Edited by: TJVNews.com

The two top Democrats in New York’s legislature withdrew their support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and undercounting COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say the three-term governor should resign. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie stopped short of demanding that Cuomo quit, but said in a statement that “it is time for the Governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York.”

On Saturday, two more women who worked for Cuomo publicly accused him of inappropriate behavior, on the heels of other allegations in recent weeks.

“Every day there is another account that is drawing away from the business of government,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. “New York is still in the midst of this pandemic and is still facing the societal, health and economic impacts of it. We need to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state Governor Cuomo must resign.”

Her public push for his resignation came shortly after a Sunday press conference where Cuomo said it would be “anti-democratic” for him to step down.

“There is no way I resign,” Cuomo told reporters.

“They don’t override the people’s will, they don’t get to override elections,” he said. “I was elected by the people of New York state. I wasn’t elected by politicians.”

In a brief phone conversation Sunday prior to the press conference, Cuomo told Stewart-Cousins he wouldn’t quit and they would have to impeach him if they wanted him out of office, according to a person who was briefed by someone on the call. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the call was intended to be private.

Cuomo said the next six months will determine how successfully New York emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m not going to be distracted because there is too much to do for the people,” he said, noting that the state must pass a budget within three weeks and administer 15 million more COVID-19 vaccines.

Support for Cuomo has eroded with surprising speed as he’s faced twin scandals, one over his treatment of women in the workplace, and a second over his administration’s months-long refusal to release complete statistics on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Some lawmakers have been infuriated by revelations that Cuomo’s administration delayed releasing some data about deaths of nursing home patients in hospitals, at least partly because of concerns it could be used against them by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Several women have publicly told of feeling sexually harassed, or at least made to feel demeaned and uncomfortable. The state’s attorney general is investigating. Cuomo has urged people to wait for that investigation to conclude before they judge him.

Others who have called for Cuomo’s resignation include U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Long Island Democrat.

Former adviser Lindsey Boylan, 36, said Cuomo made inappropriate comments on her appearance, joked about playing strip poker and once kissed her on the lips at the end of a meeting. Former aide, 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett, said Cuomo asked if she ever had sex with older men and made other comments she interpreted as gauging her interest in an affair.

Another former aide, Ana Liss, told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Saturday that when she worked as a policy aide to the governor between 2013 and 2015, Cuomo called her “sweetheart,” kissed her hand and asked personal questions including whether she had a boyfriend.

Asked about Liss’ story at his news conference Sunday, Cuomo said such talk was “my way of doing friendly banter.”

Echoing comments he made in a news conference last week, Cuomo acknowledged he’d made jokes and asked personal questions in an attempt to be collegial and frequently greeted people with hugs and kisses.

“I never meant to make anyone feel any uncomfortable,” he said. Cuomo has denied touching anyone inappropriately.

While Cuomo has been apologetic in recent days over his behavior, at least tacitly acknowledging that some of the things women have said are true, he’s also singled out a few accusations as flatly false.

On Sunday he disputed a story told by about him by Karen Hinton, a former press aide to Cuomo when he served as the federal housing secretary under President Bill Clinton.

In a story published Saturday in The Washington Post, Hinton detailed an uncomfortable hotel room interaction she had with Cuomo when the two met in California years ago as they were trying to patch things up after an estrangement.

Hinton said that as she got up to leave, Cuomo gave her a hug that was “very long, too long, too tight, too intimate.”

She described the encounter not as sexual harassment but as a “power play” for “manipulation and control.” She was no longer an aide to Cuomo at the time.

Asked Sunday about Hinton’s account Cuomo said it was “not true” and noted that the two had been longtime political adversaries.

Celebrity chef, Food Channel regular and former gal pal to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, Sandra Lee reacted to the harassment accusations against her ex-paramour by former female aides with the shocked words: “Oh my God.”

The Post reported that Lee, 54, made the remark but declined to comment further when asked last week in the aftermath of accusations by these aides and other young women against Cuomo for harassment.

According to a report on the cheatsheet.com web site, Sandra Lee and Andrew Cuomo ended their decade long relationship in September 2019, just a few months before Cuomo was thrust into the national spotlight. As governor of New York State, Cuomo was tasked with steering the state through the Coronavirus crisis, and people across the world watched his daily news conferences. He even had the time to pen a book about his experiences navigating the coronavirus as a leader and even won a daytime Emmy award for his daily presentations to the voting public.

