WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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Model of New Tappan Zee Bridge Shown in New York Monday

Thruway Goes With Bridge Number 1!

WPCNR TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE NEWS. From Brian Connybeare, New York State Thruway Authority. December 17, 2012 UPDATED 10 P.M. E.S.T.:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo  announced today, after a meeting of the New York State Thruway Authority resulted in selecting Tappan Zee Constructors, the least expensive bidders to construct the new bridge:

Computer-created view of new Bridge Seen from West Bank of Hudson River.

WINNING BRIDGE, looking East from Nyack.

 “After more than a decade of gridlock and millions of taxpayer dollars spent, we have ended the dysfunction of the past and have a new bridge proposal ready to break ground next year. Following an extensive review of all three proposal submissions, the Thruway Board has selected the Tappan Zee Constructors’ plan which offers New York toll payers the biggest bang for their buck – with the best price, shortest construction time, minimal dredging, and can accommodate mass transit in the future. This is a major milestone for a bridge project that was a metaphor for the dysfunction of government and is now a national model for progress.”

Brian Connybeare, an aid to the Governor on the Tappan Zee Bridge project, in a statement notes:

“Preliminary construction work will begin after the new year though no firm date is set. No word on when we may hear about TIFIA.” 

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GNN – The Ghoul News Network.

WPCNR NEWS & COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. December 17, 2012:

Guns don’t shoot themselves.

People shoot guns.

But is the news media and the tweeters of the moment,  right now tightening the trigger fingers of the next gunner with a grudge  that will lead to the next shooting of the next victims in the next American “tragic” shooting?

The coverage has been as despicable as the Newtown tragedy itself.

It has not been good. Not accurate. Brutally intrusive.  It is doing that it usually does. It works  America into a frenzy of grief and remorse, it is arousing  the demons in America’s troubled and mentally ill who watch it.

After watching reports; after reading  articles in “respected newspapers” admitting Sunday the print stories published Saturday were dead wrong;  after  jerk-your-heart photos of the victims, the latest orgy of sensational shooting aftermath coverage, I am convinced the media lust for ratings despite pious sentiments excusing the inexcusable.

( I saw one young reporter interviewing a child under 10 about what happened, saying the parents wanted the children interviewed).

After seeing and reading incredibly slipshod, unprofessional, tasteless, compassionless,  reckless, unsubstantiated reports of what happened in Newtown, Connecticut, I suspect the next “loner” somewhere is getting ideas on how he or she can secure a place in history and “get even” for the resentment he or she feels about God knows what and God knows who.

American media fascination with disasters is like covering lynchings used to be.

Their answer is you have to cover it.

Of course you have to cover it.

But what is missing is using facts to cover with,  not inventing them. Not substantiating.

Covering a big story as if it’s the only story is just  not right. It may be exciting to the executives and the news editors but the way to do it is cutaway coverage, not nuance after nuance.

Facts are not showing  tape loop after tape loop of the same overhead shots, the same standup commentators to keep America watching your network, listening to your radio station, or buying your next newspaper with endless reams of commentary.

Facts are found by waiting until authorities have something concrete to tell you. Instead, the reporters for the most part reported the first things they heard. They reported the mother of the killer worked at the school; the principal let the gunner in, two blatant errors. These  were  flat out mistakes,  created by prolonging anxiety by reporting every piece of hearsay and supposedly informed source they can find at a scene, and doing a posthumous injustice  to the brave who died.

This is going to make you mad:

There is a part of  America  that drinks up these vicarious thrills from watching  real life tragedy unfold. They want to know why. They want someone to blame. They in some strange way are soothed by educators talking about it, experts advising on grief, leaders pontificating about it, and outrage is built.

The media feeds this like gossip columnists of olden days.

News Directors and editors have to get a grip. It was a mass murder in Newtown. Report it. Wait for facts to be released. Have taste to allow the the grieving to grieve instead of intruding.

Do not run it for the sensationalism.

A  famous Cavalry general, George Armstrong Custer came across two Calvarymen tortured and mutilated in the desert., As he surveyed the two dead men, he said, “How horrible. But how exciting.”  There is an appalling truth to that statement. Obviously the way the television, and the press cover disasters and the Newtown shooting they feel the same way.

