Libertarian activist seeks seat on city council

Quick Hits From Todays City Council Hearing on Bike Policy
The line to testify at today’s Transportation Committee hearing on New York City bike policy was snaking outside into the biting cold well before the 10:00 a.m. start time. More than 70 people signed up to speak, filling up two hearing rooms at 250 Broadway. The first few hours of the hearing, however, belonged to committee members, who peppered Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan with questions about an exhaustive array of bike-related topics: how DOT decides to install bike la...

Chiefs' Cassel undergoes appendectomy
Published: Dec. 8, 2010 at 5:52 PM Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Matt Cassel underwent an Appendectomy and is set to resume practice, the team said Wednesday. A statement issued by the Chiefs indicated Cassel will be back in the fold almost immediately as Kansas City prepares to meet AFC West rival San Diego in a key game Sunday. Cassel's absence from practiced was noticed Wednesday when signal-caller Brodie Croyle took the first-team snaps and Tyler Palko serv...

Old City Residents Berate City Council Over High-Rise Billboard Plan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - New buildings often upset longtime residents, and that’s the case in the Old City section of Philadelphia. Some residents are upset about plans for a new hotel-condo project, and they came to City Council on Thursday to voice their concerns. This was week two of the new requirement that City Council allow public comment (see related story), and residents of Old City made full use of it. They’re upset about plans for a new project at 4th and Race Streets fea...

Berkeley City Council Decides It Hasn't Gotten Any Attention In A Year; Sets Out To Fix That
Emo drama whores. Message: Please pay attention to us. We're important. The Berkeley City Council will consider a resolution that would declare The Army private suspected of leaking classified information to Wikileaks a hero and call for his release. ... Bob Meola, who authored the resolution, tells the San Francisco Chronicle that Manning is a patriot who deserves a medal. Top Ten Rejected Berkeley City Council Attention-Whoring Initiatives 10. Proposed: All city Council Members to start wear...

Sidewalk ATM Crackdown! City Council Fights "Blight" to Communities
EV Grieve ​The City Council has passed a resolution to crackdown on those sidewalk ATMs. Apparently they're illegal, so while you may have to work harder to find your local bank branch next time you're strapped for cash and wandering around the East Village drunk and/or hungry, at least you won't have to shell out $3 to withdraw your own money just to get mugged on the sidewalk by some dude in a ski mask....

City Council Eyes Effects Of Biking Boom
NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS/WCBS 880) - New York City has become more bicycle-friendly but at what cost? The City Council was holding a hearing Thursday to figure it out. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to more than triple the number of bike lane miles by 2030, but some New Yorkers want him to hit the brakes. In recent years the administration has been expanding the bike lane network, which now covers nearly 500 miles of city streets. Some City Council Members said that they have constituents who...

Sixteen apply for three vacancies on Chicago City Council
The mayor said he received two completed on-line applications to succeed Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, who stepped down as aldermen of the 4th Ward when she was sworn in Monday as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners; six applications to follow Ald. Ed Smith, 28th, who retired after 27 years as alderman of the West Side ward; and eight to take the place of Thomas Allen, 38th, who was sworn in this week as a judge. The Daley appointees would serve out the remaining months of the three t...

City Council Jacks Riverside Center Parking Supply Back Up to 1,500 Spaces
Council Member Gale Brewer has struck a deal on the Riverside Center mega-development, sending the 2,500-apartment project through two City Council committees and on a track to final approval. The deal increases the number of parking spaces allowed at Riverside Center to 1,500, far more than the community board or even the City Planning Commission had approved. With the ability to build 1,500 off-street spaces on the southern edge of the Upper West Side, Extell Development got more than 80 perce...

Chiefs QB Cassel has appendectomy
Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Matt Cassel (7) grounds the ball while in the arms of Denver Broncos Linebacker Mario Haggan (57) during the second half of an NFL football game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010. The Chiefs defeated the Broncos 10-6. Kansas City Quarterback Matt Cassel underwent an Appendectomy on Wednesday. The Chiefs at first refused to say why he was not at practice, then said he had a successful Appendectomy and would return to work this week. The...

Gawker's Holiday Party Guide: Clip and Save
We asked, and you answered. (We also got a little help from the the folks at the Observer). Here, in all its glory, is Gawker's Holiday Party Guide. (Click to enlarge). The full list of corresponding events is after the jump (including the location of the Top Secret Vogue party.) Print and use, and let us know if you get in to anything good. 1. ABC: Good Morning America studio - 1500 Broadway/Nov. 30 2. Planet Out (Gay.com, OUT Magazine, The Advocate, Unzipped, Men): One - 1 Little West 12th S...

Iowa GOP chair seeking second term
Washington (CNN) - Iowa GOP chairman Matthew Strawn, coming off a dominant election cycle for Republicans in the Hawkeye State, told CNN Thursday he will seek a Second Term as the party's leader. The move positions Strawn as a central player in the 2012 Republican presidential nominating fight, which is slated to kick off in Feb. 2012 with Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. Barring an unusually strong challenge from a Libertarian or Tea Party-affiliated Candidate, which seems unlikely given hi...

