A lawyer for Xing Wu Pan, who is charged with agreeing to funnel illegal campaign contributions for John Liu, accused the government of “outrageous misconduct.”
NEW YORK—As the Jeremy Lin phenomenon continues to lift hopes and spirits among the Knicks faithful and basketball fans nationwide, team doctors are doing everything they can to maintain the unusually high level of morale by painstakingly and methodically prolonging the groin injury Carmelo Anthony suffered on February 6.
"Carmelo's injury really isn't that unusual or severe, as these things go, so we've had to be persistent in striking him repeatedly and forcefully in the crotch to prevent him from returning to the lineup," Knicks team doctor Craig McConnell said Friday. "We've had our trainers out there working with him every day, stretching his groin to a painful extent before hitting him with everything they can—clipboards, water bottles, basketballs, rolls of tape, fists, feet, you name it."
"Did you see Jeremy Lin scored more points in his first five games than any player in NBA history?" said McConnell, adding that the only thing that makes him feel better than watching Lin’s success is the sight of Carmelo Anthony rolling on the ground cradling his testicles. "It's a great time to be a Knicks fan, that's for certain."
Anthony's injured groin, originally classified as a muscle strain, has been reevaluated numerous times by the Knicks' medical team. Following diligent work with reflex hammers, clamps, retractors, generous applications of hypodermically administered saline solution, and even their bare hands, doctors have confirmed Anthony's status is now day-to-day, as he suffers from contusions, a subdermal hematoma, broken blood vessels, and, of course, the original strain.
"We've been giving Melo's groin everything we've got, and I have to say, it's responding to treatment very well," said trainer Gus Berg, who had to have his own knuckles taped after giving Anthony's crotch a vigorous examination Wednesday. "The whole training staff is pleased with the way this regimen is going."
According to team sources, the entire Knicks organization, having considered how Anthony's playing style will likely clash with Lin's, has pitched in to help with the groin injury.
Guard Baron Davis, suffering from his own physical woes, has reportedly made a point of companionably kicking Anthony in the crotch during their physical therapy appointments. Head coach Mike D'Antoni—whose offensive philosophy relies on intelligent and unselfish guard play—visited Anthony to review several new plays, which he then rolled into a tube and jammed into Anthony's crotch. And team owner James Dolan, who rarely interacts with his players, stopped by the locker room to cheer Anthony up by showing him some of his patented yo-yo-tricks, all of which seemed to involve whipping the yo-yo really hard into Anthony's groin.
Anthony, for his part, has insisted that he just needs rest, that he could easily coexist on the court with Jeremy Lin, and that he likes the attention but wishes people would stop reinjuring his groin.
"I'm not worried about the groin strain, really, so much as I'm worried about all these people who keep reinjuring me," Anthony told reporters. "I'm spending a lot of time curled up on the floor because of that. I really think I would be able to play again almost right away if it wasn't for people hitting me in the balls all the time."
Anthony's interview was then cut short as several members of the press forcefully struck Anthony in the groin with microphones, cameras, and tape recorders, causing him to collapse to the ground in agony.
The New Jersey Assembly approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Thursday, setting up a confrontation with Gov. Chris Christie.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had threatened to break an impasse between education officials and the teachers’ union by imposing his own way to judge the quality of a teacher’s work.
The board of governors of the National Arts Club voted to evict and terminate the membership of the club’s colorful longtime president, O. Aldon James Jr., from his apartment in the club residence.
Monica Lewinsky's name will likely find its way back into the headlines when PBS runs its two-part, four-hour documentary on former president Bill Clinton Monday night.
The documentary, titled "Clinton," is part of PBS' "American Experience" series and covers the domestic and international issues that marked Clinton's two-term presidency.
But it's what Clinton's closest advisors have to say about the president's 1998 affair with Lewinksy that may be of greater interest to many.
Among those interviewed are the former president's re-election campaign manager, Dick Morris, who recalls the moment Clinton confided in him about the affair.
"When the Lewinsky scandal broke, the President paged me and I returned the call," Morris says in this video preview clip. "He said, 'Ever since I got here to the White House I've had to shut my body down, sexually I mean, but I screwed up with this girl. I didn't do what they said I did, but I may have done so much that I can't prove my innocence."