Cuomo and Lee started their relationship in 2005, according to the cheastsheet.com web site, shortly after Cuomo’s divorce from Kerry Kennedy was finalized. Betrothed to the seventh child of Robert Kennedy, Jr and his wife Ethel, Cuomo was married to Kennedy for 15 years and they share three daughters together. According to a report in the New York Times, Cuomo and Lee first met at a cocktail party in the Hamptons. They were introduced by a mutual friend, and Lee was, reportedly, taken with Cuomo immediately. Their relationship began shortly after that, but it took more than a year for Lee to meet Cuomo’s three daughters.

Turning to the subject of the nursing home scandal that has rocked the nation, according to a report by Andrew Kerr of the Daily Caller News Foundation, Cuomo and his top lieutenants cited a report altered by his top aides to paint a false narrative of his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in nursing homes in comparison to other states.

The New York State Department of Health knew that nearly 10,000 nursing home residents had died of COVID-19 by early July, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Despite this, top Cuomo aides convinced the health department to report just 6,432 nursing home deaths in a July 6 report that claimed the Cuomo administration’s infamous March 25 order did not lead to more fatalities.

The July 6 report used the reduced figure, which omitted nursing home residents who died of the virus at a hospital, to conclude that only 21% of New York COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes. The figure was repeatedly cited by Cuomo all while he was claiming to be a servant only to the facts.

No other state that reports nursing homes COVID-19 deaths omits residents who died in hospitals from their reporting. But Cuomo and other New York officials still used the 21% figure to claim New York was handling the situation better than 45 other states.

“You look at the nursing home deaths in this state,” Cuomo told reporters in October. “Do you know what number we are by percentage before you made that statement? We’re No. 46 out of 50 states, and we had the worst problem, and we’re 46th in terms of percentage of deaths in nursing homes.”

New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker also cited the 21% figure during a July 6 press conference announcing the findings of the report.

“We have had 21, 22 percent of our deaths are in the nursing homes, which is essentially the lowest in the nation,” Zucker said.

“New York state ranked 46 in the nation, meaning that 45 states had a greater percentage of fatalities,” Zucker said of the state’s nursing home deaths.

Zucker also accused some critics of Cuomo’s March 25 order, which required nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients, of either lacking the ability to think critically or of operating with “malice.”

“Sometimes what happens is that a narrative gets perpetuated when it’s not based on facts,” he said. “And that narrative, that story, gets swept away as the truth simply by virtue of repetition whether because of lack of critical thinking or malice. Either way, it does not do us as a society any good.”

Sitting beside Zucker at the press conference was Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling, a Cuomo donor and nursing home operator who reportedly lobbied Cuomo to sign legislation in April that shielded nursing home executives from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

“New York has done exceptionally well,” Dowling said during the press conference. “Percentage of deaths in nursing homes — percentage of total — in New York was 21%. Just look at other states.”

“Rhode Island it was 77%. Minnesota, 77%. Pennsylvania, 68%. Kentucky, 61%,” Dowling said. “So it’s interesting when you see all the narrative focusing on, oh, look what happened in New York … but when you look at it percentage-wise, New York was number 46 in the United States. That’s an important fact to keep in mind.”

A special counsel to Cuomo, Beth Garvey, issued a statement Friday saying that the decision to omit nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 in hospitals from the July 6 report “didn’t change the outcome” of the report and that Cuomo’s March 25 order requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus-positive patients did not inflate the death toll.

But the oft-cited 21% figure cited by Cuomo and his top lieutenants jumps up to 33% when taking into account the over 4,000 previously unreported nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 in hospitals that Cuomo administration revealed in early February, according to the Empire Center.

“By this measure, the revised toll pushed New York from 21 percent to 33 percent, and its ranking among states from 48th to 33rd,” the Empire center reported.

Another false statistic cited by Cuomo that was derived from the undercounted nursing home death toll was his claim that New York’s COVID-19 morality rate in nursing homes ranked 35 among all states.

“Just on the top line, we are number 35 in the nation in percentage of deaths in nursing homes,” Cuomo said during a July 24 press conference. “Go talk to 34 other states first, go talk to the Republican states now. Florida, Texas, Arizona. Ask them what is happening in nursing homes. It’s all politics.”

(sources: AP & NYT & the Daily Caller)

By Hellen Zaboulani

The race for the next Manhattan District Attorney is on. One thing most of the candidates have in common is their position to ease prosecutions for low-level offenses. Even as crime has been on the rise of late, most of the candidates are boasting about how lax they will be, rather than how well they will prosecute.

