North Country Gazette

Should Site Owners Control Free Speech Online?

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:57:59 +0000

INSIDE THE FIRST AMENDMENT By Gene Policinski First Amendment Center So who gets to say, You can’t say – or show – that, and make it stick? Well, the First Amendment provides that the government cannot easily control what we say or otherwise express in public, even when the speech is ill-tempered, rude or embarrassing to some. But that protection [...]

Ex-CSEA Treasurer Guilty Of Embezzlement

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:49:54 +0000

ALBANY—The former treasurer for the local and regional branches of the Civil Service Employees Association Region IV pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to embezzling some $40,000 from the union. Carol A. Bruno, 53, of Wynantskill, had been indicted last October, accused of stealing $16,118 from the CSEA from March 2004 through March 2006. She is [...]

Trio Indicted For Hate Crime Related To Obama Election

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:37:09 +0000

NEW YORK—An indictment was unsealed Wednesday morning in Brooklyn federal court charging three Staten Island men with conspiring to assault African-American residents in Staten Island in retaliation for President-Elect Barack Obama’s election victory. Ralph Nicoletti, 18; Michael Contreras, 18 and Brian Carranza, 21, were arrested Tuesday night. As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, on [...]

Advocate: Simplify Tax Code, Reduce Tax Burden

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:21:14 +0000

WASHINGTON — National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson has released her annual report, urging Congress to greatly simplify the tax code and recommending measures to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are struggling to pay their tax bills. The report takes note of the serious financial difficulties facing many Americans in light of the ongoing economic [...]

Saratoga Springs Fined For Environmental Violations

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:14:21 +0000

SARATOGA SPRINGS—The City of Saratoga Springs has agreed to a $270,000 settlement package to address violations of the state’s environmental laws regarding composting, petroleum bulk storage and a fuel spill at a public works garage. The “consent order” with the state Department of Environmental Conservation requires Saratoga Springs to pay a $50,000 penalty, reimburse the state [...]

Addiction Treatment vs. Incarceration Plan Praised

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:09:07 +0000

ALBANY—Gov. David Paterson’s call Wednesday for state policies that emphasize addiction treatment over incarceration won strong praise from New York’s chemical dependency treatment providers. “Governor Paterson is right twice on this issue. This is the right remedy for New York’s addiction treatment needs, and it’s a wise prescription for easing New York’s fiscal woes - because [...]

Used Car Salesman Guilty Of Tax Charge

North Country Gazette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:15 +0000

HAMBURG–A Hamburg used car salesman pled guilty to a felony tax charge for collecting and failing to remit to the state over $100,000 in sales taxes he collected from customers during a two-year period. Ronald L. Henry, 52, who does business as R&H Auto Sales, 5873 Camp Road, Hamburg, pled guilty to third degree grand [...]

Arbitron Agrees To Overhaul Radio Ratings System

North Country Gazette — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:56:04 +0000

NEW YORK–Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has announced a groundbreaking agreement with Arbitron, the second largest media ratings service, requiring the company to overhaul its system for determining radio ratings in New York in response to allegations that minority listeners are undercounted. The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General in the New [...]

Prison Guard Jailed After Acquittal Reversal

North Country Gazette — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:50:55 +0000

NEW YORK—A former corrections officer with the Westchester County Department of Correction was remanded Wednesday pending sentence after a federal appeals court reversed the district court’s judgment of acquittal against the officer. Paul M. Coté will be sentenced in May. At a bail revocation hearing held Wednesday in federal court in White Plains, United States District [...]

Bar Bouncer Gets Life For Kidnapping

North Country Gazette — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:42:36 +0000

QUEENS–Former Manhattan bar bouncer Darryl Littlejohn has been sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the October 2005 kidnapping of a then-19-year old York College student in South Jamaica, Queens. Littlejohn, 44, of 153-26 121st Avenue in Jamaica, was convicted in October 2008 of second degree kidnapping, second degree robbery, second-degree assault and [...]

Tyson Foods Fined $500K For Worker’s Death

North Country Gazette — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:07:58 +0000

WASHINGTON—Tyson Foods Inc. has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Arkansas and agreed to pay the maximum fine for willfully violating worker safety regulations that led to a worker’s death in its River Valley Animal Foods (RVAF) plant in Texarkana, Ark., the Justice Department announced. According to the information filed along with a plea agreement, [...]

Federal Judge Indicted On More Sex Counts

North Country Gazette — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:03:42 +0000

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Houston has returned a superseding indictment charging U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent, 59, with aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact and obstruction of justice. Kent was previously indicted last Aug. 28 on one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse and two counts of abusive sexual contact of [...]

