To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

On Friday’s program, we asked a panel of civil-rights activists if President Obama is doing enough for their cause.

Watch a clip of the segment above.

Our guests include: former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch; Our Monday Consultants Corner.

The New York Times

Kate Taylor notes: “On the last Sunday before a city policy went into effect barring religious services in public schools, leaders of congregations around the city expressed a range of responses, with some taking a pragmatic attitude and others vowing to not give up without a fight.”

Nina Bernstein reports: “New York’s charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals’ pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota. But a new study of New York hospitals’ practices and state records finds that most medical centers are violating the rules without consequences, even as the state government ignores glaring problems in the hospitals’ own reports.”

Colin Moynihan writes: “On Sept. 11, 2001, Police Officer Alonzo Harris rushed to the World Trade Center to try to evacuate people from the burning towers. When the first tower collapsed, he dove beneath a parked car as thick plumes of dust and debris blotted out the sun. Later, he said, he sealed the grit-covered uniform he had worn that day in a plastic bag. On Sunday, police union leaders and elected officials displayed that uniform as they called upon Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to release police medical records to a panel that is studying possible links between cancer and contaminants unleashed by the destruction of the trade center.”

New York Post

Josh Margolin notes: “Port Authority brass are secretly planning to deploy military-grade technology to keep the new World Trade Center safe from terrorism once it’s completed, The Post has learned.”

Carl Campanile write: “A powerful union coalition is pushing legislation to boost pension payouts by millions of dollars — just as Gov. Cuomo plans to trim pensions for newly hired workers, The Post has learned.”

In his column, Fred Dicker reports: “It’s high noon this week in Albany as Gov. Cuomo, playing the role of sheriff, faces off with teachers-union leaders — the outlaws. The two sides will confront each other over the governor’s claimed determination to force meaningful teacher-evaluation standards on New York schools. Thursday is the deadline set by Cuomo to automatically amend the budget he presented to the Legislature last month with special language that could unilaterally impose teacher-evaluation requirements throughout the state.”

Chuck Bennett writes: “City authorities are inching toward absurdity. Transportation officials want to knock down a Chinatown newsstand that’s been in the same spot for 35 years — after suddenly discovering that it’s a precious 3 inches too close to the building it faces.”

New York Daily News

Blau & Moore report: “City Controller John Liu’s No. 2 is stepping down, dealing a major blow to the scandal-scarred pol and plans to overhaul the city’s $120 billion pension system, the Daily News has learned. Liu’s office will announce Monday that First Deputy Controller Eric Eve is departing for a private sector job in two weeks, according to a source.”

Pete Donohue writes: “Roger Toussaint may no longer travel the globe, but he remains TWU’s international man of mystery. The former Transport Workers Union Local 100 president who led the 2005 MTA strike has former allies and enemies scratching their heads and wondering what he’s up to. Since 2009, when he left his post as head of the local, Toussaint has held a high-paying executive gig in the international union. Then nearly two weeks ago, he suddenly appeared at an MTA administrative building in downtown Brooklyn to reclaim his old job as a track worker.”

Wall Street Journal

Joseph De Avila reports: “The number of workers in New York state earning minimum wage has increased sharply since the start of the recession, one of the driving factors underlying a debate in Albany over whether to raise the hourly rate.”

Until tomorrow.

Bob Hardt