Free Republic

Eric Stevenson 'was totally surprised' when officers came to arrest him for allegedly taking $20,000 in bribes. Stevenson's actions came to light thanks to another assemblyman, Nelson Castro, who was working undercover to expose political corruption. The state assemblyman busted Thursday on bombshell bribery charges says he was reading the Bible when he was arrested and insists he did no wrong. The allegations that Eric Stevenson took $20,000 in bribes stunned his constituents and his Assembly colleagues. But he told the Daily News on Friday that he was the most shocked of all. “It took me totally by surprise,” the...

For the second time in three days, prosecutors announced corruption charges Thursday against a New York state lawmaker, this time accusing a legislator of accepting bribes from businessmen who wanted his help in running and maintaining adult day-care centers. A 36-page complaint charged Sen. Eric Stevenson, who represents the 79th District in the Bronx, with accepting about $22,000—most of it stuffed into envelopes and handed over at a number of secretly recorded meetings—between April 2012 and this month. Stevenson, 46, who was elected in 2010, was charged with fraud, conspiracy and bribery and could face at least 20 years in...

With cities cutting their police to balance budgets, some well-to-do neighborhoods are hiring private security, marking an expansion of unarmed guards beyond office parks and gated communities. On the streets of Oakland, budget cuts have made the beat cop a rare breed, and some of the city’s wealthy neighborhoods have turned to unarmed security guards to take their place. After people in Oakland’s wealthy enclaves like Oakmore or Piedmont Pines head to work, security companies take over, cruising the quiet streets to ward off burglars looking to take advantage of unattended homes. .. the private security industry is projected to...

Ever since Asian carp were accidentally introduced into U.S. rivers in the 1970s, the invasive fish have been hungrily making their way to the Great Lakes, causing residents of the watershed to dread the arrival of carp in delicate Lake ecosystems, and their potential impacts on the 7 billion dollar fishing industry that represents a major economic driver for the region. Now, a new study suggests that Asian carp have breached southern Lake Michigan, although they have not yet arrived in numbers great enough to devastate native ecosystems. Scientists at Notre Dame University, Southern Michigan University, and The Nature Conservancy...

A Connecticut shop that sold a gun to the Newtown school shooter's mother has lost its federal firearms license. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked the license of Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, about 15 miles north of Hartford, on December 20, and the 60-day time frame to appeal has expired. The agency didn't disclose why it revoked the license. 'It's been revoked. It's final at this point,' is all ATF spokeswoman Deb Seifert would tell reporters. Lanza Adam Lanza may have used a gun purchased from the store on his killing spree It was first...

MSNBC’s blatant promotion of gay marriage appears to have taken a bizarre and sad turn. Krystal Ball, co-host of The Cycle, has taken to using her four-year-old daughter Ella as a prop in a pro-same-sex marriage video. In the 3-minute video, Ball asks her young daughter a series of questions about who she is allowed to marry, eventually asking her what happens if she loves another girl. Ball’s daughter, who is clearly taking cues from her mom, says that because she lives in New York she can marry another girl if she loves her. [Video} Such blatant and disgusting use...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — It was the ultimate putdown of state lawmakers caught in the corruption spotlight. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said they’re not qualified to get real jobs. The circus has returned to Albany.

The barefoot beggar who made headlines when a kindly cop gave him a pair of boots has an apartment and a preacher paying his bills — but he still pretends to be homeless and hides his shoes in a garbage bag, The Post has learned. Jeffrey Hillman was spotted at 9:20 p.m. Sunday counting a huge wad of bills with the dexterity of a bank teller while riding a No. 2 train from Times Square to his home in The Bronx. Officer DePrimo's act of kindness made headlines around the world after a passerby snapped this pic on his gift...

Knock your socks off declaration of resistance!!!

A Minnesota mom six months pregnant getting ready to head home from a trip to New York with her 6-year-old daughter was arrested last week for an unloaded handgun she had in the luggage she was attempting to check. According to WDAY, Beth Arneson Ferrizzi had no trouble transporting the gun from her departure city — Fargo, North Dakota — as she called Delta to make sure she was following the correct protocol. But she encountered problems as she tried to return home out of La Guardia International Airport, after a trip meeting her husband while he was on leave...