There is a crowded list of contenders for the position of Cyrus Vance Jr., the current Manhattan DA who served since 2010 and who seems unlikely to pursue another term. As reported by Crain’s NY, the race is shaping up to be among the most progressive campaigns in America. Multiple candidates have vowed not to prosecute low-level crimes such as prostitution, fare-beating and possession of marijuana. Two candidates have said they would stop pursuing gang conspiracy cases. Additionally, at a recent virtual candidate forum, five of the contenders said they support defunding the NYPD. Notably, the next Manhattan DA will also likely have the job of handling the investigation which may prosecute against former President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The Manhattan DA campaign has thus far been most deeply dedicated to racial- and social-justice issues, which made headlines in the country following the deaths of a number of unarmed Black persons at the hands of the police. Manhattan may be poised to join the liberal tide which has already swept up cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Brooklyn.

As NYC has been experiencing an increasingly blue wave, the June 22 Democratic primary is expected to elect someone who will promise bold reforms. Over the past close to 80 years, the position has only been held by three White men. No Republicans are currently running for the position, so the primary will decide the winner. Incidentally, a Republican has not won the office since Thomas Dewey in 1938.

The only impediment a progressive candidate may face, is the recent rise in crime in NYC. There has been a jump in violent crime in the five boroughs of NYC, with 468 homicides in 2020, the most in a decade. Shootings have doubled over the previous year, as per the NYPD. The first two months of 2021 have seen murders in NY drop marginally, to 47 from 49 compared to the same period last year, but shootings have jumped by an astounding 75 percent. Still, the candidates maintain that there is not a significant connection between rising crime and progressive reforms.

By Ellen Cans

Former New York City Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, spoke out in a new documentary, against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the novel Covid-19 pandemic.

As reported by the NY Post, Dr. Barbot, who had resigned over the summer while expressing “deep disappointment” in de Blasio’s handling of the health crisis, spoke in a three-minute video for the BBC’s streaming service, BBC Select, which was presented on YouTube on Monday. “Behind the scenes, we had talked to the mayor and his team, [saying] that we could see tens of thousands of people die if we don’t act quickly,” Barbot recalled having said. Barbot, who served as Commissioner of Health of the City of New York from 2018 to 2020, said that she had felt “really strongly that we needed to prepare New Yorkers emotionally for what was coming,” she recalled. “We need New Yorkers to be ready for loved ones dying.” She says that her warnings were met with “panic in the room of like, ‘Oh my God, you can’t say that to the public because we’re gonna lose their trust.’”

To date, as of Monday afternoon, 29,866 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19, and roughly 755,261 New Yorkers have been diagnosed with the virus since last March, as per city data. Barbot said that in her position she had wanted to provide the residents of this city with a forthcoming warning. “I was trying to, in that early period, be deliberate about…” she said in the video, where tears well in her eyes, and she drifts into silence. “As the city’s doctor, taking my city through what I knew was coming.”

In Barbot’s August resignation letter, she had complained that the city’s DOH had not been given the leeway to work at its highest potential during the pandemic. Before her resignation she also had a dispute with the NYPD Chief, in which she reportedly blew off a request from the police department for 500,000 face masks. She ultimately apologized for the controversy.

On Monday, City Hall issued a response, strongly disputing Barbot’s description of the pandemic response. “The idea that Dr. Barbot was pounding on the table, warning City Hall behind closed doors that tens of thousands of people would die without more aggressive action is simply false,” a spokeswoman said. “All we wanted was a clear prognosis on when to shut down the city, and how far we had to go. She was unable to produce either.”

By: Don Driggers

With a major scandal involving the alleged altering of nursing home death data, and as of press, 6 women coming out and alleging sexual harassment, Governor Cuomo is in hot water, and with his refusal to step down, impeachment in NY state is an option.

In New York’s history, only one governor, William Sulzer, has been impeached. Sulzer was impeached in 1913, after serving fewer than 10 months in office, for embezzling his own campaign funds for personal use, City and State pointed out.

The only other governor who has come close to being impeached in recent history is former Gov. Elliot Spitzer, who became entangled in a prostitution scandal in 2008. Spitzer resigned after serving 15 months in office, right as state lawmakers began drafting articles of impeachment., City and State reported.

City and State summarized the process in NY state for an impeachment:

The state’s impeachment process is much like that of impeaching a president, beginning with the introduction of articles of impeachment which must then be voted upon by the state Assembly. If impeachment is passed by a majority of Assembly members, then a court impeachment trial may commence with the lieutenant governor, members of the state Senate, and judges from the court of appeals who preside. A conviction requires two-thirds of the Senate to vote for impeachment, similar to the U.S. Senate.

Under Article XIII, Section 5 of the New York Constitution, any public officer is subject to removal for “misconduct or malversation in office,” with the latter term referring to corruption, extortion, and other punishable acts.

