Sound Shore

Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today:

“Sexting” and cyberbullies: Editorial
We comment on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Friday signature on the New York’s Cyber-Crime Youth Rescue Act. The law, we write, “sets up a two-year, diversionary educational program for kids under age 16 who are caught texting, emailing, tweeting or otherwise electronically disseminating nude or obscene images.” More:

The program should not be an easy out. Like local counties’ Drug Courts, the program must demand intense education, close monitoring and restrictions for first-time offenders. Judges, who will determine whether a youngster qualifies for the program, must weigh each case carefully, as cyberbullying is not a victimless crime.

Good Monday morning. Here’s a digest of opinion content published over the weekend in The Journal News:

Saturday, Aug. 20
We carried two essays that assessed the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, which mandates that the manufacture of 100-watt incandescent light bulbs cease on Jan. 1, 2012. By 2014, lower-wattage bulbs are to be phased out, the act mandates. The writers addressed whether or not Congress should take action to reverse the “ban” on incandescents:

‘Bulb ban’ hysteria is off-base, Matthew Auer, ean of the Hutton Honors College and professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
Ban supporters spreading myths, Amy Ridenour, president of the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research.

Sunday, Aug. 21
Infrastructure: Editorial
We call for a national program to assess and repair infrastructure. Such a plan should be aimed at job creation and we encourage Congress to pay more heed to Obama administration proposals for a national infrastructure bank. We write:

Politicians in Washington and elsewhere continue to chant a mantra of jobs, jobs, jobs but, as the financial markets continue to flounder and fears of a sequel to the Great Recession mount, we have yet to see a credible plan that would boost the economy, create jobs and help rebuild crumbling national infrastructure.

President Barack Obama has pushed for a National Infrastructure Bank that would make loans to support public-works projects of regional and national significance with private funding. Congress has essentially ignored that proposal. Let’s hope Congress pays more attention when the president makes the pitch in his anticipated post-Labor Day speech on jobs growth.

Infrastructure investment cannot wait for better economic times. But local and state governments need to do their share, too, by protecting precious public funds used for much-needed infrastructure fixes. …

Good Wednesday morning. Here’s a look at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Ethics reform: Editorial
While we cheer Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature on the Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011, we acknowledge that the legislation will “will hardly inoculate the state from greedy officials bent on milking their positions for kickbacks.” We continue:

.. Sure, more could have been done with this ethics law upgrade. “It is a patchwork, a compromise,” Stephen Gillers, an ethics expert at New York University School, told the New York Law Journal, “There are gaps.” Bad actors will certainly seek ways to wriggle though the gaps and widen the loopholes.

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Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Edward J. ‘Jeffrey’ Frank II: Editorial
We honor the life and service of U.S. Army Sgt. Edward J. ‘Jeffrey’ Frank II of Yonkers. Frank, a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in the 10th Mountain Division, died after his vehicles hit roadside bombs in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. We write:

… Frank was almost home. His wife, Selena, had decorated their home for a joyous homecoming, when he could once again hold his three young children, a daughter and two sons. But Frank, known as Jeffrey, had volunteered for another patrol, delaying his return home, staff writer Ned P. Rauch reports. On a Facebook tribute page, fellow soldiers express the mixed emotions of deep gratitude and crushing sadness that Frank’s gesture, taking that last mission, cost the sergeant his life but saved others. …

Hydrofracking: Commentary
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli offers a Community View in which he advances a proposal in which the natural gas industry would pay for any mitigation of drilling mishaps.

More opinion
Here’s a look at what our colleagues are saying today:
Cuomo flying straight and narrow: Editorial, Newsday
President needs to change game plan: Editorial, Poughkeepsie Journal
A fortunate union vote: Editorial, New York Post
Can Obama succeed?: Editorial, The Buffalo News
Cuomo must demand that lawmakers play by budget rules: Editorial, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Censored records just don’t fly: Editorial, Albany Times Union

Good Thursday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today:

Gloria Nartey and Mount Vernon: Editorial
We comment on the Monday shooting of Gloria Nartey, a 27-year-old Mount Vernon woman who was shot and killed as she walked around South 12th Avenue. Nartey, a PepsiCo employee, was simply walking home from a trip to the store. We write:

Mayor Clinton Young, who lately has been pressing Westchester County to make good on promised funding for housing and economic development projects in Mount Vernon, pledged to boost police presence in Nartey’s neighborhood. A mobile police command vehicle will be posted there “until further notice.” He said 12th Avenue will be placed on “lock down” — a step Young called “bold action.”