Covering up the affair would ultimately lead the House of Representatives to bring impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice against Clinton, who was acquitted after a 21-day televised Senate trial.
If you'd like to see more of the documentary before Monday, PBS has made part one available online.
“If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people— including me— would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.“
—Hunter S. Thompson
Those of you who have an involvement in the dangerous game of politics, it may be of interest to know who’s telling the truth these days, and, whether the articles we read are real or imagined disinformation, emanating directly out of a governmental PR department. No genuine journalist would ever rely on such a source for the truth. As publisher of the SoHo Journal, through personal experience, take it from me that it is possible to become a political target for simply writing about the truth. And the mainstream media and writers eat their own for sales— as well as take orders from their masters— corporate, financial and political masters. Always pay attention to the agenda. Read between the lines. That is the basis of real reporting and political comprehension. Not the rehashing of a press release. OWS had a handle on this reality as well.
Pay attention to the current daily blog written by Gary Tilzer. His True News is one of the few remaining sources for political investigative reporting. His fearless reporting of the truth in political circles is worth noting. His web address is http://truenewsfromchangenyc.blogspot.com/.
Tilzer is a political consultant, writer and blogger whose articles have appeared in the New York Sun, the Village Voice as well as his own blog True News. Tilzer's blog is heavy on muck- breaking, investigative stories as well offering analysis and the breaking news of the day. True News has broken stories about corruption involving both the Brooklyn and Queens county leaders and other officials that that have been picked up by the city’s old media including the New York Times. Tilzer was nominated by the Village Voice for an investigative series of articles about landlords that used block busting to qualify for federal housing grants called the “Lords of Flatbush.” As a political consultant has specialized in taking on incumbents and the political machine. He is the only one in over 100 years to elect a Surrogate Judge in Brooklyn against the party bosses -- which he has done twice -- 2005 Margarita Lopez Torres and in 2007 Diana Johnson. Tilzer also ran the campaign for the first Orthodox woman to the City Council, the first Sephardic woman and the first Asian-American to the Assembly.
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New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, joined by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (far l.), City Councilman Jumaane Williams (c.) and others, calls for a change to the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy during a news conference on the steps of City Hall this afternoon.
The NYPD stopped and questioned a record number of people last year, mostly minority-group members who were not charged with any wrongdoing, newly released numbers show.
There were 684,330 stops in 2011, more than six times the 97,296 stops in 2002, the first year of the Bloomberg administration.
Blacks and Hispanics were the targets of 87% of all stops, while whites were involved in only 9%.
“This is not a problem that impacts New Yorkers equally,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Little wonder that to many, policing in New York City is a tale of two cities.”
The NYPD denies it uses racial profiling.
It said officers stop people based on a number of factors, including descriptions provided by crime victims and witnesses.
“Stops save lives,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman. “Over the past 10 years, there were 5,430 murders in New York City, compared with 11,058 in the decade before Mayor Bloomberg took office.
“That’s a remarkable achievement — 5,628 lives saved — attributable to proactive policing strategies that included stops.”
Browne also said cops recovered 819 guns during those stops — but Lieberman said that doesn’t justify stopping the innocent.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is white, said the issue doesn’t resonate with white New Yorkers, but should be of concern to all races.
In Harlem, where some men sport buttons that read “Stop and Frisk” with a red line through the words, Dominick Sanchez, 20, said he was stopped Monday and questioned about robberies on the block.
“If you’re not white, you’re going to get stopped,” said Sanchez, who is black. “I want to talk back to them, but they threaten you.”
Stanley Jenkins, 33 and black, knows that feeling.
“A lot of times when they do stop and frisk they do so on a hunch,” said Jenkins, who is black. “They say they ‘got a call,’ which is untrue nine out of 10 times.
“It’s embarrassing — especially if you did nothing wrong.”
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
The New York Police Department stopped and interrogated people 684,330 times in 2011, by far the highest total since the Police Department began collecting data of its troublimg stop-and-frisks since that year, the first year of the Bloomberg administration, when there were only 97, 296 stops, according to NYCLU report.
Nina Bernstein reports: “New York’s charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals’ pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota. But a new study of New York hospitals’ practices and state records finds that most medical centers are violating the rules without consequences, even as the state government ignores glaring problems in the hospitals’ own reports.”