The constitution gives the 150-member state Assembly the power to impeach officials by the vote of a simple majority, or 76 lawmakers. The current Assembly is composed of 106 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one independent, NY Post pointed out.

After a successful passage by the assembly, the impeachment trial would be conducted by the 63-member state Senate and the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. In the case of the governor’s trial, neither the lieutenant governor nor the Senate majority leader can participate.

The Senate is composed of 43 Democrats and 20 Republicans, and every judge on the Court of Appeals was nominated by Cuomo, The Post pointed out.

The odds of a successful impeachment of the once revered EMMY winning governor are very slim as the Democrat Party holds large majorities in the state Assembly and Senate. “The increased focus by the media on the sexual harassment allegations are rapidly overshadowing the COVID nursing home scandal, and it looks like justice if far from happening to Cuomo”, political analyst Jared Evan told TJV News.

By: Benyamin Davidsons

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s book, released in October 2020, has hit a bump.

“American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” was the book written by Gov. Cuomo, in which he lauds his own charge in the fight against COVID-19, as New York became the epicenter of the pandemic. As reported by the NY Post, now, the books publisher has paused promotion of the book, amid the federal probe into the state’s handling of the coronavirus in nursing homes. Crown Publishing Group has also said that it has “no plans” of reprinting or reissuing the book. “Pending the ongoing investigation, we have paused active support of ‘American Crisis’ and have no plans to reprint or reissue in paperback,” the company’s publisher Gillian Blake told The New York Times. The moves by the publisher are a result of “the ongoing investigation into N.Y.S. reporting of Covid-related fatalities in nursing homes,” Blake said in a statement. Gov. Cuomo’s 320-page book had become a New York Times Bestseller.

Gov. Cuomo and his administration have faced allegations of purposefully withholding the toll of nursing home residents who died from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of January, NY Attorney General Letitia James released a report, which accused the administration of understating the death toll by close to 50 percent. Following a Supreme Judge court order and intense pressure, and close to eight months later, Cuomo’s team finally released the full data.

It revealed that the number of deaths including those who had to be transferred from nursing homes to hospitals stood at 12,743, almost 4,000 more residents than originally stated in its July report. Then came the bombshell admission from Cuomo top aide, Melissa DeRosa, to Democratic leaders, in which she said that the administration purposely withheld the true death toll out of fear that they would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors. Since then, the Eastern District of New York opened an investigation into the Cuomo’s administration’s handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic.

The governor is now also embroiled in another probe, in which several women have accused him of sexual misconduct, or unwanted advances. To top it off, some 20 people who worked with the governor since the 1990s allege that he fostered a “hostile” and “toxic” workplace, as per the Washington Post.

Gov. Cuomo did not immediately return the Times’ request for comment about the book.

By Benyamin Davidsons

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for the restaurant and bar industry—particularly in Manhattan’s East Village.

As reported by the NY Post, the East Village restaurant and bars, famed for their active night life, were the hardest hit of any Big Apple neighborhood. The East Village, sometimes called NYC’s version of “Bourbon Street”, is known for its young, late-night crowd which spends more money on drinks than food. The neighborhood was most negatively impacted by the pandemic led curfews put into place after the lockdowns were eased, and which now still stand at 11 p.m.

Since last March, when the pandemic first hit, some 55 restaurants have been permanently shuttered in the East Village. That is more than double the number of restaurant closed for business in other New York City neighborhoods, as per The Infatuation, a Web site tracking closures during the pandemic. As a comparison, in the West Village 21 restaurants have closed; 19 restaurants closed on the Lower East Side; 15 closed in Williamsburg and 15 in Staten Island; 14 closed on the Upper West Side; 13 closed in Midtown; and 11 closed in Chinatown, as per the Infatuation.

The exaggerated number of closures in the East Village makes sense in line with the active liquor business that had flourished there pre-pandemic, and the curfew placed restricting their businesses. “There are more liquor licenses per square block in the East Village than anywhere else in New York, and when you destroy the liquor business, you can’t survive,” said restaurateur Stratis Morfogen.

“The neighborhood is filled with college students and first-time apartment owners — people in their twenties who don’t sit down to eat until after midnight. Pizzerias stay open here until 7 a.m. In most neighborhoods, food is 75 percent and liquor is 25 percent. In the East Village, it’s the opposite. Liquor is a vital part of the East Village’s restaurant business and it has been crushed by the curfew,” Morfogen said. “They would have been one of the first neighborhoods to recover if it wasn’t for the curfew, since it is easier to serve drinks than food. Now it will be one of the last,” he added.