Well, Monday Senator Diane Feinstein is about to introduce  an assault weapons ban.

Now, the arguments from the gun enthusiasts will be heard again.

Here is what it should do, off the top of my head:

1. Ban possession and licensing of automatic weapons, period. Only guns allowed to be sold should be hand automatics and revolvers and rifles that are not repeaters.

2. Have all sales of repeating ammunition clips and massive sales of hand-gun clips subject to a background check, and reported with names of the buyers. That would possibly stop a spur of the moment event.

3. Have all gun owners reapply for their license  each year or say, every six  months (like a driver’s license). That would quickly identify persons buying handguns legally then reselling them on the black market.

Don’t worry, gun enthusiasts, congress will never do that. They do not have the guts.

There have been 181 persons killed in 60 school shootings in the U.S.A.  in the last 13 years according to McGill University in Montreal.  That is a rate of 4 a year! One every three months.

Extensive, Ghoul News Network coverage does not make this disturbing trend O.K., and I think it is responsible for a lot of it.

Ghoul News Network coverage advertises the behavior. It promotes it.  It shows the mentally unstable, the misanthropes of life, and the evil (who know exactly what they are doing) a way to achieve instant satisfaction, a horrible get-even high that will bring many people to a low they will never get over.

The media needs to think seriously about the impact of their coverage on the impressionable, the disturbed, and the suggestible in the future.

Because we should have another by Easter.

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WPCNR QUILL & EYESHADE. From the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. December 13,2012: 

White Plains retail and restaurants continued their stale sales tax receipt performance in November, according to WPCNR analysis of November sales tax receipts received Thursday from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

The city collections for November, perhaps held back by the 14-day distruption of shopping inflicted by Hurricane Sandy, were off .07 per cent, 29,756 less than November of last year.

In the first five months of the 2012-2013 fiscal year the city is down 4-1/2% in sales tax collections, and is running $953,083 behind the first half of last year at the five month mark, $19,915,761 from July through November this year compared to $20,868,843 July-November 2011.

Should the city hit the $5 Million sales tax receipts in December, (it collected $4,933,879 in December, 2011) the city will be back on track to meet its budget sales tax goal of  $45 Million by June 30, 2013.

The city averaged $4.2 Million a month in sales tax income January to June of 2012. If that trend holds the city should hit over 51 Million in sales tax receipts for fiscal year 2012-13, easily meeting budget, and getting just enough to replenish the takeaway from fund balance  to take care of anticipated labor settlements expected from arbitration with police and fire unions.

After eleven months of its 2012 fiscal year, Westchester County Sales Tax Receipts are running 2% ahead of last year.

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WPCNR THE POWER NEWS. By John F. Bailey. December 12, 2012:

The Mayor of White Plains told the Council of Neighborhood Associations Tuesday night that Consolidated Edison is considering putting major feeder cables underground to prevent the widespread outages of the October 29 Superstorm Sandy.

Mayor Thomas Roach of White Plains, fresh from a meeting with Consolidated Edison representatives today, outlined for White Plains Council of Neighborhood Association membership of 20 persons Tuesday night, the reasons White Plains residents remained without power for up to two weeks in the October 29 Superstorm Sandy.

He said that two main feeder cables aloft, on Post Road and on North Street  were taken down which he said cut off power to Highlands and the Gedney Farms neighborhood, two of the hardest hit areas.

He explained that the outages in the metropolitan area were so widespread, covering Brooklyn, Staten Island and most of Manhattan, that crews they would usually draw on to supplement their Westchester could not be drawn on to supplement their Westchester repair force.

The Mayor told the gathering that Consolidated Edison met with the today to listen to his and his commissioners’ suggestions on how Con Ed could improve its response to future storm hits.

The Mayor said he suggested Con Ed should bury their major feeder cables to areas as a way to prevent widespread areas in an area from being affected. The Mayor reported Con
Ed reps said they were “looking at that.” The Mayor told CNA  “for a resident to bury their cables would cost 8 to $20,000, and they quickly forget about that option.”

