Care about Politics? See what NY Candidates have to say

Rev. Al Sharpton and Brooklyn National Action Network host Candidates Forum for the Governor, Senatorial, and Brooklyn Congressional Races
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 2010, 6:00pm-9:00pm
Bethany Baptist Church, Pastor David A. Hampton
460 Marcus Garvey Blvd, corner of Decatur Street
BEDFORD-STUYVESANT SECTION OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
DIRECTIONS: Take the C train to Kingston-Throop stop. Church is just 2 blocks away from subway.

Question and answer with the candidates
YOUR VOTE IS A PRIVILEGE AND NOT A RIGHT!

Moderator: Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President National Action Network

Congressional Race
Kevin Powell, Community Activist and Writer
Edolphus Towns, Brooklyn Congressman

Governor’s Race
Charles Barron, NYC Council Member
Andrew Cuomo, NYS Attorney General

Senatorial Race
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York State Senator
Gail Goode, NYC Deputy Borough Chief

Brooklyn Prosecutor Facing Misconduct

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Facing questions about whether a high-ranking prosecutor’s actions during a murder investigation and trial constituted misconduct, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office agreed on Tuesday to allow a man imprisoned in that case to have his murder conviction vacated and his record cleared with the assurance that he will not be retried.

The agreement means that the man, Jabbar Collins, who 15 years ago was sentenced to 34 years to life in the murder of a Brooklyn landlord, will be freed later this week — the culmination of years of his own legal efforts to bring light to prosecutorial misconduct that he said deprived him of a fair trial.

The decision also spares officials from the Brooklyn district attorney’s office — most notably the hard-charging prosecutor who oversaw the case, Michael F. Vecchione — from being compelled to testify about the allegations of misconduct during a habeas corpus hearing that was set to resume this week.

The deal amounted to a rare and embarrassing admission by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office — which had initially insisted that Mr. Collins be retried — that the case had been mishandled.

Judge Dora L. Irizarry, of the United States District Court in Brooklyn, lamented that in agreeing to free Mr. Collins, the district attorney’s office had avoided a hearing that would have offered greater transparency into the case’s “troubling history.”

“It is indeed beyond disappointing, it is really sad that the district attorney’s office persists in standing firm and saying that it did nothing wrong here,” the judge said. She described the handling of the case by the district attorney’s office as “shameful.”

For more go to NYT

Brooklyn Schools Step Up Their Scores

To ace the state standardized tests, which begin on Monday, Public School 172 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, finds money for coaches in writing, reading and math. Teachers keep detailed notes on each child, writing down weaknesses and encouraging them to repeat tasks. There is after-school help and Saturday school.

But at the start of this school year, seven or eight students were still falling behind. So the school hired a speech therapist who could analyze why they and other students stumbled in language. A psychologist produced detailed assessments and recommendations. A dental clinic staffed by Lutheran Medical Center opened an office just off the fourth-grade classrooms, diagnosing toothaches, a possible source of distraction, and providing free cleanings.

Perfection may seem a quixotic goal in New York City, where children enter school from every imaginable background and ability level. But on the tests, P.S. 172, also called the Beacon School of Excellence, is coming close — even though 80 percent of its students are poor enough to qualify for free lunch, nearly a quarter receive special education services, and many among its predominately Hispanic population do not speak English at home.

In 2009, the 580-student primary school, tucked between fast-food restaurants and gas stations in a semi-industrial strip of Fourth Avenue, topped the city with its fourth-grade math scores, with all students passing, all but one with a mark of “advanced,” or Level 4. In English, all but one of 75 fourth graders passed, placing it among the city’s top dozen schools.

On average, at schools with the same poverty rate, only 66 percent of the students pass the English test, and 29 percent score at an advanced level in math, according to a New York Times analysis of Department of Education statistics. And though it is less well known, P.S. 172 regularly outperforms its neighbors in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, where parents raise hundreds of thousands a year for extra aides and enrichment.

The school’s approach, while impressive in its attention to detail, starts with a simple formula: “Teach, assess, teach, assess,” said Jack Spatola, its principal since 1984.

Hip Hop’s Outlier – Uncle Ralph McDaniels Interview Part I

In his best selling book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that world changing success has just as much to do with circumstance and opportunity as it does with hard work and determination.

