October 28, 2010 - Daily Racing Form by David Grening At 12:05 p.m. Thursday – a mere 3,291 days after legislation passed allowing casinos to be built at New York racetracks – the New York Racing Association’ chairman, Steven Duncker, stood in a corner of the first floor of Aqueduct, wearing a hard hat and safety goggles and holding a mallet. A minute later, Duncker, along with politicians, union workers, and officials from the…
http://www.drf.com/news/casino-ground-broken-aqueduct-ceremony
October 26, 2010 - The Saratogian - Saratoga Springs, NY by Paul Post Gov. David Paterson will join a variety of businesspeople and elected officials Thursday for the long-awaited ceremonial groundbreaking on Aqueduct’s new racino. A minimum of 1,600 video lottery terminals are slated to come on line next May, and all 4,525 machines are expected to be operating six months after that. The racino is projected to generate at least $650 million per…
http://saratogian.com/articles/2010/10/26/news/doc4cc5fe9f0ccf0595634225.txt?viewmode=fullstory
October 21, 2010 - Queen Chronicle
by Bryan Yurcan
An official groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of work on the Aqueduct Racetrack redevelopment project is scheduled for Oct. 28 at 11 a.m.
Genting New York LLC, which won state approval in September to construct a dining and entertainment facility that will feature 4,500 video lottery terminals at the dilapidated race track, will host the ceremony.
Tutor Perini Corp., of Sylmar, Calif., was awarded a contract from Genting to renovate the existing grandstand and create the new gaming area. Tutor Perini has said work will begin on the project around Nov. 1, though an exact date wasn’t given. Genting has said that the first phase of the project, which will include some 1,600 VLTs, would likely be completed six months after the first shovel is in the ground, meaning the Aqueduct rasino could…
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April 29, 2010 - The New York Times By Danny Hakim Jennifer Cunningham is one of this city’s most prominent lobbyists, best known for her advocacy on behalf of 1199/S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers East, arguably Albany’s most powerful special interest. At the same time, Ms. Cunningham is among the closest political advisers to the man who many Democrats hope will be the next New York governor: Andrew M. Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo’s promise to…
But the role of Ms. Cunningham, who has advised Mr. Cuomo on major decisions like when to enter the race and whom to hire for his campaign staff, is likely to draw new scrutiny as he nears an official announcement of his candidacy next month, and it reflects the often symbiotic relationships between politicians and lobbyists in Albany. Mr. Cuomo’s aides and Ms. Cunningham say she keeps her lobbying strictly separate from her advising of Mr.…
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Aqueduct opens VLT casino By Tom Precious Bloodhorse Just one day shy of the 10th anniversary on which former New York Gov. George Pataki signed a law approving racetrack casinos, Aqueduct the afternoon of Oct. 28 will seek to brush aside the political and legal delays as it activates thousands of video lottery terminals. Derided by addiction treatment experts as overkill in a state with a growing reliance on gambling, the new VLT casino is seen…
http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/7161432/after-long-wait-aqueduct-opens-vlt-casino
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December 15, 2008 - The Times Union - Albany, NY by Rick Karlin Barack Obama was elected President on Nov. 4, right? Wrong. Actually, he'll be elected today, when the Electoral College votes. Here in New York, the vote will take place in the ornate state Senate chamber, where the electors -- who, technically speaking, are the people you voted for last month -- will gather. While the Electoral College vote is procedural, it's the central act in…
Members of the National Popular Vote movement are working to create a system that essentially circumvents the Electoral College. Under this plan, the various states could enter a multi-state compact to allocate their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who gathers the most popular votes. Once enough states agree -- enough to marshal 270 votes -- the electoral system could be circumvented. (New York has 31 votes.) "It's kind of a…
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Crain's New York Business
by Anne Michaud
Jennifer Cunningham has been called the most powerful unelected woman in New York politics.
As the former political director for the state's largest health care union, 1199 Service Employees International Union, as well as the successful manager of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's 2006 campaign, Ms. Cunningham, 45, is a rising star.
http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/100women/view/33
July 27, 2007 - The Times Union - Albany, NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed a bill Thursday to partially ban a wood preservative linked to health and environmental problems. The law will partially end the manufacture, sale and use of creosote, a mixture of chemicals derived by high-temperature treatment of coal, tar or wood. It will phase out the manufacture, sale and use of creosote as of Jan. 1, 2008, and after Jan. 1, 2010, for existing marinas and…