he said.

Federal disaster funds, he said, are “not a substitute for insurance. It can supplement insurance, but it can’t duplicate assistance people may get from other sources.”

Majority Leader Senator Schumer has a lot of 'splaining to do also.

 

Here's the majority leader emphasizing that homeowners will be grants and all damages will be paid for.

If only these residents can sue the city for infrastructure negligence pic.twitter.com/WdaNLMFo89

— JQ LLC: Impunity Swagger (@ImpunityCity) September 7, 2021

Brooklyn pols holding rigged webinar about city streets

Since @ericadamsfornyc is pandering to @TransAlt and those totalitarians are acting like they're in his cabinet already,they really should see what an "open street" is doing to traffic on Atlantic and Washington Aves in Brooklyn. @StreetsblogNYC

Open streets do not calm traffic pic.twitter.com/TtyORqdAza

— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 19, 2021

Senator Chuck Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander are hosting an obviously rigged webinar tonight on the future of our city streets with transportation totalitarian lobbies

What the Infrastructure Bill Means for NYC: A Zoom Townhall with Senator Schumer and Comptroller-elect Brad Lander

Description

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has the potential to reshape NYC for the better, with investments in the transportation, resiliency, and internet infrastructure our neighborhoods will need for years to come. But how that new federal funding gets spent, which projects are prioritized, what kinds of jobs are created, and how quickly they move forward will really matter. Join Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and NYC Comptroller-elect Brad Lander for a conversation on what the infrastructure money means for NYC and how federal and local officials can collaborate on implementation to ensure that infrastructure dollars deliver what our communities need for the future.

Co-Sponsors (list in formation):
Bike New York
Center for an Urban Future
Citizens Budget Commission
Jobs to Move America
New York Building Congress
New York City Central Labor Council
New York League of Conservation Voters
Regional Plan Alliance
Riders Alliance
Transportation Alternatives

 

Time

Dec 9, 2021 06:30 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

 Expect this zoom astroturfed by bike zealots and Urbanish Yimby transplants, so if you own a car and you got zoom you better use it

 Canada? 

Woodside homeowner still having issues with FEMA emergency funding after phony consoling by the Blaz

NY Post 

A Hurricane Ida flooding victim that Mayor Bill de Blasio wrapped his arms around in an emotional scene last month called out Hizzoner on the radio Friday, saying the feds failed to deliver the aid he promised.

“You hugged me and told me that FEMA would take care of everything,” Woodside resident Julia Nieves told de Blasio during his weekly appearance on WNYC’s ‘Brian Lehrer Show’. “Unfortunately, FEMA didn’t give the [$36,000] to anyone in our Woodside homes.”

De Blasio had toured the damage along with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens/The Bronx) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, following days of complaints from locals about City Hall’s lackadaisical preparation and sluggish response to the flooding.

The $36,000 referenced by Nieves is the maximum award available for homeowners through the U.S. government’s disaster relief program — but locals, including Nieves, say they’ve received just a fraction of that amount.

“I can’t replace the water heater, a boiler, replace all the walls,” she added. “You were in my basement and saw what happened to my walls! They had to remove everything because of the mildew and the smell was horrific.”

 Instead, the retiree said on the radio program that she’s been forced to refinance her home to come up with the $11,000 for her new water heater and boiler — and she still needs to buy a new refrigerator, washer and dryer.

“How does this work for everyone in the community of Woodside, Queens who [was] flooded by Ida,” she concluded plaintively — leaving de Blasio on the defensive and promising the city would intervene.

“Julia, look, we’ve got to get you more help, that’s the bottom line,” Hizzoner said. “I saw the destruction in your basement. It’s clearly a lot of money, we’ve got to get you back on your feet.” 

She should also go after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to find out why FEMA is dragging their feet.

 

 

Here's the majority leader emphasizing that homeowners will be grants and all damages will be paid for.

If only these residents can sue the city for infrastructure negligence pic.twitter.com/WdaNLMFo89

— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) September 7, 2021

Current mayor and Senate Majority Leader attend impromptu West Indian Day parade for NYC's ruling class, then go to Woodside to survey flood damages to homes later on

NY Post
 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave Mayor Bill de Blasio a pass for failing to warn New Yorkers about the fatal storm that lashed the city last week — preferring to pin the blame on climate change — but her Queens constituents slammed Hizzoner and other city officials for their lack of preparedness.

“I don’t blame climate change, I blame the mayor,” Danette Rivera, 47, told The Post outside her Woodside home Monday morning after de Blasio, AOC, Sen. Charles Schumer and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured her block.