Berkeley City Council Continues To Meet Expectations
@loretta8 Hey Loretta, thanks for the shout-out. 15 hours ago @revtrev Thanks for the listing. I appreciate it, sir. 1 day ago...

You're Either For It Or Against It
TPM Reader JZ checks in on what proponents of Gay Marriage in New Jersey learned there and how it informs the legislative battle over DADT Repeal: DADT debate reminds me in many ways of our efforts in the waning days of the Corzine administration to get a marriage equality law through the legislature and onto the Governor's desk (he wanted to sign the bill before leaving office). A handful of Republican and Democratic state senators jerked the pro-equality movement around for weeks, professin...

Walmart finds site for first North Side Chicago store
After years of foot-dragging by Chicago's City Council and its union allies, Walmart reached an agreement with the City Officials this summer to greatly expand its Chicago presence from its one West Side store. Two South Side Walmarts will open about a year from now, and the retail giant has found a location for its first North Side store, near Broadway and Diversey, Crain's Chicago Business is reporting. Chicago's Unemployment rate is 8.9 percent, but that does not include people who have give...

Mets Finalize Deals With Paulino, Carrasco
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The New York Mets have finalized a $2.5 million, two-year contract with right-hander D.J. Carrasco and a $1.3 million, one-year deal with catcher Ronny Paulino. The 33-year-old Carrasco went a combined 3-2 with a 3.68 ERA in 63 games last season for Pittsburgh and Arizona. He has a 23-17 major league record for six seasons that include stints with Kansas City and the Chicago White Sox. Paulino will miss the first eight games while completing a 50-game suspensi...

AP Source: Cabrera, Royals agree at $1.25 million
A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that outfielder Melky Cabrera has reached a preliminary agreement on a $1.25 million, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals. The deal, which includes performance bonuses, is subject to Cabrera passing a physical. The person spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not final. Cabrera was obtained by the Atlanta Braves a year ago as part of a five-player trade that sent right-hander Javier Vazquez ...

Barry blast
Megan Barry suggests she may introduce a non-discrimination ordinance for private entities: The councilwoman — who lives near the university — said she looks forward to the day “when Nashville joins the many dozens of cities and counties across the nation including Louisville, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Atlanta, that have written Sexual Orientation into local Discrimination laws.” ...

Muddying up Fox
Media Matters today sharpened its guerilla war on Fox News, an assault increasingly is moving from criticism to Activism. The liberal group is publicizing an email from Fox's Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon, warning reporters not to use the phrase "Public Option" and recommending instead "government-run Health Insurance" and "government option." Says the group's Ari Rabin-Havt:

Schmidt to announce run for city commissioner seat
Republican Activist Al Schmidt, who is expected to declare Thursday his candidacy to become a city commissioner, said he also would present documents showing misuse of public resources by elected officials for political purposes, a potential violation of the law. In a release about his expected 8:30 a.m. Thursday announcement, he said he would show documents that bolster his allegations. He said the documents show misuse by Philadelphia elected officials in both parties at the federal, state, an...

Civil rights era roars back at Capitol
A scene of history, high drama and emotion played out Thursday morning as Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet passed a resolution asking that the state expunge all the arrest records of people who were charged and in some cases beaten for trying to integrate the beach at St. Augustine in 1963 and 1964. The marchers, both black and white, some of them teenagers at the time, were active in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. They included Stetson Kennedy, 95, a Journalist from the era; ...

FBI Continues to Target Activists (VIDEO)
Subpoenaed Activist Stephanie Weiner, who had her home raided by the FBI on September 24th of this year, lamented the fact that more activists were being subpoenaed and explained it was being done to put fear, intimidate and divide members of Activist movements in the country. She outlined the fact that they are from many different movements: union, immigrant rights, justice, and Latin American and Palestinian solidarity movements. Matt Brandon of SEIU Local 73 said, "When people can't get to...

Bahrain human rights petition Starbucks
Human rights Activists have organised a petition against the coffee chain Starbucks after staff locked up opponents of the regime in Bahrain in a branch in the capital Manama....

The Beltwayification of Obama Is Nearly Complete
Great news for every orange-hatted former Deaniac who put his faith in Obama, for every earnest hipster who donated their money and time, for every aspiring community Activist who knocked on doors and downloaded the will.i.am “Yes, We Can” song and every diehard, passionate liberal who put out all that effort to elect Barack Obama in 2008: With the tax deal, he’s now getting rave reviews from the Washington Post‘s David Broder. After running against Washington, and comp...

Fresh attacks in Wikileaks cyberwar
The cyber war between Wikileaks supporters and companies refusing to do business with the whistle-blowing site intensified tonight, with fresh attacks threatened against Amazon and PayPal. Anonymous, a loose-knit group of Internet Activists, has already disrupted the websites of companies including MasterCard and Visa by bombarding them with millions of bogus visits. ...

Majority of Conservative Activists want Palin to Run
Christopher Bedford reports that a recent poll of the conservative and Tea Party Activists who are members of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ reveals that 88 percent want Sarah Palin to make a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. 48 percent of those polled say that even if not successful, a Palin run would, "move the primaries in a positive and conservative direction." Only 13% of the Activists polled believe such a run would be both unsuccessful and harmful to the GOP. In a column la...