“How can a restaurant that has been closed, with no outdoor space, pay $35,000 a month in rent? PPP money only goes so far,” said Ismael Alba owner of Argentinian restaurant Buenos Aires, who says he stayed afloat because he owns the building, and he began selling imported Argentine meat out of his restaurant.

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Despite the pandemic and lockdowns, New York City has risen in 2020 to become the city with the worst traffic congestion in the United States.

As per the NY Post, a new report reveals that NYC jumped to first place for congestion, having previously been in fourth place. According to transportation analytics firm INRIX, NYC drivers spent 100 hours of time in traffic congestion last year, though traffic was actually down 28 percent compared to 2019. Still, other cities across America, saw much greater declines in traffic over the year, bumping NYC’s ranking up. In Boston, which had been ranked 1st in 2019 but 4th in 2020, drivers spent 68 percent fewer hours in traffic in 2020. In San Francisco traffic fell 51 percent, compared to 2019.

Overall Traffic delays dropped close to 50 percent on average in major cities, saving drivers in the U.S. almost 75 hours of traffic in comparison to 2019, as per the 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard published on March 9 by Irix. “COVID-19 has completely transformed when, where and how people move. Government restrictions and the continued spread of the virus led to shifts in travel behavior seemingly overnight,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX. “Morning commutes in cities across the world went without delay as people reduced auto and transit travel to offices, schools, shopping centers and other public spaces.”

The list ranked Philadelphia and Chicago in second and third place- the cities losing 94 and 86 hours respectively, due to traffic. The cities each experienced a decline in congestion between six and 12 percent more than NYC. “Downtown speeds [in New York] only went from 11 mph to 12 mph — not that big a jump, 9 percent or so. We saw in other cities jumps of 40 percent or more,” Pishue said, adding that NYC was hard to explain. “New York is its own thing. Everything in New York is unique. Trying to pin this on one factor is really difficult.”

Several roads in NYC were also given unwanted honors, with NYC claiming the second, third and fourth most congested roads in America, as per INRIX’s analysis. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway from I-145 to Tillary Street took second place, followed by the Cross Bronx Expressway west of the Bronx River Parkway, and the BQE between 38th Street and Downtown Brooklyn. The top road for lost time in the U.S. was in Chicago, IL, the Eisenhower Expy E from I 290/294 to the I90/94 Interchange.

By: Dean Foley

Mayor de Blasio announced in the Bronx’s Co-op city that New York City’s goal is to fully vaccinate 5 million New Yorkers by June, then announced his goals to inoculate all the Big Apple’s homebound senior citizens against COVID-19 using Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved single-dose shot over the next two months.

“We’ve been creating a plan to reach them, but what we really needed was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” de Blasio said during a City Hall press briefing.

“Think about someone who cannot get out of the house, think about their loved ones and the fear and anxiety that they have for them — and they just want them to be protected,” said Hizzoner. “Finally, we have a vaccine that can do that in one shot and a vaccine that’s actually flexible enough that we can use, even going door to door in a building.”

“This effort is going to continue across the five boroughs very rapidly,” de Blasio said as he explained that this week, homebound seniors will be vaccinated in the Bronx, Coney Island, the Lower East Side, East Harlem, Jamaica and the North Shore on Staten Island.

“Our goal is to reach all homebound seniors — all homebound seniors in this city who want to be vaccinated — between this month and next month,” de Blasio said. “Over the next seven weeks or so, we believe we can reach every single one.”

There are between 14,000 and 23,000 fully homebound residents in the Big Apple, the NY Post reported.

“Bronx is going to help lead the way, lead the way in the recovery of New York City,” the mayor said when he initially rolled out the vaccine goals.

When the Co-Op City site reaches full strength, de Blasio says 1,000 will be vaccinated every day in the community. “What a difference maker that will be,” he said.

According to the mayor, Co-Op City is one of the first places to do homebound senior vaccinations.

“Now that we have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, we can reach our homebound seniors,” he said.

The number of New Yorkers vaccinated is now over 3 million, according to ABC 7.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved last Saturday; doses began to arrive in New York during the week. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one-shot only, making it easier to get people rapidly vaccinated.

By: Ellen Cans

A New Jersey police chief allegedly assigned on-duty police officers to work as security at his private funeral home business. On Monday, charges were filed against Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler which could put him behind bars for decades, if found guilty.

As reported by the NY Post, NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewa announced the charges against Kugler, alleging that he used police officers and department vehicles as escorts for his private business. Chief Kugler is facing charges of conspiracy, official misconduct and corruption of public resources in connection with an alleged abuse of power that benefited his Kugler Funeral Home, the state’s top prosecutor said. If convicted, the 59-year-old chief could face 25 years in state prison and be fined up to $315,000, Grewal said. The embattled chief has been stripped of his powers, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is now in control of the community department’s daily operations, the AG added.

