New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced the shutdown of a massive telefunding operation that bombarded 67 million consumers with 1.3 billion deceptive charitable fundraising calls, most of which were illegal robocalls. Associated Community Services (ACS) and its affiliated companies and individuals made more than 72 million calls to New York residents alone, haranguing thousands of them more than 100 times each. This operation illegally collected more than $110 million by falsely claiming that funds would go to charities that support veterans, children, and firefighters.
The defendants have agreed to settle charges by Attorney General James, the FTC, and agencies from 38 states and the District of Columbia that they duped generous Americans into donating to charities that failed to provide the services they promised. The complaint names ACS and its sister companies Central Processing Services and Community Services Appeal; their owners, Dick Cole, Bill Burland, Barbara Cole, and Amy Burland; and ACS senior managers Nikole Gilstorf, Tony Lia, John Lucidi, and Scot Stepek. In addition, the complaint names two fundraising companies allegedly operated by Gilstorf and Lia as spin-offs of ACS, Directele and The Dale Corporation.
“These telemarketers illegally solicited contributions from New Yorkers and inundated them with millions of harassing phone calls,” said Attorney General James. “There is no tolerance for this type of unlawful and predatory behavior. We will continue to work aggressively with partners around the country to stop deceptive fundraising…
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By Jonas BronckNYC Health + Hospitals today announced its partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY) that will provide 984 nursing students to help support with the system’s CoViD-19 vaccination operation. Supervised by CUNY faculty, students will be assigned throughout the system’s 11 hospitals and Gotham Health community-based clinics to support vaccine operations. Their responsibilities will include clerical tasks, management of workflows, appointment logistics, vaccine administration, and monitoring required observation periods after patients receive their injection. The students will begin being deployed across the system this week. Time spent in vaccine clinics throughout the system will contribute to nursing and health professions students’ required clinical hours as part of their education. The number of nursing students might increase depending as eligibility and demand for vaccines increases in the coming weeks.
“NYC Health + Hospitals is eternally grateful for the support we’ve received from partners, like CUNY, through this pandemic that have sourced additional hands to help save lives,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Senior Vice President and System Chief Nurse Executive Natalia Cineas, DNP, RN, NEA-BC. “We are confident the support from these students will further facilitate swift and safe workflow as vaccine supply…
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Street Renaming Petition To Honor Mario D’Agostino

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Brenda Jimenez Wins Four Silver & Bronze Stevie ® Awards For Women In Business In 2020

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Editorial
You Should Know that no elected official has publicly criticized and gone against Governor Andrew Cuomo more than I have.
The deaths of more than 13,000 elderly persons in nursing homes in New York State is travesty. The posture, taken by Governor Andrew Cuomo, is an ugly representation of the his leadership, tarnishing his past accomplishments.
My gripes and disagreements with the governor are due to my positions as a Conservative Democrat and Pentecostal minister. My religious conservative beliefs compel me to go against the governors stand on certain issues, that in my purview, are morally wrong and damaging.
I would like to make it clear that my position against Governor Andrew Cuomo have been solely based on my deeply rooted Christian Conservative values. Other than that, if I were a liberal socialist Democrat, I would confidently say that no one has done more to move forward the progressive socialist agenda than Gov. Cuomo. However, I acknowledge, that despite his leftists views, he has done some humanitarian and good will for those in need. For example:
- For Puerto Rico: During the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. The governor went above and beyond the call of duty to help my beautiful island.
- For the gay & lesbian community: Have Gov. Cuomo to thank, when he fought and twisted many arms to ensure that same-sex marriage became legal in New York State. My opposition to gay marriage was the main cause of my contention with the governor.
- For the Bronx County: Governor Cuomo assisted the Bronx when he intervened and allocated monies to The Hunts Point Market, the Bruckner Sheridan Expressway, Orchard Beach, the building of four Metro North Train Stations, (which he jested that he would name one of them Ruben Diaz station), the allocation of much needed funds for Bronx affordable housing, and a piece of land to create The Junior camp for Bronx youths, after the senseless killing of Junior Guzman.
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Taiwan is the most important source of conflict between America and China. It is also a major source of investment opportunities. Consider the following.
The Global Tech Economy depends on Taiwan. Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation (TSMC) in particular. The majority of major American semiconductor companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Applied Materials rely on TSMC (along with Samsung) to manufacture their chips. But there are so many Taiwanese tech firms including chip manufacturing foundries UMC and Wistron, Apple smart phone assemblers Foxconn and Pegatron and chip designer Media Tek. Taiwan is teeming with tech on a level comparable to Silicon Valley and Israel. If somebody dropped a bomb on Taiwan and wiped out all the tech firms, the world economy would come to a halt.
China will never give up its claim that Taiwan is part of China. Would America give up Hawaii to separatists? Did Abraham Lincoln let the South secede? The American China hawks see China as governed by an evil, globally aggressive Communist dictatorship. I would pose the following hypothetical (highly improbable) scenario. Suppose the Communist regime was replaced by some democratic regime more to the liking of the China hawks. Would China then give up its claim on Taiwan? I would argue NEVER. In its thousands of years of history, Chinese dynasties rise and fall over hundreds of years. The “Communist dynasty” is in a rising phase and is reasserting what it believes—and most Chinese believe – is China’s rightful place in the world. A non-Communist Chinese dynasty would assert the same. No self-respecting Chinese—Communist or no—is going to give up Taiwan.
If America pushes China far enough, China will attempt to invade Taiwan. The Trump Administration pushed China very hard. It went out its way to offend China by sending high level diplomats to Taiwan as if it were a sovereign country. It also stepped up arms sales to Taiwan. But the most egregious American act from the Chinese viewpoint has been the embargoes on semiconductors. In particular, Taiwan Semi was prohibited…
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He calls himself TBE – The Best Ever – and many boxing fans agree Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is one of the finest athletes ever to grace the noble art, but the American’s wait to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame rumbles on.
Mayweather was scheduled to finally take his place alongside the sport’s elite at a ceremony in New York this year but plans were shelved due to coronavirus restrictions. It is the second time Floyd has missed out due to CoViD-19 but a new date of June 09–12, 2022 has been set with Canastota providing the backdrop.
Pretty Boy could return to the ring
Despite being 44 years old and retired since beating Ireland’s UFC star Conor McGregor approaching three years ago, leading bookmakers across the world offer odds on Pretty Boy to return to action. Rumours suggest Floyd could record a 51st professional bout before becoming a Hall of Famer and you can check out the best American betting sites for free at Online Sports Betting.
Mayweather famously defeated Andre Berto on points to win the WBC and WBA world titles back in September 2015 and many thought they had seen the last of the Michigan born fighter. He shocked the sport two years later, however, returning to battle McGregor in Las Vegas, stopping Notorious in round 10 of a bout scheduled…