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On last night’s program, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott said he hopes his term as the head of the new Board of Education is short-lived. Watch the video above.

Tonight’s program includes: Former U.S. Attorney Zachary Carter.

Programming note: “Road to City Hall” will not be airing tomorrow night because of the July 4th holiday. Eat an extra hotdog and ponder the Jefferson-Hamilton dynamic for us!

Ray Hernandez looks at how Rep. Carolyn Maloney is tilting at windmills as she prepares her primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Javier Hernandez notes: “Back from the dead, almost by accident, the New York City Board of Education met for the first time in seven years Wednesday as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg technically lost control of the school system.”

Nick Confessore writes: “As the stalemate in the State Senate stuttered through its fourth week, a crucial deadline came and went: June 30. It was the expiration date of more than a dozen statutes that authorize local governments to carry out their everyday duties, from planning budgets to collecting taxes. And as Democrats and Republicans in the Senate continued on Wednesday to argue fruitlessly over who controlled the chamber, officials around the state were left to ponder contingency plans that they never thought they would need.”

Mireya Navarro reports: “Fighting to prevent the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn from being labeled a Superfund site, city officials are proposing an alternative cleanup plan that they say would still be overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency but would take only about half the time a Superfund project would require."

The edit-heads have their master plan to clean up Albany.

New York Post

Jen Fermino notes: “State Senate Democratic leader John Sampson is suing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein on behalf of a fired assistant principal -- raising questions about what's really behind the Brooklyn lawmaker's opposition to mayoral-control legislation, The Post has learned.”

The edit-heads write: “It's a very good thing that we're not mayor of New York City. Because if we were, we'd have taken the state Senate's decision to strip away our control of the city's public schools precisely as it was intended to be taken: as a political challenge -- and we'd have reacted in kind. That is to say, the schools would've been locked up tighter than the proverbial drum yesterday while city lawyers searched high and low for the ‘authority’ to keep them open in light of the formal expiration of mayoral control.”

Guest op-ed columnist Jacob Gershman observes: “Why is the state Senate still stuck in its standoff? It comes down to this: Democrats are too splintered to settle on any truce. Republicans are too desperate for survival to concede any ground. And lawmakers caught in the middle are too afraid to act independently.”

New York Daily News

A News trio reports: “The Senate stalemate will cost New York at least $60 million a month, Mayor Bloomberg warned Wednesday - and the sudden budget hole may cost some city workers their jobs.”

Blain & Lovett note: “Paralyzing the state isn't enough to keep do-nothing senators from requesting their travel expenses. Senators from both parties on Thursday will submit their latest batch of per diem and other expenses - about $150,000 at minimum - to the state controller for payment, said Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran.”

Michael Saul writes: “Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand reprimanded a campaign staffer on Wednesday who posted a Twitter message mocking the lightening of Michael Jackson's skin color over the years. On the Web messaging account he usually uses to send out positive campaign messages, Todd Beeton, Gillibrand's paid Internet outreach director, criticized actor Jamie Foxx for saying at the recent BET awards, ‘We want to celebrate this black man - he belongs to us and we shared him with everyone else.’ Beeton tweeted, ‘Odd thing to say considering Jackson spent his entire adult life getting whiter & whiter.’"

A News trio notes: “Predictions of anarchy failed to materialize as the first day of summer school passed without the Soviet-style dysfunction Mayor Bloomberg predicted. The end of mayoral control seemingly had little effect on students who trudged back to class yesterday.”

The edit-heads write: “The city's borough presidents were paragons of responsibility yesterday in setting temporary management of the schools after the who-gives-a-damn state Senate left the nation's largest education system leaderless.”

In a guest op-ed column, Mayor Bloomberg pushes for universal health care.

Op-ed columnist Errol Louis hopes that the State Senate gridlock will shake up this fall’s City Council elections.

Newsday

James T. Madore reports: “Gov. David A. Paterson Wednesday delivered on his threat to convene the State Senate over Independence Day weekend after only one side in the stalemate showed up for public talks. Paterson ordered special sessions Thursday though Monday. He also called for senators to hammer out an extended 'power-sharing' agreement similar to ones that broke ties in Oklahoma, New Jersey and Maine.”

Rocco Parascandola writes: “The Brooklyn hospital manager who accused police of targeting him for subway bag searches because he looks Middle Eastern has settled his federal case for $25,000.”

Have a great July 4th weekend. Until Monday!

Bob Hardt