“There was absolutely no warning. I wasn’t expecting water from my own drain to be the one that’s going to kill me,” Rivera said, her voice shaking with emotion.

Rivera’s arms and stomach were still bruised from when her son had to yank her out through a basement window as it filled with water that bubbled up from her drains Wednesday night.

“This is a nightmare. A disaster,” Rivera said, noting that her home also flooded in 2008. She said city officials told her at the time that they’d make sure it never happened again.

“Fix the sewer system,” fumed Rivera’s neighbor, Julia Nieves, 77.

“The catch basins don’t get cleaned often enough. The last time I saw them cleaned was five years ago,” Nieves, a retired Off Track Betting clerk, told The Post from her Woodside basement where the paneling had been ripped off to reveal spots of black mold. 

 NY Post  

Mayor Bill de Blasio and a slew of local politicians marched in a scaled down, discreetly organized version of the West Indian Day Parade Monday — infuriating locals who thought the annual Labor Day blowout was scrapped entirely following Hizzoner’s announcement last week.

The parade kicked off at 9 a.m. in Crown Heights and lasted about an hour — featuring two floats with DJs pumping out music, dozens of dignitaries and more than 500 flag-toting marchers and colorfully dressed revelers.

Some parade perennials — like Terry Owens — were outraged that a smaller celebration of West Indian culture took place even after de Blasio nixed the parade altogether for the second straight year due to COVID-19 concerns.

“I am disappointed because I brought my family up here that wanted to see it. They came all the way from Alabama,” Owens, 59, griped, adding that he just happened upon the parade while out for a walk.

“It makes me angry, too, because they could have been out here. They are home sleeping,” Owens continued. “I come every year. I was talking about it and I wanted them to come see it. I said, ‘You all need to come,’ so I was looking forward to coming. I kept asking, I kept hearing, ‘No, it’s canceled, it’s canceled,’ so I am doing my morning walk and I saw it and I said, ‘Wow, it’s here.’”

 

Desperate White politician ruins underattended Juneteenth festival even more

 

 Micheal Tracey

 Juneteenth is officially a federal holiday, and inaugural celebrations are being held across the country this weekend. As always, elected officials never let a good parade or festival-type scenario go to waste. Yesterday, I went to a first-annual Juneteenth event in Jamaica, Queens which attracted the likes of Chuck Schumer, Bill de Blasio, Grace Meng, Gregory Meeks, and other NYC-area politicians who wanted to let everyone know how committed they were to “doing the work” — much of which, naturally, is yet to be done.

Even though this event was organized by a New York State Assemblywoman and, in theory, could’ve been an exciting post-COVID outdoor celebration marking a new federal holiday, the attendance was pretty paltry. I’m not sure if that was due to lack of interest, or poor promotion, or what. Nothing against the vendors and food booths and such — those were all fine. But when Schumer et al. were up on stage yesterday afternoon, they were speaking to a crowd of maybe 50 people. (Although the crowd did grow somewhat after the politicians left, with the arrival of various child dance troupes.)

It’s a bit strange when office-holders who belong to the party which overwhelmingly dominates New York City and State governments, and controls the Presidency and Congress, present themselves as quasi-revolutionary dissenters. But that’s exactly what happened at this soiree, hosted by Democratic Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman. “I just love Southeast Queens, we have the best elected officials ever,” the emcee said, further stating that these elected officials were in the process of “fighting the power.” Her words were uttered while Schumer, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, was posing cheerfully on stage.

After the speeches, Schumer strutted around in his brand new Juneteenth t-shirt in search of the piddling few attendees who recognized him and wanted to talk. He happened upon a father who instructed his young boy to take a photo with the Senator, because having a photo with a Senator is considered impressive. Schumer boastfully corrected the father, reminding him that his proper title is in fact “Majority Leader.” A smiling Schumer repeated this correction more than once. The boy didn’t appear to understand what “Majority Leader” meant, but Schumer’s boast conveyed the message that he was an extremely important person.

 Curiously, none of the NYC mayoral candidates — the election is on Tuesday — appeared at this portion of the event, perhaps because none wanted to be caught dead with incumbent mayor Bill de Blasio. At a recent mayoral debate only one candidate, Andrew Yang, indicated that he would like to receive De Blasio’s endorsement. For kicks, I asked De Blasio if he’d decided who he’s voting for in the election. “Nope,” he replied. Asked when he planned on making up his mind, he said, “by Tuesday morning.” ...OK.