The state’s attorney alleges that Kruger ordered police officers under his control to escort funeral processions to cemeteries both in and outside of Saddle Brook during their regular shifts, from January 1, 2019 till August 14,2020, in violation of township ordinance. Police escorts are illegal in the town of Saddle Brook, unless they are for municipal government purposes or nonprofits. Kugler’s funeral home also did not pay the township for any of these services.

Kugler leads the department which at one time was had as many as 34 officers, and which currently has a roster of 31 active officers, as per the department’s website. This January, Kugler had announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for Bergen County Sheriff, as per the New Jersey Globe. “Bergen County finds itself at a time which calls for a Sheriff with more than just impeccable law enforcement credentials and experience,” Kugler had reportedly said at the time. Kugler, a lifelong resident of Saddle Brook, has been a law enforcement professional for over 35 years, and Chief of Police since 1995, making him the longest serving active police chief in Bergen County. He has also served as former President of the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association as well as the NJ State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Kugler was not immediately reached for comment by the Post. Saddle Brook Police redirected The Post to the AG’s office for comments regarding the case.

By: Ellen Cans

A New Jersey police chief allegedly assigned on-duty police officers to work as security at his private funeral home business. On Monday, charges were filed against Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler which could put him behind bars for decades, if found guilty.

As reported by the NY Post, NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewa announced the charges against Kugler, alleging that he used police officers and department vehicles as escorts for his private business. Chief Kugler is facing charges of conspiracy, official misconduct and corruption of public resources in connection with an alleged abuse of power that benefited his Kugler Funeral Home, the state’s top prosecutor said. If convicted, the 59-year-old chief could face 25 years in state prison and be fined up to $315,000, Grewal said. The embattled chief has been stripped of his powers, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is now in control of the community department’s daily operations, the AG added.

The state’s attorney alleges that Kruger ordered police officers under his control to escort funeral processions to cemeteries both in and outside of Saddle Brook during their regular shifts, from January 1, 2019 till August 14,2020, in violation of township ordinance. Police escorts are illegal in the town of Saddle Brook, unless they are for municipal government purposes or nonprofits. Kugler’s funeral home also did not pay the township for any of these services.

Kugler leads the department which at one time was had as many as 34 officers, and which currently has a roster of 31 active officers, as per the department’s website. This January, Kugler had announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for Bergen County Sheriff, as per the New Jersey Globe. “Bergen County finds itself at a time which calls for a Sheriff with more than just impeccable law enforcement credentials and experience,” Kugler had reportedly said at the time. Kugler, a lifelong resident of Saddle Brook, has been a law enforcement professional for over 35 years, and Chief of Police since 1995, making him the longest serving active police chief in Bergen County. He has also served as former President of the Bergen County Police Chiefs Association as well as the NJ State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Kugler was not immediately reached for comment by the Post. Saddle Brook Police redirected The Post to the AG’s office for comments regarding the case.

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Dozens of student leaders and elected officials united together on Tuesday to rally against tuition increases and present the Governor with a report card on his Executive Budget Proposal. CUNY and SUNY Student Trustees Juvanie Piquant and Brad Hershenson presented the Governor with a “Higher Education Report Card” indicating the major investment needed in public higher education across the state.

Among the topics covered in the Report Card were Tuition Policy, TAP GAP, EOP Funding, Mental Health Services, and others. Many of the topics covered received grades of “F” and “I” for “fail” and “incomplete”. The students noted that the semester is not over yet and there is still time for the Governor to receive extra credit.

Student Assembly President and Student Trustee Brad Hershenson stated that, “We must remain true to the notions of affordability and accessibility in public higher education. Raising tuition during the middle of a pandemic is clearly not the right choice. Given the billions of dollars in federal aid coming to New York now is the time to lower tuition at both CUNY and SUNY. We can finally stop balancing the budgets on the backs of our own students.”

CUNY University Student Senate Chairperson and Student Trustee Juvanie Piquant stated that, “It is time to invest in CUNY, the time is now to do the right thing. There is time left to complete the semester, and time to do what’s right. We must put people over profits and invest in CUNY and SUNY so New York can thrive.”

Expressions of support were provided by legislators and their representatives including Senator Robert Jackson and Senator John Liu. Higher education advocate and CUNY Law Alumni Assembly Member Harvey Epstein stated that, “CUNY is a pathway to the future, we need to invest in CUNY and invest in SUNY now.”