Colin Moynihan writes: “On Sept. 11, 2001, Police Officer Alonzo Harris rushed to the World Trade Center to try to evacuate people from the burning towers. When the first tower collapsed, he dove beneath a parked car as thick plumes of dust and debris blotted out the sun. Later, he said, he sealed the grit-covered uniform he had worn that day in a plastic bag. On Sunday, police union leaders and elected officials displayed that uniform as they called upon Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to release police medical records to a panel that is studying possible links between cancer and contaminants unleashed by the destruction of the trade center.”
Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music's queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, has died. She was 48. (Feb. 11)
NEW YORK — Jeremy Lin keeps getting better. Better even than Kobe Bryant on Friday night.
Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85.
Buried deep on the bench a little more than a week ago, Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win, tying their longest streak of the season. His two free throws with 52 seconds left and some booming "MVP! MVP!" chants stopped the Lakers' final rally and allowed the undrafted Harvard product to pass Carmelo Anthony for the highest-scoring game by a Knicks player this season.
Iman Shumpert added 12 points for the Knicks, who are still without Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. But they have Lin, the point guard that two other teams gave up on in December and didn't get his chance in New York until three other players couldn't do the job.
Bryant finished with 34 points, but he got off to a horrendous start and finished only 11 of 29 from the field. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds, but All-Star Andrew Bynum was only 1 of 8 for three points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers' nine-game winning streak against the Knicks was snapped.
Five of those wins had come at Madison Square Garden, where fans used to roar for Bryant.
They've got a new favorite now, and who could have ever predicted it'd be Lin?
The most surprising story in the NBA came back into the game with 9:25 left after the Knicks' lead had been trimmed to three. Shumpert hit a jumper and blew by Bryant for a dunk before Lin knocked down a jumper to push the lead to 76-69 with about 8 minutes left.
The lead was still eight before Lin nailed a long jumper, then was wide open after an offensive rebound for a 3-pointer from the wing, making it 84-71 as fans stood and screamed throughout the Lakers' timeout.
Lin followed his 28-point, eight-assist outing Monday in his first career start by scoring 23 points and handing out 10 assists Wednesday against Washington, becoming the first player since LeBron James in 2003 and just the sixth since 1970 to have at least 20 points and eight assists in his first two starts, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau provided by the Knicks.
He became an instant star in New York just as fans were ready to check out basketball after the Giants' Super Bowl run was over, and just when it appeared the Knicks might fall too far behind in the standings to salvage the season.
Some Lin shirts were scattered throughout Madison Square Garden – though Spike Lee was still wearing Landry Fields' No. 2 in his courtside seat. Ratings on MSG network are up since Lin joined the lineup, and the NBA said some of its Asian TV partners have added Knicks games to their broadcast schedules so fans can see the league's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
Already drawing comparisons to Tim Tebow for his impact on teammates and the way he speaks of his faith afterward, the hype around him will only grow now after beating one of the league's marquee franchises in his first nationally televised game.
A night after needing overtime to win at Boston, the Lakers had nothing to start the game, and Lin quickly jumped on them. He started 4 of 5 as the Knicks raced to a 13-4 lead, and it grew to 19-8 as Los Angeles missed 12 of its first 13 shots.
Lin's four field goals in the first quarter matched the Lakers' total in 18 attempts (22 percent).
The Lakers cut a 14-point deficit to five late in the half before Lin put the Knicks back in control. He had a turnaround jumper then spun around to leave Derek Fisher behind on his way to a layup, pushing it to 47-38 with 2:44 remaining. It was 49-41 at halftime.
Bryant started 1 of 11 before hitting five of his next six shots. The record holder at the current arena with 61 points, he also grabbed 10 rebounds but got going far too late.
Notes: The Knicks had two points taken off the board in the third quarter when the referees ruled a foul earlier in the period on Metta World Peace shouldn't have counted against the Lakers' team foul total, so the Knicks shouldn't have been in the bonus and shot free throws yet on a later foul. ... Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said Anthony told him he was feeling better and walking without pain. The All-Star forward is expected to be re-evaluated Sunday, but D'Antoni said he doubted Anthony would play Tuesday at Toronto. The Knicks said Anthony was expected to miss a week or two after he was hurt Monday. ... Stoudemire, whose brother died in Florida on Monday, is expected to rejoin the team at practice Monday. ... Fisher made his 400th consecutive start. He has played in 522 straight games, the longest active streak in the league. ... Celebrities on hand included actor Ben Stiller, wrestler and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Giants Justin Tuck, Brandon Jacobs, Hakeem Nicks and Antrel Rolle.
