STRINGER’S GOP CHALLENGER

Determined not to leave Borough President Scott Stringer unchallenged, local GOP-stalwart David Casavis said he has filed with the city’s Campaign Finance Board to run against the incumbent this November.

Unlike other Manhattan GOP candidates, Casavis will be more than a name on the ballot, even if he has only one campaign message: to eliminate the office of the Borough President. [Read more]

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THREE CREDIT RATING REFORMS

There’s a reason that the best food critics dine in disguise.

If it were even perceived that they received favorable treatment—and, consequently, an ulterior motive—to pen a positive review, they would be out of business.

So why do we tolerate such dubious behavior on the part of our credit rating agencies and their assignment of risk to securities? Their conduct in this exact fashion contributed to the meltdown of the financial sector. Now, their very existence is in jeopardy. [Read more]

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ADVENTURELAND

In Adventureland, college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) works a Pennsylvania amusement park summer job to raise money for graduate school. It’s 1987 and Brennan listens to Lou Reed and The Replacements, reads Quiet Days in Clichy and can’t repress his intellectual ambitions when he’s stoned. Yet, he’s likeably callow—exactly opposite of the obnoxious brat Eisenberg played in the loathsome The Squid and the Whale. While Squid writer-director Noah Baumbach oozed malice and self-absorption (an unholy combo), Adventureland writer-director Greg Mottola sees human folly as carnivalesque. [Read more]

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GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN

Guest of Cindy Sherman lost its coterie fascination as soon as the 1975 Hearts and Minds (both are showing at Cinema Village) was revived. An art-world hanger-on’s moping about his bad match with a famous girlfriend—though candid, revealing and with justified self-pity—shriveled next to the historic anti-Vietnam War screed. It makes for a revealing contrast: contemporary solipsistic documentary versus the old-style, impassioned, investigative kind.
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AN OLD FAVORITE, FOUND WANTING

The former Afghan Kebab outpost on the Upper West Side used to be my go-to place when my cook/husband was away. In the wake of 9/11, diners seemed to avoid it. The atmosphere was grim, and the food took forever. Yet, just as my children’s high-jinks turned to whining—the delicate bulanee would arrive. These flat turnovers, cousin to samosas, are filled with scallion, pumpkin, spinach or potato. They proved an excellent way to get vegetables into my kids before we gorged on the plump chicken and lamb kebabs—cooked in a wood-fired oven—the flavorful basmati rice and the dense, rich bread.  [Read more]

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ALZHEIMER’S HOPE

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, affecting 18 million worldwide and 5 million in the United States alone. No cure has been found for this disease, but participants are being sought to try a new drug aimed at slowing its progression. [Read more]

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KNOW THE SIGNS OF ELDER ABUSE

Q: I have a neighbor, a woman in her eighties. I think someone is hurting her. It might be her daughter. I don’t know what I should do about this.

A: Recently, the U.S. Administration on Aging found that more than a half-million people over the age of 60 are abused or neglected each year. About 90 percent of the abusers are related to the victims.

All 50 states have elder-abuse prevention laws and have set up reporting systems. Adult Protective Services (APS) agencies investigate reports of suspected elder abuse. To report elder abuse, contact APS through your state’s hotline. [Read more]

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CAMP COUNSEL

So many factors go into choosing a summer camp that it’s often difficult even to know where to begin. Here, the seven most crucial camp questions parents should ask.

HOW DO I PREPARE MY CHILD FOR OVERNIGHT CAMP?
If you can, take your child to the camp ahead of time so that he or she can meet the people there and become familiar with the surroundings. Once you take away that feeling of it being a foreign experience, it makes the child feel a whole lot better. Let your child ask you questions, and be honest in your answers. If your child asks you, “What do I do if I’m homesick?” telling them, “Of course you won’t be homesick!” is the wrong answer. Chances are they will be homesick, so work through it with them: “You can talk to your counselor; you can talk to someone in your bunk; you can write us a letter.” [Read more]

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SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE COUNCIL

To the Editor:
The recent proposal by Queens City Council member Eric Gioia to make all city expenditures available online makes me wonder why Gioia waited eight years to see the light. Does his enlightened reform proposal have anything to do with his campaign for public advocate? While Gioia is at it, perhaps he can get the City Council on the web as well. They [Read more]

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BAD TAX ON BEER

To the Editor:
Gov. David Paterson’s budget proposal to more than double the state’s beer excise tax from 11 cents to 24 cents in hopes of generating revenue for the state will ultimately have the opposite effect. The excise tax increase will raise the cost of beer and decrease the volume sold, thus negatively impacting sales and eliminating jobs.
When the federal excise tax was doubled in 1991, three breweries closed, one in Fulton, N.Y., and across the nation 60,000 jobs were lost. Should the state excise tax more than double, the future of the Anheuser Busch brewery in Baldwinsville, N.Y., is questionable, putting more than 800 jobs at risk. [Read more]

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