Champion for students Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon stated that, “I am here to support the students, we need a new deal for CUNY and we need to properly invest in SUNY and CUNY”.

The Governor’s Executive Budget proposal notes language indicating tuition increases, as opposed to state investment, at SUNY and CUNY campuses for hundreds of dollars over the next four years. Increase based expenses such as the TAP GAP and collective bargaining contracts still remain unaddressed. The legislature and the Governor have until the end of the month to finalize the executive budget for adoption.

The Student Assembly of the State University of New York (SUNY SA) is the recognized student government organization representing the nearly 1.4 million students of the State University of New York. Comprising student leaders elected by their peers from across SUNY’s 64 campuses, SUNY SA is committed to empowering students throughout the state, and ensuring the representation of its members on the state and national level, as well as throughout the SUNY system.

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Not only will 2020 be remembered as the year of coronavirus, but tragically, violent crime has skyrocketed in just about every part of the country.

According to NYPD data, thieves committed 204 home-invasion robberies in 2020, a 7 percent increase from the 190 reported in 2019, and that points to the pandemic as a factor in the uptick in the often-terrifying crimes, according to a New York Post report.

Just to offer an example, the Post reported that a home invasion in the East Village left two people shot and a third injured on December 22nd, according to the Post report. The 3 gunmen were wearing all black when they busted into the apartment.

During a botched home robbery in Staten Island in May, two people, a pregnant woman, and her boyfriend were fatally shot by home invaders.

In 2021, thus far, home invasions have significantly increased. There were 56 home invasions reported through February 28th, according to the NYP report. NYPD statistics show that the city was put on-page for more than 300 this year alone.

On January 27th, the NYP reported that armed crooks were caught on video forcing their way into a Bronx home — where they threw a 75-year-old woman on the ground and held her and two men at gunpoint before making off with $2,000.The Post reported that on January 31st, armed robbers bound an Upper East Side resident and his Madison Avenue doorman and made off with more than $10,000 in cash and rare coins.

The NYP reported that in the early hours of February 5th, two armed men broke into a Jamaica, Queens residence, tied up at least six people and stole three copies of a safe key, police sources said.

Now that people are working at home due to coronavirus restrictions, robbers and home invaders have more easy targets, according to the NYP. Recently, a pair of robbers who were dressed as plumbers took two men hostage & tortured them in an apartment in the Bronx for hours. They ended up fleeing with a cell phone and $2000.

Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice told the post that, “these people, NYC residents, are sitting ducks. Suspects that do home invasions don’t care who is inside. Women, children. It’s part of their plan, to cause fear and terror in their victims.”

“The suspects in these cases steamroll into your home with guns and restraints and it’s happening more frequently due to the pandemic. Nobody thought the lockdowns would be going on this long,” he said. He explained that home invasions are more sinister than the far more common burglary, he explained. A “garden variety” burglar is usually unarmed and “waits for you to leave before entering and taking your stuff.

“Even a slight uptick in home invasions warrants a concern,” Giacalone added. “Many home invasions involve drug dealers robbing drug dealers and the chance of retaliation becomes high.”

            (Source: www.newyorkpost.com)

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Just when you were complaining about the year-long anniversary of the emergence of the coronavirus and just how cold and dismal the winter of 2020-2021 is, there appears to be some good news on the horizon.

For those who just can’t take it anymore, you may be able to perhaps dream about putting your winter coat away for a few days. According to meteorologists in the New York City area, the mercury in our collective thermostats is expected to rise significantly this week. Temperatures will be in the 60s from Tuesday through Friday.

“Tuesday is when we’ll probably hit the 60 degree mark, and I think we’re going to be there for about three or four days,” Accuweather senior meteorologist Bill Degert told the NY Post.

“To see the last time we were in the 60s, you have to go back to Christmas Day… so it’s been a long time coming.”

Despite the fact that the weekend was colder than average, the temperatures are looking north this week with sunny conditions thaw out the city, according to the Accuweather forecast.

“Wednesday and Thursday are probably tied for the best days. Tuesday, we get up to 60 so we’re just getting up to pace with the warmup, but by Wednesday and Thursday it’s probably low to mid 60s,” Degert said, according to the NYP report.

For struggling New York City businesses and especially restaurants that have been basically empty for the last year, the warmer weather means people will leave their homes and grab a lovely meal at a New York eatery; al fresco style.

Sidney Cohen, owner of Eighteen on the Upper East Side told the Post that “warm weather will make people happier and they’ll go out. When you’re happy you want to drink, you want to eat, you want to meet your friends. The sun brings people together.”