Mayor Roach said he urged Con Ed  not  routinely assign one cut and clear crew to every town or area, but to speed the most crews to areas that have the most outages, which according to the Mayor they did not do.

Mayor Roach said he urged Con Ed to be more specific with their communications to customers who are out, identifying what the problem is. He said most of the frustrations he dealt with when he spoke with White Plains storm victims was they did not get specific answers from Con Ed. When they got information, they were relieved he said.

Roach described Consolidated Edison as currently conducting interviews with municipalities throughout the area to get officials’ suggestions on how the next power restoration performance could be improved.

“They’re conducting those municipality interviews now, and are going to analyze them and then come back (to officials) and make suggestions as to what they could do.” He said the burying of feeder cables is something that is being considered, it is a ways off, he cautioned.

On other topics in the meeting tonight, Roach answered a question about changing traffic patterns downtown, by saying the city would be looking at making some boulevards two-way streets, saying that the one-way streets contributed to much of the cut-through traffic in the close-in neighborhoods. He said he wanted to expand bike lanage around town. 

He said police would soon be giving tickets to motorists who stop at intersections across the marked out crosswalks.

He said he was committed to making the city a safer place to walk for residents of the down, saying “years ago, the idea was to move traffic fast through the downtown. Now those times have changed.”

The one question asked about city finance concerned pension costs. Roach said the city faced a 3% increase in pension costs in next year’s budget and intended to pay for them out of current revenues, rather than borrow to meet the city pension obligation.

The Mayor said the new Esplanade Garage the city is building for $17 Million is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year, but he did not want to be held to that date. He said the hotel on Main Street is expected to be open this summer because it uses modular construction which allows rapid construction once the steel is up.

He congratulated all city employees on their dedicated performance during the Superstorm Sandy Recovery, and shared comments from recovery crews from Utah and Mississippi who told him personally “these (White Plains residents) are the most hospitable people I’ve ever met,” and another told him, “your people are so gracious.”

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WPCNR FBI WIRE. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. December 10,2012:

Standard Chartered Bank, a financial institution headquartered in London, has agreed to forfeit $227 million to the Justice Department for conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The bank has agreed to the forfeiture as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department and a deferred prosecution agreement with the New York County District Attorney’s Office for violating New York state laws by illegally moving millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Iranian, Sudanese, Libyan, and Burmese entities.

The bank has also entered into settlement agreements with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Ronald C. Machen, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI New York Field Office; and IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chief Richard Weber.

A criminal information was filed today in federal court in the District of Columbia charging Standard Chartered Bank with one count of knowingly and willfully conspiring to violate IEEPA. Standard Chartered Bank has waived the federal indictment, agreed to the filing of the information, and has accepted responsibility for its criminal conduct and that of its employees.

“For years, Standard Chartered Bank deliberately violated U.S. laws governing transactions involving Sudan, Iran, and other countries subject to U.S. sanctions,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “The United States expects a minimum standard of behavior from all financial institutions that enjoy the benefits of the U.S. financial system. Standard Chartered’s conduct was flagrant and unacceptable. Together with the Treasury Department and our state and local partners, we will continue our unrelenting efforts to hold accountable financial institutions that intentionally mislead regulators to do business with sanctioned countries.”

“When banks dodge U.S. sanctions laws, they imperil our financial system and our national security,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “Today’s agreement holds Standard Chartered Bank accountable for intentionally manipulating transactions to remove references to Iran, Sudan, and other sanctioned entities and then further concealing these transactions through misrepresentations to U.S. regulators. This $227 million forfeiture should make clear that trying to skirt U.S. sanctions is bad for business.”

“Investigations of financial institutions, businesses, and individuals who violate U.S. sanctions by misusing banks in New York are vitally important to national security and the integrity of our banking system. Banks occupy positions of trust. It is a bedrock principle that they must deal honestly with their regulators. I will accept nothing less; too much is at stake for the people of New York and this country,” said District Attorney Vance. “These cases give teeth to sanctions enforcement, send a strong message about the need for transparency in international banking, and ultimately contribute to the fight against money laundering and terror financing. I thank our federal partners for their cooperation and assistance in pursuing this investigation.”