Senator Schumer and Rep. Torres looking to double federal funding to fund public housing

 

 Bronx Times

 Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Ritchie Torres unveiled a push over the weekend for an $80-plus billion dollar investment in federal public housing funds via the just-proposed American Jobs Plan.

Schumer and Torres said after decades of disinvestment, bad management and federal neglect, NYCHA and its residents face a “now-or-never moment” to secure critically-needed investments via the American Jobs Plan.

The lawmakers said the administration’s plan calls for $40 billion dollars for the whole nation, but that number is not enough given the needs of public housing properties across the country, particularly in New York. Schumer and Torres said they are going to fight to double down on that proposal to ensure that it is at least $80 billion dollars.

“As a product of NYCHA, the subject of public and affordable housing is deeply personal to me,” Torres said. “Investing in and repairing public housing means investing in hard working families. While the American Jobs Plan proposes to invest $40 billion in public housing, that simply is not enough and will not cover all the capital repairs needed in public housing nationwide. We need to double that commitment in order to address the public housing repair backlog. Together with my House and Senate colleagues we will continue to push the Biden Administration to make significant investments in NYCHA and public housing authorities across the country.”

The American Jobs Plan called on Congress to invest $40 billion to improve the infrastructure of the public housing system in America. The funding “will address critical life-safety concerns, mitigate imminent hazards to residents, and undertake energy efficiency measures, which will significantly reduce ongoing operating expenses. The improvements will disproportionately benefit women, people of color, and people with disabilities.”

Chuck Schumer grovels to Jet Blue to remain in Queens

 

 

Queens Eagle

One of the nation’s most powerful lawmakers has joined the effort to keep JetBlue in Queens.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer paid a personal phone call to JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes following reports that “New York’s Hometown Airline” was thinking of taking off to Florida.

Schumer said he reminded Hayes of the airline’s roots in Queens, where JetBlue has remained since its founding 1998. He also said he and fellow New York leaders worked hard to secure  $14 billion for the airline industry in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed this month.

“With the critical pandemic relief dollars we just delivered on to help save airlines like JetBlue, and the thousands and thousands of New Yorkers they already employ, the airline should actually clear the runway to grow here, not recede,” Schumer said. “Bottom line, I am confident JetBlue will remain New York’s hometown airline for a long time to come.”

The airline has 1,300 employees who report to the Long Island City space and thousands more reporting to Queens’ two international airports 

Their current lease at 27-01 Queens Plaza North expires in 2023.

JetBlue, the seventh largest carrier in North America, started in Kew Gardens before moving to Long Island City in 2010. The company received a slew of incentives from New York City and state at the time, fueling speculation that the leaked memo was the start of a new attempt to extract concessions from a city eager to keep the company in Queens.

The airline has also contended with huge losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second quarter of 2020, for example, the company reported a nearly 90 percent loss of revenue as air travel ground to a near halt. Revenue decreased by 76 percent in the third quarter of 2020 and 67 percent in the fourth quarter. 

In a statement to the Eagle, JetBlue did not rule out fleeing Queens when their lease expires. The company said they “expect to have a plan in place later this year.”

The city named a boulevard after Floyd Flake

 

QNS

  The name of Merrick Boulevard in Queens was taken from the word “Meroke” mean oyster bed. So a portion of it in St. Albans was appropriately renamed Saturday for what admirers say is the “pearl of the community,” in honor of the Rev. Dr. Floyd H. Flake. (Blech, what a write up)

Nearly a thousand residents and city elected officials jammed the streets near his beloved church, the Greater Allen African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Cathedral, on Oct. 3 for the dedication.

Elected officials and the community fully supported the renaming of the street “Floyd H. Flake Boulevard,” passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio to honor the former Congressman and civil rights activist. Saturday’s huge ceremony was full of speeches by top leaders and filled with the pomp of powerful gospel music and dancing that is the hallmark of his 23,000-member church.

 A marching band led a long white limousine with his family to the open field where he was accompanied by his wife Margaret Elaine McCollins and his four children — his two sons Robert Rasheed, Harold Hasan and his two daughters Aliya and Nailah Flake-Brown — who held his arm right up to his seat.

The city is broke and taxpayer money was set aside for a ostentatious and undeserved parade for and lionization of a crooked politician. Also a ceremony of collective democrat establishment cognitive dissonance. 

 

And don't forget that this city approved gathering was arranged and happened as schools and restaurants are closing in districts where covid cases rose and there's the arrogant defiant Floyd walking around with his mask under his nose and then off in close proximity with his adoring allies and fans.

Disgusting. 