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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney
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| Argentina has accused Britain of sending nuclear weapons to the disputed Falkland islands, in an ongoing controversy between the two countries. The South American country took its case to the United Nations (UN) secretary general and UN Security Council on Friday, where Ban Ki-moon, the UN leader, appealed to both sides to avoid an "escalation" of their sovereignty battle. With both countries about to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, Hector Timerman, Argentina's foreign minister, called the islands "the last refuge of a declining empire". Timerman said Britain had sent a nuclear submarine, the HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic and was "militarising the region" in breach of a 1967 Latin American treaty which bans the presence, pursuit or use of nuclear weapons. Argentina also denounced the dispatch of Prince William, second in line to the throne, to serve as a rescue helicopter pilot in the area. Britain, however, says both are routine moves. Mark Lyall Grant, the UK's UN ambassador, said that his country would "robustly" defend the Falklands and that while Britain wanted talks with Argentina, there could be no sovereignty negotiations unless the population wanted it. Argentina invaded the islands, which it calls the Malvinas, in 1982 and Britain sent a naval force to reclaim the territory. Argentina has since regularly taken its claim to the islands to the UN. 'Absurd claims' After talks with Timerman, Ban "expressed concern about the increasingly strong exchanges between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom," said Martin Nesirky, the secretary-general's spokesperson. "He expressed the hope that the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom will avoid an escalation of this dispute and resolve differences peacefully and through dialogue." Ban said he was ready to use the UN's "good offices to resolve this dispute" if both sides requested, Nesirky said. Grant, Britain's UN envoy, would not comment on whether a nuclear submarine was near the Falklands, but he said the claims of militarisation were "rubbish" and "manifestly absurd". "It is only because Argentina illegally invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982 that we had to increase our defence posture. Nothing has changed in that defence posture in recent months or recent years," Grant said. "We are not looking to increase the rhetoric. We have not started a war of words," said the ambassador. "But clearly if there is an attempt to take advantage of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War by Argentina then we will obviously defend our position and defend it robustly." The Argentine minister called for Britain to discuss sovereignty at negotiations, and attacked Britain's use of military power to control the South Atlantic islands from 14,000km away. "It is perhaps the last refuge of the declining empire," Timerman said. "It is the last ocean that is controlled from the UK. Britannia rules only applies in the South Atlantic." Britain has reaffirmed its stance in recent days that there can be no negotiations over the future of the islands unless the 3,000 Falklands inhabitants want it. Britain has complained about Argentina withdrawing from joint accords on the Falklands. Age-old dispute Argentina in December persuaded the Mercosur Latin American trade bloc to stop Falklands-registered ships from entering member ports. It has stopped charter flights heading for the Falklands from using Argentine airspace. Diplomats say the tensions can mainly be attributed to the anniversary of the conflict sparked by Argentina's invasion of the islands on April 2, 1982. Britain sent a task force to retake the territory it has held since at least 1833. The 74-day war cost the lives of 649 Argentine, 255 British troops and three islanders. Since the war, the UN General Assembly has passed resolutions calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate a settlement. Argentina also presses its claim each year at the UN's Decolonisation Committee. |
Once it meant lobster thermidor on china. These days, it might not even mean a hot meal. Exploring the domestic skies from the front of the plane.
Mark Bittman tells you everything you need to know about where to eat Indian food in London.
Blau & Deutsch report: “A veteran jail supervisor will be criminally charged for beating an inmate who had just punched a female correction officer, the Daily News has learned. Veteran Assistant Deputy Warden Edwin Diaz has been asked to turn himself in to authorities Thursday for his role in the attack on inmate Jesus Alejandro on Sept. 24, 2008, a source familiar with the investigation said.”
Parascandola & Fisher write: “Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has ordered a top-to-bottom review of all street level narcotics enforcement procedures after it was revealed that the cop who killed an unarmed Bronx teen had never been properly trained.”