Grieving Husband Pleads For Review Of Whalley Death

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:41:25 +0000

EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By June Maxam ST. PETE BEACH, FLA. —Seth Whalley, the grief-stricken husband of the late Heather Whalley who was mowed down and killed by an errant driver last April in St. Pete Beach, is making an impassioned plea to Gov. Charlie Crist to “address the alleged corruption that has hindered justice” in the case. Heather Whalley, 33, [...]

Queens Music Teacher Charged With Sex Crimes

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:44:57 +0000

QUEENS—A Flushing resident employed at private music schools in Queens and Manhattan is facing the music that’s far from sweet after being arraigned on felony sex crimes involving an 11-year-old male student. Amos Duque, 24, of 150-11 Horace Harding Expressway in Flushing, Queens, teaches classical guitar and piano at the Allegro Vivace Music School, located at 29-02 [...]

Disbarred Attorney Arrested For UPL Under Alias

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:24:10 +0000

BROOKLYN—A disbarred Brooklyn attorney, now 81, is facing charges that he has continued to represent clients under assumed names since his disbarment. Bertram Brown of Manhattan was disbarred in 2006 for stealing $54,000 from a Queens man in a foreclosure action, admitting under oath that he had commingled and converted client funds, failed to maintain [...]

Another Major Snow, Ice Storm Coming

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:08:14 +0000

Another ice storm may be on its way for the Capital District and south. The National Weather Service in Albany has upgraded its storm watch to a winter storm warning for heavy snow for the Adirondacks, Mohawk Valley and the upper Hudson Valley from 7 p.m. Tuesday evening until 7 a.m. EST Thursday. A quarter inch to [...]

Cops: Ex-Pop Warner Coach Molested His Kids

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:41:54 +0000

SELKIRK—A former assistant coach for the Ravena Pop Warner football program has been arrested for allegedly abusing his own children. Edward Boehlke Jr., 28, has been charged with two counts each of predatory sexual assault against a child, first degree criminal sexual acts, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. Coeymans Police arrested Boehlke following [...]

Report: Albany Legislative Process Still Broken

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:00:18 +0000

ALBANY—In an update to reports released in 2004 and 2006, the Brennan Center’s Still Broken: New York State Legislative Reform 2008 Update finds that the legislative process in Albany remains broken, and offers concrete recommendations for reform. Although the report finds that the legislature continues to fall short in a number of measures of legislative [...]

Audit Finds Collusion, Bid Rigging At State Agency

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:51:14 +0000

ALBANY—Auditors from the state comptroller’s office have identified more than $1 million in purchases made through improper collusion with vendors and bid rigging at the Central New York Developmental Disabilities Services Office (DDSO), an agency which cares for the mentally disabled. The audit findings have been referred to the Oneida County District Attorney Scott D. McNamara. [...]

Construction Official Charged In WTC Cleanup Larceny

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:42:51 +0000

MANHATTAN—The former purchasing agent for the John Galt Corporation has been indicted for stealing $1.2 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and Arch Insurance Group, Galt’s bonding company, during the abatement and deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank building which was across the street from the World Trade Center site. The defendant, Robert Chiarappa, 45, [...]

NYC Payroll Posted On Internet

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:42:16 +0000

The names, titles and base salaries of 427,759 New York City government employees are now posted on the web at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center for New York State Policy has announced. Users of the SeeThroughNY site can search multiple payroll categories and download the results to a spreadsheet for further analysis, according to Lise Bang-Jensen, senior [...]

Obama Extends Olive Branch To Schiavo Liberals

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:35:06 +0000

COMMENTARY By June Maxam When President-elect Barack Obama stated during the election campaign that the biggest regret of his political career was his vote to support the right of the parents of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo to appeal in a federal court to keep her alive by sustaining her feeding tube, lefty liberals and pro-life opponents such as those [...]

Protected: Conflicting Schiavo Views Meld For Inauguration

North Country Gazette — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:29:16 +0000

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Judicial Watch Names 10 Most Corrupt Politicians

North Country Gazette — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:08:34 +0000

A list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” during 2008 has been released by Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption. The list, and analysis by Judicial Watch, follows: Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY): Let’s start with the fact that Hillary Clinton is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Secretary of State [...]

Peeping Cop Arrest Man For Porn After Window Watching

North Country Gazette — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:59:01 +0000

SALEM—The arrest of a Hebron man begs the question if watching pornographic material is illegal then why is it available on the Internet and also raises serious First Amendment issues. After a Washington County sheriff’s officer stood on a sidewalk outside the Salem library and saw that a man was watching alleged pornography on a computer [...]