“Standard Chartered Bank regularly engaged in prohibited banking practices, took steps to conceal the illegal conduct, and misled regulators about the pattern of illegality,” said Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos. “New York is a world financial capital and an international banking hub, and you have to play by the rules to conduct business here.”

“To protect and uphold the integrity of the American financial system, it is essential that we ensure global banking institutions obey U.S. laws, including sanctions against other countries,” said IRS-CI Chief Weber. “Criminal Investigation, the world’s preeminent financial investigative agency, was proud to be part of this law enforcement team working collaboratively with our federal and local partners to hold Standard Chartered Bank accountable for their criminal actions. When we work together, it’s a force multiplier, and it is government working smart. It’s what taxpayers expect of us.”

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) operates a branch in New York (SCB New York) that provides wholesale banking services, primarily U.S.-dollar clearing for international wire payments. SCB New York also provides U.S.-dollar correspondent banking services for SCB’s branches in London and Dubai. According to court documents, from 2001 through 2007, SCB violated U.S. and New York state laws by moving millions of dollars illegally through the U.S. financial system on behalf of Iranian, Sudanese, Libyan, and Burmese entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions. SCB knowingly and willfully engaged in this criminal conduct, which caused SCB’s branch in New York and unaffiliated U.S. financial institutions to process over $200 million in transactions that otherwise should have been rejected, blocked, or stopped for investigation under Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations relating to transactions involving sanctioned countries and parties.

According to court documents, SCB engaged in this criminal conduct by, among other things, instructing a customer in a sanctioned country to represent itself using SCB London’s unique banking code in payment messages, replacing references to sanctioned entities in payment messages with special characters and deleting payment data that would have revealed the involvement of sanctioned entities and countries using wire payment methods that masked their involvement. This conduct occurred in various business units within SCB in locations around the world, primarily SCB London and SCB Dubai, with the knowledge and approval of senior corporate managers and the legal and compliance departments of SCB.

In addition to evading U.S. economic sanctions, SCB made misleading statements to regulators to further conceal its business with sanctioned countries. In August 2003, SCB wrote in a letter to OFAC that the use of cover payments for transactions related to sanctioned countries was contrary to SCB’s global instructions. In fact, SCB used the cover payment method to effect billions of dollars in payments, lawful and unlawful, through SCB New York originating from or for the benefit of customers in Iran, Libya, Burma, and Sudan—all U.S. sanctioned countries—and continued to do so after the letter was sent.

During an extensive examination of all transactions at, by, or though SCB New York to detect suspicious activity, SCB failed to disclose to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York Department of Financial Services that it was processing billions of dollars of non-transparent payments for customers in sanctioned countries. As a result of SCB’s failure to disclose these transactions, the regulators were misled about the nature and extent of SCB’s business with sanctioned countries.

SCB’s agreement to forfeit $227 million will settle forfeiture claims by the Department of Justice and New York State. In light of the bank’s remedial actions to date and its willingness to acknowledge responsibility for its actions, the Justice Department will recommend the dismissal of the information in 24 months, provided the bank fully cooperates with, and abides by, the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.

Under the terms of its settlement agreement with SCB, OFAC’s penalty of $135 million will be satisfied by $227 million forfeited in connection with the bank’s resolution with the Justice Department. OFAC’s settlement agreement further requires the bank to conduct a review of its policies and procedures and their implementation, taking a risk-based sampling of U.S. dollar payments to ensure that its OFAC compliance program is functioning effectively to detect, correct, and report apparent sanctions violations to OFAC.

The case was prosecuted by Money Laundering and Bank Integrity Unit Trial Attorney Clay Porter of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney George P. Varghese of the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The case was investigated by the FBI’s New York Field Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Washington Field Division, with assistance from OFAC.

The Money Laundering and Bank Integrity Unit is a corps of prosecutors with a boutique practice aimed at hardening the financial system against criminal money laundering vulnerabilities by investigating and prosecuting financial institutions and professional money launderers for violations of the money laundering statutes, the Bank Secrecy Act and other related statutes.

The Department of Justice expressed its gratitude to OFAC, under the leadership of Director Adam J. Szubin and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.