Worn...

Dingell...

The fight...

Tree...

DN-Cee

Disgrace...

It’s no secret that Gov Cuomo had an opportunity to host his favorite type of ribbon cutting for the opening of the second span of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. 

Cuomo administration essentially bribed contractors to rush the finish of the span so the Governor could host the opening.

In a way, it’s a perfect metaphor for Cuomo who governs by press release and ribbon cuttings.  

After nearly eight years of Gov. Cuomo, it’s become abundantly obvious that his disdain of public transit (and its riders) is a feature and not a bug.   

After two terms of this attitude toward transit, it’s clear that no matter the absurd gaslighting campaign from the TWU, no matter his supposed support for some congestion pricing plan, Andrew Cuomo doesn’t care about the subways and isn’t going to be the one to save them. 

He’s sucked all the oxygen out of the room arguing over the legal technicalities of control over the subway and the allocation of money. He’s spent years siphoning dollars away from the MTA’s budgets, whether for state-run ski slopes losing money or road projects.

He has constantly refused to sign lockbox legislation that would put stringent strings on his MTA budgetary sleight-of-hand, and he barely endorsed Andy Byford’s Fast Forward plan until his lack of support was on the verge of becoming a political albatross.

Meanwhile, on his watch, as we all know, progress at the MTA has slowed to a crawl.

But on Cuomo’, delays and problems have become daily occurrences as ridership has shown year-over-year declines for the better part of his second term in office. These trends are not stopping without significant cost reform and investment, and Cuomo hasn’t embraced either yet.

Euphoria...

Image not related.

The euphoria had evaporated. Reports the tech giant was reconsidering its plans amid a fierce public backlash sent a jolt through the real estate community that was pinning their hopes on a significant pickup in activity.

After a highly publicized search for a second headquarters, Amazon in November announced it was splitting the expansion between the New York neighborhood of Long Island City and Northern Virginia’s Crystal City.

The company touted upwards of 50,000 jobs that the deal would create, while the real estate industry salivated over prospects for massive office developments.

They didn’t account for New York people and politicians who slammed the subsidies the city and state offered. That whipped up a political firestorm that may now be calling the deal into question.

For now, people are trying to assess whether it’s all just a bargaining tactic. Amazon has used the threat of slowing down its growth to win policy concessions in Seattle, where it’s headquartered and employs tens of thousands of workers.

The real Estate are not happy with these oppositions.

Still...

U.S. officials apprehended more than 200,000 people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in the past four months, about an 85 percent increase from the same time last year, according to data released Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Families are coming in large groups by buses, often several hundred people at a time and sometimes relying on social media to coordinate their trip north.  

In December, the Department of Homeland Security announced a plan to require asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while they wait for their claim to be heard by an immigration judge. 

That policy has only been implemented in a small number of cases near Tijuana, although DHS officials say the plan is to implement it across the entire border.

Roe...

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law that women's groups said would leave only a single doctor legally allowed to perform abortions in the state.

By a 5-4 vote, the court said the restrictions must remain on hold while challengers appeal a lower court decision in favor of the law. Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the court's liberal members.

It was the Supreme Court's first significant action on the hot-button issue of abortion since Donald Trump's nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, replaced Anthony Kennedy, who generally voted with the court's liberals to uphold abortion rights.

In Thursday's ruling, Kavanaugh voted with the conservatives Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch.

Kavanaugh filed a dissent, writing only for himself. He said he would have allowed the law to take effect in order to see whether it would impose a burden on women's access to abortion in the state.

The high court's decision  was not a ruling on the legal merits of the Louisiana restriction. But the decision to keep the law on hold signals that a majority of the justices have doubts about its constitutionality.

Passed by the state legislature in 2014, the measure requires any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. Two Louisiana doctors and a clinic filed a legal challenge, arguing that it was identical to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. In that ruling, joined by Justice Kennedy, the court said Texas imposed an obstacle on women seeking access to abortion services without providing them any medical benefits.

Fair...

A Maryland woman said she was raped by Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) in a “premeditated and aggressive” assault in 2000, while they both were undergraduate students at Duke University. She is the second woman this week to make an accusation of sexual assault.

She has no interest in becoming a media personality or reliving the trauma that has greatly affected her life. Similarly, she is not seeking any financial damages.

Fairfax’s statement said he would not resign. “I demand a full investigation into these unsubstantiated and false allegations....I will clear my good name and I have nothing to hide. I have passed two full field background checks by the FBI and run for office in two highly contested elections with nothing like this being raised before. “

Watson’s claim comes at the end of a turbulent week that began when a different woman, Vanessa Tyson, accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her in 2004 when both were in Boston attending the Democratic National Convention.

Watson’s attorney provided an email exchange from 2016 between Watson and Milagros Joye Brown, a friend from Duke. Brown was inviting a group of Duke friends to a fundraiser for Fairfax, as he launched his campaign for lieutenant governor.

All week, Democrats and Republicans have been treading carefully regarding Tyson’s allegation, unsure what to believe because Tyson offered no corroborating evidence. Several have called for an investigation.

The Media now is all over it. Nothing else of value.