Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:34:32 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss David Andreatta :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/David+Andreatta istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/foreign/rights-watchdogs-fume-after-mullahs-hang-girl/774/ Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST The public hanging last week of a 16-year-old girl in the northern Iranian city of Neka has provoked an outcry from human rights watchdogs and calls to reform the country's capital punishment laws for child offenders. The girl, Ateqeh Rajabi, was charged with "acts incompatible with chastity" for allegedly having sex out of wedlock, and reportedly hurled insults at the judge and began to disrobe during her trial. According to the German newspaper Der Spiegel, the judge was so infuriated by her... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/radicals-vow-to-disrupt-gop-convention/548/ Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST As a group representing hundreds of thousands of antiwar activists presses a judge to let it hold a rally in Central Park the day before the Republican National Convention, smaller organizations with communist and anarchist platforms are planning to crash private parties and protest outside corporate headquarters during the gathering. Working as a loose coalition of antigovernment and anti-capitalist activists from across the country, the groups say they are preparing four days of civil... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/8-candidates-vying-for-democratic-line/401/ Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Getting the Democratic Party endorsement for civil court judge has never been easy in Brooklyn, a borough where the courthouse and the political clubhouse were perceived to be one and the same. But in the wake of charges that Kings County Democratic Committee leaders strong-armed the judicial election process, a weakened party has refrained from endorsing anyone for five civil court slots, leaving the door open to a slew of candidates who would have perhaps been marginalized in the past. With... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bloomberg-vetoes-bill-to-ban-sales-of-car-alarms/354/ Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Mayor Bloomberg yesterday vetoed legislation that would ban the sale and installation of certain kinds of audible car alarms, setting the stage for a City Council override. The measure would prohibit the sale and installation of audible alarms that are motion-activated or that sound for longer than three minutes - which are illegal to use in the city - and impose fines up to $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 or more for subsequent violations. In his veto message to the city clerk, the mayor... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/closed-school-wrongly-took-48m/369/ Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST The bankrupt Drake Business School, which shut its doors in June after its president was shot amid a brewing financial scandal, wrongly received more than $4.8 million in state funding for its students, a new audit shows. According to the audit released yesterday by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, the Drake School incorrectly certified hundreds of students as eligible for Tuition Assistance Program grants and received $4,839,675 for which it was not eligible. Mr. Hevesi recommended that the... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/campaign-finance-board-levies-fines/249/ Fri, 13 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Sheldon Leffler, the former Queens lawmaker on probation for campaign fraud in the 2001 election, was fined $91,850 yesterday by the city Campaign Finance Board and ordered to return the $296,084 he received in public matching funds. Leffler, a Harvard-educated lawyer who spent 25 years in the City Council, was convicted last year of illegally claiming $10,000 in campaign contributions for his unsuccessful run for Queens borough president were eligible for a $4-to-$1 match. The board ordered... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/five-bill-package-aims-to-reduce-asthma-rates/251/ Fri, 13 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST The city's 35,000 diesel-powered vehicles and 6,000 private school buses that contract with the city would be required to be retrofitted with pollution controls under sweeping legislation introduced yesterday aimed at reducing asthma rates. The legislative package, comprising five bills, calls for city-owned vehicles -except emergency vehicles - to undergo a $1,000 to $16,000 overhaul and use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel by the end of next year. It also would ban sightseeing buses and... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/favoritism-charge-leveled-against-lmdc-board/204/ Thu, 12 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST More than one-third of discretionary funds dispensed by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to rebuild downtown after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have gone to organizations linked to agency board members, a new report shows. The report, issued by Good Jobs New York, a fiscal watchdog, charges the LMDC has favored big business over the priorities of the downtown community by giving 34% of its $1.3 billion in rebuilding grants to groups whose executives serve on the LMDC... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/former-clinton-aide-joins-council-speakers/107/ Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST Trying to distinguish himself in a crowded field of Democrats eyeing the mayoralty, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has hired heavyweight political strategist Mandy Grunwald to mold him into a serious contender, sources close to the speaker disclosed yesterday. The addition of Ms. Grunwald, who coordinated press coverage for President Clinton, is the latest effort by the speaker to surround himself with seasoned political veterans with a knack for devising sound bites designed to appeal to... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-councilmen-earning-lulus-taking-on-debt/49/ Sat, 17 Jul 2004 19:22:47 EST They make upward of $90,000 a year, rake in tens of thousands of extra dollars from second jobs, and are awash in credit card debt. They are members of the New York City Council. Financial disclosure reports filed with the city Conflicts of Interest Board show that more than 20% of the 51-member council earned income from sources outside City Hall last year and almost 40% are in the red with credit card companies. The annual salary of a council member is $90,000, but 41 of the members receive... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/thompson-narrows-millers-lead-in-fund-raising/58/ Sat, 17 Jul 2004 19:49:17 EST City Council Speaker Gifford Miller has raised $3.35 million for a mayoral run next year, his campaign reported yesterday, but his lead among Democrats eyeing the office was tempered by impressive numbers posted by Comptroller William Thompson Jr. The comptroller reported raising $1.2 million in the last six months, besting the $750,000 raised by Mr. Miller and narrowing the gap between them to about $650,000 from $1.1 million in January. Candidates looking to receive public matching funds have... DAVID ANDREATTA http://www.nysun.com/new-york/lobbyists-linked-to-city-council-by-myriad/1/ Fri, 9 Jul 2004 18:22:40 EST When Mayor Bloomberg called recently for a law to limit campaign contributions by lobbyists and others who do business with the city, it was generally perceived that City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, a possible candidate for mayor, was the target of his proposal. But campaign records show that relationships between lobbyists and the politicians they are paid to try to influence are more common in the City Council than the billionaire mayor, who can finance his own campaigns, suggested when...