Author: Angel - NYC

AOL – by Claire Gordon

As K-12 education in America has tumbled in global rankings, states have responded: more focus on math and science, more teacher accountability, more testing, and more standardized lesson plans. But one history teacher’s resignation letter, posted two weeks ago on Facebook, reads like a last cry from the old guard. The new system, retiring teacher Gerald Conti writes, “seeks only conformity” and “zombie-like adherence.” The profession of teaching, Conti says, “no longer exists.”   Continue reading “Teacher’s Epic Resignation Letter: Profession ‘No Longer Exists’”

To be delivered to: John Plasse, County Supervisor, Richard Forster, County Supervisor, Ted Novelli, County Supervisor, Brian Oneto, County Supervisor, and Louis Boitano, County Supervisor

Huffington Post

With a massive budget of around $4.6 billion, you’d think the NYPD would pay to repair a little damage to one of its cop cars, especially when said cop car was damaged only after slamming into a cyclist and leaving him with stitches.

You’d think.   Continue reading “Justin Johnsen, Brooklyn Cyclist, Received $1,200 Bill For Damage To NYPD Car That Hit Him”

Independent Record- by Eve Byron

Wayne Klinkel has taken the old “my dog ate my homework” excuse to a new level.

Klinkel’s dog ate his $100 bills. Five of them.

“I thought ‘You dumb SOB,’” Klinkel recalled with a rueful laugh. “I couldn’t believe he did that.”  Continue reading “Owner retrieves cash after canine helps himself to $500 snack”

New York Times – by MARK MAZZETTI

Nek Muhammad knew he was being followed.

Common Dreams – by Jon Queally

New aerial photos from above Mayflower, Arksansas released by Greenpeace on Tuesday show the extent of the devastation caused by the ruptured Pegasus pipeline, owned by oil giant ExxonMobil, as residents from the town spoke out and climate campaigners continued to use the latest localized catastrophe to denounce the fossil fuel industry’s destructive nature.

“Despite what oil companies like Exxon want you to believe, oil pipelines leak,” said Greenpeace USA executive director Philip Radford. “It’s what they do.”   Continue reading “New Photos From Keystone XL Debate: ‘Imagine Arkansas Spill Times Ten’”

BetaBeat- by Jordan Valinsky

Gangs may soon join teens in the “totally over Facebook” collective. The NYPD announced yesterday that it has arrested 63 members from three East Harlem gangs, after they left a trail of evidence boasting about their exploits online.

Authorities said the members—all men, 16 to 25—are responsible for 30 non-fatal shootings in the neighborhood since 2009. When using Facebook to plan their hits, they often used slang words. For example, guns were identified as “biscuit” or “clickety,” while ammunition were often labeled as “sea shellz” and “gas.”   Continue reading “NYPD Captures 63 Gang Members Because They Referred to Guns as ‘Biscuits’ on Facebook”

New York Daily News – by JOSEPH STEPANSKY AND KERRY BURKE

A drug bust outside a Queens housing project erupted into a tense three-hour standoff Friday night as dozens of angry residents marched on the 113th Precinct and cops in riot gear stood guard over their stationhouse.

Shocked witnesses said police officers pounded on brothers Raynard Fields, 27, and Corey Crichlow, 33, outside the Baisley Park Houses during the 7:45 p.m. arrest on Foch Blvd.   Continue reading “Three-hour standoff between cops in riot gear and Queens residents after drug bust”

AOL

A grieving widow in Port Orange, Fla., has a statue of an angel in her front yard, a token of the happy years she spent with her husband before she lost him. But her neighborhood homeowners association says the statue violates community covenants, and if she doesn’t remove it, she’ll pay a fine, Orlando TV station WESH reported.

Norma Freiji (pictured above) was one of the first residents of the 13-year-old Ashton Lakes subdivision, and she said that she has always had yard art displayed. But now the HOA is asking all residents to remove statues in front and side yards. That means that cute figurines dotting many yards in the subdivision — pelicans, egrets, gnomes and even a basketball hoop affixed to a garage — must go. Homeowners received a letter recently from the HOA outlining the demands.   Continue reading “Port Orange HOA Tells Residents Yard Statues Aren’t Allowed”

NY Daily News

Three Indian smoke shops must pay more than $10 million to New York City for trafficking untaxed cigarettes off a Long Island reservation, a Brooklyn federal judge ruled.

Judge Carol Amon also prohibited the bootleg smoke sellers — which operated on the Poospatuck Reservation in Mastic — from ever selling untaxed cigarettes again.   Continue reading “Cough up $10M! Cigarette shops on L.I. reservation burned for untaxed sales”

Staten Island Live – by Carol Ann Benanti

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Experts maintain that women who drink alcohol in moderation have a better chance of staying healthy as they age than non-drinkers — especially if they spread out their consumption over most days of the week.

And now, one South Beach woman — a super centenarian in fact, who seems to have acquired just the right recipe for longevity — has adopted that theory and lives the above-mentioned hypothesis each and every day. Read on and we’ll explain!   Continue reading “At 101, Staten Island woman shares her recipe for living a long life”

Big Oil and other dirty polluters are pulling out all the stops to get the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline built. They know that a final decision from the Obama administration is expected this year and they see an opening to get it done.

But we have something that Big Oil doesn’t — people power. Until April 22, the State Department will be accepting public comments about whether they should approve or reject this dirty pipeline. We can win this fight if we can overwhelm them with comments opposing this harmful pipeline. Will you help us make that happen?   Continue reading “Stop the Keystone Pipeline”

Huffington Post – by Aidan Gardiner, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

QUEENS — Prominent Queens politicians Malcolm Smith and Dan Halloran were arrested early Tuesday for attempting to manipulate this year’s mayoral election, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

At the conclusion of an extensive undercover corruption investigation, four others were arrested along with the Queens pair, including two Republican party officials and the mayor of Spring Valley, N.Y., the Department of Justice said.   Continue reading “Malcolm Smith And Dan Halloran Arrested For Trying To Rig NYC Mayoral Election, According To Report”

Huffington Post – by KATE BRUMBACK

NELSON, Ga. — The city council in a small north Georgia town voted Monday night to make gun ownership mandatory – unless you object.

Council members in Nelson, a city of about 1,300 residents that’s located 50 miles north of Atlanta, voted unanimously to approve the Family Protection Ordinance. The measure requires every head of household to own a gun and ammunition to “provide for the emergency management of the city” and to “provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants.”   Continue reading “Nelson, Georgia Family Protection Ordinance Approved, Would Make Gun Ownership Mandatory For Some”

Mother Jones – by Michael Behar