The story of Uncle Ralph reads like something straight out of Outliers.

Ralph McDaniels was born to Caribbean parents in the Bed Stuy section of Brooklyn. His uncle introduced him to the Motown sound at an early age. His mother’s first cousin, Geoffrey Holder, was a successful Broadway and film actor (most notably for this writer, as Punjab in the movie adaptation of Annie). His family was always supportive. Music was always in the air.

In the mid-seventies, during Hip Hop’s infancy, Uncle Ralph began DJing.

“I’m in Queens by this time, so you know, the whole DJ thing is becoming really popular. We’re out in the park doing our thing. Break beats are starting to evolve. The commercialization of Hip Hop is starting to happen.”

After completing high school, while still DJing, he attended Laguardia Community College in Queens. There, during an internship at Manhattan Cable Television (the founders and operators of the America’s first urban underground cable system), his interest in film and television was officially ignited.

“Nobody around me had ever seen cable before. I hadn’t seen it before that time because nobody had cable here — in New York — and I don’t think anywhere else. I think that must’ve been around 1980, so this was the beginning of the whole cable television explosion. And that was what sparked my interest because I always wanted to combine the visuals with the audio. I was into the audio already from DJing and being around certain artists…but now I had an opportunity to get involved with the video side of it.”

From that rarified experience — interning at the United State’s first cable company right on the cusp of cable TV’s communications takeover — Ralph not only honed in on the ultimate path that would define his legacy, but began learning the tools to bring his vision (combining the audio with visuals of New York’s musical revolution) into fruition.

After receiving his bachelors degree from the New York City College of Technology (New York Tech), Uncle Ralph started his career working for WNYC-TV, channel 31, as a cable technician. Hip Hop was still in its nascent stages — inching towards commercialization — as the music video movement took hold of the national consciousness.

Artists like U2, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna not only etched themselves forever into music history through their planet shaking sound, but also through their iconic music videos. Some artists were only popular because of their music videos, and rarely received radio play at all.

“There were groups that were popular that just made popular videos. They didn’t necessarily get played on the radio or anything like that. So there was a whole music video movement going on as well as the music side of it. There were groups that were popular only because of their video. Thats why Michael Jackson put so much into the videos, because that was a big thing at that time. It was like a mini movie. You could make a very big impact on people through music videos. So, I’m in that founding group of music video pioneers.”

The video medium was on the verge of international fulmination. Hip Hop culture officially seized control of New York City’s urban underbelly. Cable TV, home to the first 24 hour music television station, MTV, was still a niche market with little reach.

Who else but a Brooklyn born DJ with professional knowledge of cable technics and production and a desire to unite the audio and visuals of this world rattling musical renaissance would possess the opportunity and experience necessary to launch the most groundbreaking television show in Hip Hop history: Video Music Box.

“I was passionate about the music and the artists and about the scene, so I knew that it was something that people wanted to see. And at this point, the idea of my show is becoming a reality, so I just wanted to have stuff to put on the show. [At this time] theres no videos for any Hip Hop songs, but why don’t we just shoot them live and get them performing? Like Soul Train, but ghetto style.”

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2

Respect Teach – KRS ONE Live at Southpaw in BK

KRS live onstage…….

KRS with some special verses for Jahara as she works the camera…….

Intense Auditions For New York City Schools Of Art

From NYT

Like a Lincoln Center hopeful, Aislee Nieves spends most afternoons in her cramped living room, the couch pulled aside so she can perfect her pointed toes and pirouettes. A spreadsheet tells her the tryouts she has attended, where and when the next one is and the one after that.

On a recent Sunday she flitted about her apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, collecting what she needed that day: ballet slippers, leotard, footless tights, all slipped into her bright green knapsack.

“Mommy, you have the admission ticket? And my transcript?” she asked, her 13-year-old voice betraying a slight edginess.

Yes, yes, her mother, Blanca Vasquez, answered. After all, they had been auditioning for high school nearly every weekend for the last month.

The high school admission process in New York City is notoriously dizzying, with each eighth grader asked to rank up to a dozen choices, and the most competitive schools requiring tests, essays or interviews. But for hundreds of students who sing, dance, act or play an instrument, trying out for the ninth grade is now an all-consuming routine.