Wills & Gendar note: “Archbishop Timothy Dolan is grabbing the olive branch the Obama administration extended on birth control, saying he’s happy to offer the feds a “graceful exit” from the election-year uproar.”
Ken Lovett writes: “Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s Long Island district is on the chopping block as state leaders begin redrawing congressional boundaries, the Daily News has learned. State Senate and Assembly negotiators are looking at merging McCarthy’s Nassau County district into a Nassau-Queens district now held by fellow Dem Gary Ackerman, sources close to the planning said.”
Pete Donohue reports: “The city plans to make one of Manhattan’s most dangerous corridors safer for pedestrians. The Transportation Department said Wednesday it will shorten 14 crosswalks on Delancey St. between the Bowery and Clinton St. by widening sidewalks and medians.”
First Posted: 02/ 8/2012 9:12 am Updated: 02/ 8/2012 9:54 am
In a fiery new Special Comment, Keith Olbermann blasted the Susan G. Komen Foundation and its founder and CEO Nancy Brinker on his Current TV show Tuesday night.
According to Olbermann, the Susan G. Komen Foundation remains corrupt under Brinker's leadership despite the resignation of the foundation's controversial vice president of public affairs, Karen Handel.
Handel, who strongly opposes abortion, reportedly drove the foundation's decision to cut funding for breast cancer screenings to Planned Parenthood.
Olbermann harshly criticized the Komen foundation for it's handling of the recent controversy. He said that Handel decided that the foundation should collaborate in the "witch hunt that the nation's right-wing has directed against Planned Parenthood."
He referred to Komen's reversal of its "new policy" a "spineless convenience by which Komen has still not really committed to continuing its funding of Planned Parenthood, and perhaps more importantly, by which it has not committed to staying out of this dangerous, ideological game, which will kill some freedoms, and which could kill some women."
Olbermann also addressed what he called the "fundraising favor" Komen did for Planned Parenthood. Olbermann said that now the "consciousness has been raised" among people who had since been unaware of how Planned Parenhood was used as a political tool.
"One of the vote-getting machines in this coutnry was zeroing in on Planned Parenthood as the scapegoat for all the evils which that vote-getting machine exaggerates, to whip up paranoia and political power among the easily led of this nation," Olbermann said.
The real issue, Olbermann said, was Komen's "attempt to hide its new partnership" with people Olbermann called the "guttersnipes, purveyors of hate, and fear, and revenge fantasies."
He also said that "all of the dark periods in American history have begun with acts like Komen's and excuses like Komen's." As for Brinker, Olbermann said that she "continues to lie" about the organization's motives and has "dishonored both her sister's memory and this essential cause." Brinker founded the Komen foundation in honor of her sister Susan who died of breast cancer.
Federal prosecutors are trying to shut down several wacky escape routes ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada may try to use to weasel out of corruption charges at his trial next month.
The feds are asking Brooklyn Judge Frederic Block to preclude Espada and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, from arguing that the case against them is part of a political vendetta.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Pokorny cited in court papers an Aug. 10, 2011, Daily News article in which the former Bronx Democratic political boss accused Gov. Cuomo of having a "personal obsession to take on and dominate my world and my manhood."
The Espadas were indicted on charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a nonprofit Bronx health clinic they operated after a joint investigation by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office, then-state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.
If Espada thinks he's the victim of a selective prosecution, he should make that argument to the judge, not a jury, the prosecutor wrote.
Prosecutors are also trying to head off at the pass any claims that Espada's Soundview Healthcare Center never actually purchased his for-profit janitorial company for the agreed-upon sale price of $1.
Pokorny said once Soundview owned the janitorial company, the defendants looted it to pay for extravagant personal expenses like throwing a lavish birthday party for Espada's grandchild, paying a company to repair his credit score, and hiring a ghostwriter to work on a book project.
Espada's lawyers have disclosed in earlier court filings that his accountants approved the use of taxpayer funds for personal items.
Perhaps the most unusual argument prosecutors are seeking to bar is that Soundview board members and employees were negligent for failing to stop Espada and his son from lying and misusing federal funds, the court papers state.
Defense lawyer Susan Necheles did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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