The NYS Complete Count Commission will hold a public hearing on plans for the upcoming 2020 Census on Thursday, July 25 in White Plains:

Thursday, July 25, 2019, 6 p.m.

NYPA Headquarters

Jaguar Room

123 Main Street

White Plains, NY

The hearing is open to the public and media.

Public testimony will be heard during the latter part of the hearing on a first-come, first-served basis. Each public speaker’s comments will be limited to three (3) minutes.

As a convenience, the Commission is permitting individuals wishing to testify to pre-register for a single three-minute speaking slot at the event. Members of the public wishing to testify at the July 25 census hearing may pre-register to speak via online registration. The pre-registration period for the White Plains event ends at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 24. Depending on the number of pre-registration slots taken, additional three-minute speaking slots may be available at the event on a first-come, first-served basis.

Written testimony may be submitted to Commissioners or staff at the events or emailed to hearing@labor.ny.gov.

The Complete Count Commission is tasked with building upon the sweeping efforts already underway to prepare for next year’s federal Census. With these meetings, the Commission is undertaking a multi-year, collaborative strategy involving all state agencies, local and county governments, non-profits and local stakeholders across the state.

For more information about the Complete Count Commission and New York’s efforts to ensure a full count in 2020, please visit www.ny.gov/census2020.

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Chairman of the Board of Legislators, Benjamin Boykin,District 5 July 18, 2019:

Americans throw out billions of tons of EPS coffee cups and other food containers every year. 

This material doesn’t biodegrade, so it clogs landfills for decades or more.  Once it is used for food, it is difficult to recycle economically.  And when it breaks up into smaller pieces, it drifts off into our waterways, where it’s often eaten by marine life mistaking it for food.

Our new law eliminates the sale or use of EPS for takeout food containers and utensils by vendors and restaurants, or sold in stores. 

The measure also prohibits the sale of loose-fill EPS packing foam in Westchester.  Prepackaged food that arrives sealed in EPS package, packaging for raw eggs, and butcher case packaging are exempted.

With this common-sense, bi-partisan legislation, Westchester will join its neighbors in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and in New York City, in acting to reduce this troubling source of pollution.

As elected officials, environmental protections are one of the most important things we can do for current and future generations, and I’m proud that this measure to reduce polystyrene waste in our environment is part of this Board’s legacy.

Click on the following link for the text of the bill: http://bit.ly/2JWNe4T 

WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. July 16, 1019:

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JON E. MONTROLL, a/k/a “Ukyo,” was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman to 14 months in prison.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Jon Montroll lied to his investors and, after his lies caught the attention of the SEC, lied to them, too.  The sentence he received serves as a reminder that this Office will not overlook those who violate their obligation to be honest with investors and the regulators working to protect them.”

According to the Information, the allegations in the Complaint, and statements made during the proceedings in Manhattan federal court:

JON E. MONTROLL operated two online bitcoin services:  WeExchange Australia, Pty. Ltd. (“WeExchange”) and BitFunder.com (“BitFunder”).  WeExchange functioned as a bitcoin depository and currency exchange service.  BitFunder facilitated the purchase and trading of virtual shares of business entities that listed their virtual shares on the BitFunder platform.

Between the launch of Bitfunder, in or about December 2012, and at least in or about July 2013, MONTROLL converted a portion of WeExchange users’ bitcoins to his personal use without the users’ knowledge or consent.  For example, MONTROLL exchanged numerous bitcoins taken from WeExchange into United States dollars, then spent those funds on personal expenses, such as travel and groceries.

Beginning on or about July 18, 2013, MONTROLL promoted a security referred to as “Ukyo.Loan.”  As described by MONTROLL in a public post about Ukyo.Loan, MONTROLL encouraged investors to “think of [Ukyo.Loan] as a sort of round-about investment” in BitFunder and WeExchange and, at the same time, described Ukyo.Loan as “a personal loan” and “for private investment purposes.”  MONTROLL further promised to pay purchasers of Ukyo.Loan daily interest on their investment and promised shares could be “redeemed at face value anytime upon request.”

During the summer of 2013, one or more individuals (the “Hackers”) exploited a weakness in the BitFunder programming code to cause BitFunder to credit the Hackers with profits they did not, in fact, earn (the “Exploit”).  As a result, the Hackers were able to wrongfully withdraw from WeExchange approximately 6,000 bitcoins, with the majority of those coins being wrongfully withdrawn between July 28, 2013, and July 31, 2013.  As a result of the Exploit, BitFunder and WeExchange lacked the bitcoins necessary to cover what MONTROLL owed to users.

Notwithstanding the scope of the Exploit, MONTROLL failed to disclose the Exploit to users of BitFunder and WeExchange, or investors in Ukyo.Loan.  Instead, MONTROLL continued to promote and sell Ukyo.Loan to customers and, on at least one occasion, falsely represented to customers that BitFunder was commercially successful.  As a result of his omissions and misrepresentations, MONTROLL raised approximately 978 bitcoins through Ukyo.Loan after his discovery of the Exploit.

The SEC’s New York Regional Office began an investigation into BitFunder and the Exploit.  During the course of the investigation, MONTROLL provided the SEC with a falsified screenshot purportedly documenting, among other things, the total number of bitcoins available to BitFunder users in the WeExchange Wallet as of October 13, 2013.  Additionally, during sworn investigative testimony on both November 14, 2013, and October 6, 2015, MONTROLL provided materially false and misleading answers to certain questions about, among other things, the timing of MONTROLL’s discovery of the Exploit.

*                *                *

In addition to a prison sentence, Judge Berman ordered MONTROLL, 38, of Saginaw, Texas, to serve three years of supervised release and to pay forfeiture in the amount of $167,480.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He also thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission, which previously filed civil charges against MONTROLL in a separate action.

The prosecution of this case is being overseen by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Thomas is in charge of the case.

WPCNR IMMIGRATION NEWS & COMMENT. From the Service Employees International Union 32BJ:

The following statement may be attributed to Kyle Bragg, President 32BJ SEIU:  

“The Trump administration’s attempt to severely limit asylum protection must not and will not stand.  Already, legal experts have labelled the restriction blatantly illegal, defying the word and the spirit of U.S. asylum law.

To keep alight the truth-telling of our departed union president Hector Figueroa, we must also call the new asylum rule blatantly racist — a policy extension of the white supremacist hatred expressed in the President’s tweets calling on four U.S. Congresswomen to “go back” to their countries.

As one of the largest majority-immigrant unions in the nation, we will vigorously oppose this attempt to effectively end political asylum for Central Americans, and we will continue to fight for a return to a nation ruled by compassion, inclusion, and justice for all.”