Paroled Weather Underground Radical Now Columbia Professor BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff April 2, 2013 9:43 am Former Weather Underground radical Kathy Boudin, who served 22 years in prison for her role in an armored-car robbery that left three dead in 1981, now has an adjunct professorship at Columbia University’s School of Social Work, the New York Post reports: Boudin’s status of perp-turned-prof outraged the widow of one of her victims, Brinks guard and dad of three Peter Paige, who was gunned down by her accomplices from the Black Liberation Army on Oct. 20, 1981, in Rockland County.Boudin acted as...

<p>A former Weather Underground radical who spent 22 years in prison for an armored-car robbery that killed two cops and a Brinks guard now reportedly holds a prestigious adjunct professorship at Columbia University’s School of Social Work.</p> <p>The New York Post reports that Kathy Boudin’s return to respectability after her 2003 parole occurs a week before the release of Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep,” a movie loosely based on the $1.6 million heist.</p>

Bill Maher‘s recent comments about taxes, the Iraq War and Mayor Mike Bloomberg‘s proposed soda ban have caused some on the right to question whether the Real Time host is slowly drifting over to their side. Maher only fueled those suspicions when Jimmy Kimmel asked him about Bloomberg “efforts to protect us from carbonated beverages” last night. Maher went off on Bloomberg much in the same way he did on his HBO show several weeks ago. “I think it gives liberals a bad name,” he said. “It makes liberals look like bullies who want to tell people what to do,”...

Jay Leno has officially announced his retirement from NBC's "Tonight Show." As expected, "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon will succeed Leno in the spring of 2014 when "Tonight" moves back to New York, to 30 Rock -- 42 years after Johnny Carson took the show to Burbank. With Fallon, 38, NBC hopes to capture the younger viewers and compete with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, who moved to an 11:35 timeslot in January. "Congratulations, Jimmy. I hope you're as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you're the old guy," Leno said in a statement. "If you need me,...

The Abortion Expansion Bill Send a message to Governor Cuomo and your legislators today. Just go HERE.Memorandum of Opposition Re: The Abortion Expansion Bill “In relation to revising existing provisions of law regarding abortions”The above-referenced legislation may come before you as a stand-alone bill (such as S.438, Stewart-Cousins) or may be re-packaged into a multi-point “women’s agenda” as advocated by Governor Andrew Cuomo in his 2013 State of the State message. We strongly urge you to oppose this abortion expansion plan, in whatever form it may take. It is unnecessary, extreme and dangerous. For the reasons outlined below, the New...

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is laying off 1,320 employees in upstate New York as it will exit a mortgage-servicing facility there at the end of May, according to a filing with the New York State Department of Labor. M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) is taking over Bank of America's Getzville, N.Y., mortgage-servicing facility and hiring about 600 Bank of America employees, a spokesman for the Buffalo, N.Y., bank said. He added M&T has about 400 openings in Buffalo and Bank of America employees can apply for those positions. Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank by assets behind J.P. Morgan...

I say "political integrity expert," you say "Eliot Spitzer." I say "you're kidding me, right?" Rachel Maddow actually got off to a good start this evening in her segment on political sleaziness, ripping politicians both Dem and Republican for a variety of venal sins. But of all the people to bring on as your expert to discuss how to raise the moral bar . . . Client 9? Surely you make mirth, Ms. Maddow? View the video here

The two men sat in the state senator’s parked car in suburban Rockland County, but New York City was at the front of their minds and the focus of their conversation. What the senator, Malcolm A. Smith, wanted to do, the other man explained, was going to cost “a pretty penny.” “But it’s worth it,” replied Senator Smith, a Democrat, according to a transcript of the January meeting. “Because you know how big a deal it is.” His plan, described by federal prosecutors in a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday, was as ambitious as it was audacious. Mr. Smith was...

State Sen. Malcolm Smith and city Councilman Dan Halloran were arrested this morning on charges they were plotting to rig this year’s mayoral election through fraud and bribes. The pols allegedly formed an alliance built on cash payments and fraud to get Smith — one of the state’s top Democrats — placed on the GOP mayoral ballot, sources said. FBI agents arrested them both at their Queens homes shortly after 6 a.m. [snip] Prosecutors are planning to lay out the whole sordid scheme during a news conference later today.