On Wednesday, the mercury is expected to climb to 50 degrees. On Thursday, the high for the day will be 60 degrees. On Friday, it will be 64 degrees. On Saturday, the temperature will be 47 degrees. It will remain in the mid to high 40s until March 23rd at the very least.

So, we must look at the next few days as a brief but much needed respite from the cold and we must look forward to the easing of Covid restrictions as more people get vaccinated.

“We could see snow deep into March and April. You know after this warmup comes in, it will probably be tamed down by a cold front coming in at the end of the week,” Degert said.

Central Park has already recorded 38.6 inches of snow this winter, 170 percent more than average, as was reported by the Post.

By: Serach Nissim

New York’s tech startups are betting that the city’s craving for food delivery services will extend beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olo, a B2B SaaS platform powering digital ordering and delivery programs for restaurant brands, is joining the list of firms headed for initial public offerings. The company, founded in 2005 by Noah Glass, is hoping to raise up to $324 million, with an IPO offering on Monday morning. As reported by Crain’s NY, shares are being priced at $16 to $18, with an expected sale of roughly 18 million shares.

Headquartered in Manhattan’s 1 World Trade Center, Ola, has been in business longer than Doordash, and almost as long as Grubhub, but has yet to gain the name recognition. That’s probably because Olo focuses on the back end of the transactions, rather than the customer placing orders. The company’s software offers a central system for eateries to manage the multiple ways which customers make orders, whether it be directly via the website, through a brand’s custom app, or using Grubhub and Doordash. Olo’s software boasts some 400 restaurants and chains as paying clients, including Shake Shack, The Cheesecake Factory, Denny’s, Five Guys and Applebee. Olo charges eateries subscription fees for its software, and also receives a percentage of the transactions it helps to process.

Olo actually turned a profit in 2020, as opposed to Doordash and Grubhub. As per the company’s IPO prospectus filed with the SEC, it brought in $98 million in revenue, and netted a $3 million profit in 2020. The company had not turned a profit in 2019 or 2018, but the pandemic spurred a spike in online ordering, which led transaction fees to jump. In 2020, transaction fees accounted for 43 percent of Olo’s revenue, up from 19 percent in 2019. This growth includes a note a caution— as the pandemic eases with an increased number of people getting vaccinated, online transactions may dwindle with the return of in-person dining. “Although we are optimistic that the emphasis on on-demand commerce in the food services industry will be an enduring trend, we do not have certainty on the long-term impact these developments will have on the industry,” Olo noted in its prospectus.

Olo’s debut on to the New York Stock Exchange is slated for later this month, using the ticker symbol OLO. Other NY technology startups to launch IPOs in the coming months include: Insurer Oscar Health; Real estate firm Compass, and cloud-services provider DigitalOcean.

By: Serach Nissim

Donald Trump, former US President, may have his century-old estate in Westchester County turn into a giant legal nightmare.

As reported by Crain’s NY, Seven Springs, Mr. Trump’s 213-acre Georgian-style mansion, is now the subject of two state investigations— a criminal probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and a civil inquiry by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Both of the investigations are centered on the possibility that the property’s value was manipulated by Trump, in order to gain tax benefits from an environmental conservation arrangement he made at the end of 2015, when he ran for president.

The estate, which contains a plethora of nature, was purchased by Trump in 1995 for $7.5 million. It began gaining negative attention at the end of his term as president, with Vance issuing new subpoenas in December, and a judge ordering evidence to be turned over to James’ office a week and a half after Trump left the White House. “While a tax issue related to a conservation arrangement might not be as sexy as a hush-money payment, prosecutors are likely to focus on any violation of law that they find,” former Manhattan prosecutor Duncan Levin said, suggesting that prosecutors will push anything they find against Trump. “Remember, the authorities got Al Capone on tax evasion.”

When Trump had first acquired the property, he had hoped to transform it into a golf club or build rows of high-end residential homes. When those plans fell through, he came up with an idea to keep the property but reduce his taxes. He granted an easement to a conservation land trust to preserve 158 acres of meadows and mature forest from the estate. Trump thus obtained a $21 million income tax deduction, equal to the value of the conserved land, as per property and court records. The sum was based upon a professional appraisal which valued the Seven Springs property at $56.5 million as of Dec. 1, 2015.

Local government assessors had said the entire estate was only worth about $20 million. “If the value of the easement was improperly inflated, who obtained the benefit from that improper inflation and in what amounts?” said Michael Colangelo, a lawyer in the New York attorney general’s office, in a hearing last year.

The estate first got investigators’ attention in 2019 when Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, had told a congressional committee that Trump sometimes manipulated property values to gain favorable loan terms or tax benefits.