Update:

A commentator of a recent post brought up a story that makes this street renaming in the honor of Floyd more unjustified and reprehensible. Two men were involved in teenage sex trafficking, holding two girls hostage and pimping them out in a senior citizen residential building tied to the Allen Church where this dedication took place that was attended by the current mayor of New York City and New York State attorney general and the minority leader of the U.S. Senate.

Queens Chronicle

Two Queens men have been arrested in separate cases in which they are accused of kidnapping teenage girls and forcing them to work as prostitutes.

According to the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, Joseph Gilbert, 24, of St. Albans was indicted on an 87-count complaint charging him with holding a 15-year-old girl at a senior housing complex, which has been identified by the Daily News as the Greater Allen Cathedral Senior Residence.

Gilbert was charged with first- and second-degree kidnapping, compelling prostitution, sex trafficking, second-degree promoting prostitution, second- and third-degree assault, third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child.

Brown added that Gilbert is accused of threatening and beating the girl, and allegedly forcing her to take drugs to stay awake in order to bring in more money.

Church officials did not respond to a request for comment prior to the Chronicle’s deadline.

In a separate case, Reagan Conception, 28, of Jamaica, was arraigned on June 2 on a 76-count indictment accusing him of kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl and forcing her to work as a prostitute between September and November of last year.

Conception was charged with first- and second-degree kidnapping, first- and second-degree rape, first- and second-degree criminal sexual act, sex trafficking, compelling prostitution, first-, second- and third-degree promoting prostitution, second- and third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

“I want to stress that prostitution is not a victimless crime and that sex trafficking is an incessant act of brutality and degradation,” Brown said in a statement issued last Friday. “This teenage girl was finally freed but she will have to live with this horrible experience for the rest of her life.”

 I repeat, disgusting. 

What about Elmhurst Hospital, Senator Schumer and Senator Gillebrand?

Queens Chronicle 

Four Queens hospitals that have been designated as “hot spot” care providers during the COVID-19 crisis will begin receiving more than $21.8 million combined from the federal government to offset unreimbursed expenses or lost revenue due to the pandemic.

The funding is part of more than $680 million allocated to 86 New York State hospitals in a new $10 billion relief package. U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said in a joint press release on Saturday that the money is in addition to $4.3 billion secured for frontline hospitals in April; and that the new funding should begin this week.

Flushing Hospital Medical Center is in line for $11,265,905. St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway will receive $8,700,257. Jamaica Hospital Medical Center qualifies for $1,128,335. NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens in Jamaica will receive $760,265.

Only eleven blocks of Rockaway Beach is getting new sand this year

Patch

 A popular strip of Rockaway Beach that was closed off last summer will reopen in time for beach season this year.

The city will reopen 11 blocks of Rockaway Beach between Beach 91st Street and Beach 102nd Street as part of a $7 million project to clean out the East Rockaway Inlet, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced Monday.

"Let there be sand – on Rockaway Beach!" Schumer said in a statement. "Kudos to Mayor de Blasio and the Army Corps for working together in a way that provides a critical positive fix for this situation. No one wanted to have another partial beach shutdown again this summer."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will dredge the inlet and use the sand they gather to replenish parts of Rockaway Beach that had eroded, prompting safety concerns ahead of beach season last year.

"Rockaway Beach defines summer in New York City," said Mayor de Blasio. "Reopening this beach means a lot to this community and families all over the city. We've worked months with the Army Corps and our federal partners on a solution to get it done."

Only 7 million dollars. Yet no new jetties or groins that will actually remediate erosion. This is just an incremental, temporary and cheap fix.

NYS Pavilion getting some love from the Feds

From the Times Ledger:

The restoration effort of the New York State Pavilion at Flushing Meadows Corona Park will receive more than $16 million in federal funding, according to U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

As announced on Nov. 26, the cash infusion will be used to repair and replace several electrical units at the World’s Fair Park and other areas which were severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“The World’s Fair Pavilion is an enduring icon and it should be preserved and promoted for current and future generations,” Schumer said. “Now the pavilion is being restored and these federal funds will be used to repair damaged caused by Superstorm Sandy and help yet another community asset recover after the storm.”

The $16,468,030 grant was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the New York Office of Management and Budget and will be used for repairs at the pavilion as well other storm-damaged areas of the park.

BQX leader replaced by a Schumer

From AM-NY:

The leader of the developer-backed advocacy group for the Brooklyn-Queens Connector, the mayor’s streetcar project, is stepping down.

