Photograph of paid sick leave rally by William Alatriste. NEW YORK — In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Democrat Tom Cuite was at the helm of the City Council, he made sure the city's landmark gay rights bill was killed in committee nearly a dozen times. I was involved in the 50-group, all-volunteer Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights at the time, and we demanded the sponsors of the Council bill force a vote on it, even if the bill might lose, to get them on the record. When the spe... More detail

ALBANY, N.Y. — Modest, crunchy former Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of the word scofflaw. In Hawkin’s case, his committee hasn’t filed reports since 2011 and, even though it’s allowed to file a no-activity statement, it hasn’t, according to campaign finance records. Records also show that Hawkins 2010 campaign committee has $12,906 on hand, though Hawkins says the real number is a lot lower. “My t... More detail

NEW YORK — Longtime Brooklyn Democratic party boss Vito Lopez has been stripped of his committee chairmanship and his seniority after an ethics panel determined that he had sexually harassed two women this past summer. An Assembly ethics committee found allegations by the women "credible," including that he made "repeated comments about physical appearance, their bodies, their attire and their private relationships," according to a letter addressed to Lopez and released by Assembly Speak... More detail

NEW YORK — For Sabrina Terry, the Sunset Park neighborhood where she works is at the front line of climate change. The community along the Brooklyn waterfront is home to waste transfer stations, power plants, industrial facilities and tens of thousands of mostly low-wage immigrants. Devastating storm surges expected to be brought on by radically altered weather could flood the area and create a toxic brew. “If you have a storm, who knows what is being washed up into the community? It... More detail

NEW YORK — The firm picked by the city to run what is meant to be the nation's largest bicycle share program has been dogged by questions about how it got a contract to run a similar system in Chicago, while its partner is being sued by a key software developer. City officials announced last week that the much-anticipated bike share program would be delayed from its expected roll-out this summer to March 2013. Mayor Michael Bloomberg blamed the system’s software. “The software doesn... More detail