A generation ago, there was just one high school for aspiring artists — Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts. Over the years, dozens of high schools have created programs focusing on the performing and visual arts as a way to attract motivated students. More than two dozen now require auditions.

Aislee has gone to four already, and has one left — on the same day she has a callback for Brooklyn High School of the Arts.

“We don’t have any days off,” Ms. Vasquez said, with a mix of pride and exasperation.

The same could be said for Talia Bornstein, who has had seven auditions at three high schools. For the last few months she has been dancing nearly 15 hours a week, including an occasional private rehearsal with a teacher who graduated from LaGuardia several years ago.

Medicare Fraud Busted

From msnbc

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.

Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the total of 32 indicted suspects lined up bogus patients and otherwise billed Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, physical therapy and HIV infusions.

Unnecessary services alleged
Miami Dr. Fred Dweck, along with 14 people with whom he worked, was accused in an indictment of running a scam to tap a Medicare program that pays very high rates to care for the sickest patients.

Dweck referred about 1,279 Medicare beneficiaries for expensive and unnecessary home health and therapy services, bribing the owners of two Miami clinics to join the scam. He also faked medical certifications, according to the indictment.

A telephone listing for Dweck could not be found and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.

“No matter what type of fraud is committed, there is one common denominator and that denominator is greed,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said. “Medicare fraud is not a victimless crime. It hurts every American taxpayer by raising the cost of health care.”

Rock the Block BK in DUMBO

ROCK THE BLOCK BK 2009 – AUGUST 15, 2009
BROOKLYN’S BIGGEST URBAN ARTS EMERGENCE

Rock the Block BK, an urban arts and culture series developed to bring awareness to Brooklyn’s underground urban arts renaissance, serves as Brooklyn’s pre-eminent showcase of emerging artistic talent in Brooklyn and the five boroughs of New York City. Join us as we rock DUMBO, BROOKLYN in a day long celebration of art in all mediums including LIVE MUSIC, FASHION, ART, FILM and MORE, delivered complete with an urban arts marketplace.

STARRING: YAHZARAH, HONEY LAHROCHELLE, JESSE BOYKINS III, PRINT, TRON, DJ GOLDFINGER, SEE ONE, TREZURE THE EMPRESS, DJ SPINNA & DJ SCRATCH, THE AHFICIONADOS, DJ CONTRASOUNDS, BRIDGET BARKAN, TESS, THE SNEAKER ART SHOW, BUTCH DIVA, SUZEN BARAKA, JEFF DESS, E’TAU AUTELIER, GRAY BOW TIE, MISNOMER, JENNIFER JOHNS, RIP, KING RUCKS, THE WORD, SOUND, SOUL LOUNGE – to benefit VONY (Voices of New York) Kids Dream In Color Initiative, D. BLACK, LICHIBAN, OVEOUS MAX, & MORE!
———————

FEATURING B.I.G. PIMPIN’: THE BIGGIE & JAY-Z TRIBUTE PARTY

–When–

AUGUST 15, 2009
12pm-4am

–Where–

DUMBO, BROOKLYN (all venues are ONE BLOCK walking distance from each other)

Location 1: The DUMBO Loft –155 Water Street (Corner of Pearl and Water Streets)
Location 2: ReBar — 147 Front Street (Between Pearl and Jay Streets)
Location 3: The Marketplace –143 Front Street (Between Pearl and Jay Streets)

–Cost–

RECESSION SPECIAL! – ROCK THE BLOCK BK 2009 VIP ALL ACCESS TICKETS SALE!

ONLINE ONLY! – VIP ALL ACCESS TICKETS – ONLY $20 until day of event – MORE at the DOOR

For tickets & more info:

http://www.rocktheblockbk.com

http://www.twitter.com/rocktheblockbk

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/73308

Event Information:
Saturday, August 15, 2009
12:00 PM – 4:00 AM
21+
cover: TBD | General Admission: $20 — VIP Admission: $35
music: Funk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Breaks, Live Art & Spoken Word

Venue Information:
ReBar
147 Front St.
F to York St.
Brooklyn, NY