Ya-Ting Liu, executive director of the Friends of the BQX, plans to leave the group on Friday after 18 months in the position, but before significant planning or outreach for the project has been completed. A spokesperson said that Liu felt this was an appropriate time to step down, and Liu did not immediately return calls for comment.

Deputy director Jessica Schumer, the daughter of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, will serve as interim executive director until the position is filled. Schumer had served as the policy director for Tim Kaine on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and had worked in the White House during the Obama administration.

Monday morning photo caption contest

Embed from Getty Images
Well, this weekend felt a bit dreary and now those of us fortunate to be gainfully employed have to return to work. Don't know about you but the Crapper feels like it's time for a photo caption contest. And what better subjects than a guy who was Anthony Weiner's mentor and another who actually did the things that Horny Tony just fantasized about on social media.

Schumer asks for more funding for opioid enforcement

From PIX11:

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for federal help in the fight against opioid addiction in New York.

Schumer is asking the Drug Enforcement Agency to provide the state with one of four special heroin enforcement teams being formed to combat the problem. The four teams are specifically dedicated to counteracting heroin trafficking and are sent to states that report heroin as the highest drug threat.

The Democrat says New York's heroin overdose death rate increased by 30 percent in 2015. New data show there was an average of four overdose deaths a day in New York City alone last year. That was double the rate two years earlier. New York City also is a major distribution hub.

Overall, 24 New York counties are considered High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas.

Preet asked to resign in the middle of major investigations

From NY1:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has been asked to resign, along with 45 other prosecutors, as part of a nationwide purge of the Justice Department. But whether the hard-charging federal prosecutor will step down is unclear.

There are some possibilities here. One is that Bharara does not get any special treatment and he is out and he just had not accepted it yet.

Another possibility is that Bharara stays because sometime soon he is asked to re-apply for his position, or the president does not accept his resignation if it is offered. Two U.S. attorneys are being told that their resignations would not be accepted. One has been nominated for a top Justice Department position, and the other is in that spot now.

A third possibility for Bharara is that he dangles for a bit. It is possible that Bharara is something of a pawn in a battle between the Trump and Schumer. The president may be threatening to fire Bharara to get Schumer to speed up approvals of his nominees.

What idiots came up with this?

From Gotham Gazette:

As New Yorkers begin a year of many voting opportunities, there are important questions that elections will help answer - like who the next U.S. President will be and which party will control the state Senate - but also concern about voter fatigue and thus, turnout.

There will be at least four chances for New Yorkers to cast votes in 2016, with three different primary election days leading up to November’s general election. There will be a presidential primary vote in April; congressional primaries in June; and state legislative primaries in September. There will also be special elections sprinkled in to fill empty seats in the state Assembly and Senate.

On April 19, New Yorkers will vote in their party primaries for president; on June 28, it will be primaries for all 27 New York members of the House of Representatives, with Senator Chuck Schumer on the ballot, too; and on September 13, primaries for all 63 seats of the State Senate and all 150 seats of the State Assembly.

No date has been set by the governor yet for special elections in the state legislature, including those to replace former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, whose 2015 corruption convictions created vacancies.

In 2015, some New York City voters cast ballots for new district attorneys, judges, and city Council members, among others. By the time New Yorkers vote for president in November, it could be their sixth trip to the polls in 14 months.

Seeking peace and quiet in Whitestone

From WPIX:

Neighbors in Whitestone, Queens enjoy the peace of their community. But they’ve been tracking the flight path of helicopters and sea planes. They are asking the government to review their data.

Their civic group, We Love Whitestone, is working to gather helicopter noise complaints. Dan Aronoff created airnoisereport.com and it has logged more than 2100 incidents in 2 months.

Senator Charles Schumer, State Senator Tony Avella and Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz are requesting the Federal Aviation Administration consider moving the flights closer to the water’s edge.

Attack of the drones!

From WPIX:

More concerns at JFK Airport after a series of midair drone sightings, making three over the weekend.

Two separate flight over JFK spotted drones flying too close for comfort on Friday, prompting warning’s from the Department of Homeland Security that would be terrorists could use drones to attack the public. Another was spotted Sunday near the Queens hub.

The concern among security officials is the possibility that recreational drones could dangerous side of the coin is the threat to commercial jetliners.

Senator Charles Schumer over the weekend called for tough FAA rules on drones, as well as geofencing software that could prohibit a done to fly higher than 500 feet, and keep it two miles away from any airport or sensitive area.

Both of those flights landed safely without having to take evasive action on Friday, and the drone sightings are being investigated by both the Port Authority and the FAA.