Budget Cuts Cause Even Bigger Classrooms in NYC Schools

An average kindergarten class

While all class sizes rose this year, high school students and kindergartners are particularly feeling the increase in class size.

Supposedly, in 2008, the average size of an English class was 24.7 students, although most high schools have at least 30 students in each class. The average number is up to 26.4 this year, according to preliminary figures from the Department of Education. The number of students in high school science classes has also risen from 26.1 to 27.4.

There was also a spike in enrollment in kindergarten classes, by about 5 percent, which is contributing to the increase in class size. In …continue reading

Junior Gotti Granted Freedom

John "Junior" Gotti

John “Junior” Gotti has been granted his freedom after paying $2 million in bail money, after the jury was unable to come to a verdict. This is the fourth hung jury in five years in the Gotti case.

The son of the Gambino crime family was on trial for racketeering-related charges. Prosecutors did not say if Gotti will be tried again. One juror said it would be abusive to bring the charges again.

The government linked Gotti to a string of murders in the 1980’s and 1990’s, which is what this latest trial was about. He was also linked to drug trafficking crimes. …continue reading

$96+ Million in Medicaid Waste in NY

Medicare Inspector General James Sheehan

As New York tries to crack down on wasteful spending, a report by the State Medicaid Inspector General shows that there is much fraud going on when it comes to free health insurance for the most needy.

According to the report, $96.7 million in Medicaid funds was misspent with nearly half of it in New York City.

The report claims, however, that the waste comes from bad bookkeeping and billing errors but the sum for some individual hospitals and pharmacies adds up to millions of dollars. For example, St. Barnabas Hospital alone charged Medicaid an excess $1.2 …continue reading

Page 21 of 21« First...101718192021