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Good Thursday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:

Westchester Children’s Museum: Editorial
We comment on the recent veto-proof vote by the Westchester County Board of Legislators to lease space at Playland to the Westchester Children’s Museum. The unanimous vote eliminates the chance of a veto from County Executive Rob Astorino, who had wanted to hold off on a lease until a citizen’s committee completed a report on the future of the historic amusement park. We write:

… After so much foot-dragging and unnecessary delay, a unanimous Westchester Board of Legislators on Monday approved a $1-a-year, 10-year lease with museum purveyors. Volunteers have been working behind the scenes for years to marshal support — and private fund-raising dollars — for the venture. Their work is the linchpin of what Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers, properly called “the perfect example of a public-private partnership.”

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Good Monday afternoon. Here’s a glance at opinion content published over the weekend and today:

Saturday, Aug. 6
Debt deal: Commentary
Carl Leubsdorf, former Washington bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News, weighs in on last week’s debt deal. Leubsdorf, writing last week, correctly observed that’s it’s too early to fully assess the deal’s fallout.

Housing for the disabled: Commentary
Meghan Schoeffling, co-chair of the Westchester Disability Advocacy Partnership and director of advocacy for Westchester Disabled On the Move, comments on what she describes as “a severe shortage of affordable, accessible and integrated housing” for disabled people.

It’s Friday and it’s a scorcher. We hope you’re staying cool. Here’s a quick glance at opinion content published today:

Leiby Kletky: Editorial
We comment on news that Leiby Kletzky, the 8-year-old Borough Park, Brooklyn boy who was killed last week, was in Rockland County after he was allegedly kidnapped by Levi Aron. Aron, charged in Kletzky’s killing, apparently brought Kletzky to a New Square wedding celebration and is also suspected of drugging the child.

Debt-ceiling debate: Commentary
Marilyn Pinksy, head of the New York state AARP, argues that neither Medicare nor Social Security should be used as bargaining chips in the ongoing negotiations on raising the federal debt ceiling.

Here’s a look at today’s opinion content:

PEF and CSEA contracts: Editorial
We assess the agreements brokered by the Civil Service Employees Association and the Public Employees Federation, the state’s largest public-employee unions, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for new contracts. Both involve wage freezes, furloughs and contributions to health care. We write:

… It remains to be seen if the rank-and-file members of the Public Employees Federation and Civil Service Employees Association feel the same way. Workers must weigh several factors as they decide whether to ratify the five-year contract deal proffered by Gov. Cuomo, not the least of which is the governor’s threat of 9,800 layoffs (hundreds have already received notices).

PEF agreed Saturday to a contract deal similar to the one accepted CSEA last month, which includes a three-year wage freeze, furloughs and a provision that asks employees to pay a larger portion of health coverage. In exchange, the unions get a two-year guarantee against layoffs. The guarantee doesn’t include any job losses through facility closures or other state restructuring.

Union leaders have skipped the usual banter on reaching a “fair deal” and “robust negotiation.” Instead, CSEA President Danny Donohue and PEF President Kenneth Brynien have talked of “shared sacrifice” and “job security.” …

Earlier: State deal with CSEA welcome, Editorial, June 23

More opinion
Here’s a glance at what our colleagues are saying today:
New York unions should ratify pacts: Editorial, Newsday
There’s a lesson in union response: Editorial, Times Herald-Record
Tentative labor pacts are good for New York: Editorial, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Don’t go wobbly, Mike: Editorial, New York Post
Raises, at last, for N.Y. judges: Editorial, Albany Times Union
State panel has to accept fiscal times in setting judicial salaries: Editorial, Watertown Daily Times
Can chatter on Cuomo’s next job: Editorial, Poughkeepsie Journal

Good Monday afternoon. Here’s a digest of opinion content published over the weekend in The Journal News:

Saturday, July 16
Debt ceiling: Commentary
Doyle McManus, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, assesses the struggle between Congressional Republicans and the administration of President Barack Obama over raising the federal debt ceiling. Any deal to do so, McManus argues, will not go far enough to prevent a fiscal crisis.

French-American School: Commentary
Mischa Zabotin, chairman of the French-American School of New York’s board of trustees, offers a Community View in which he argues in favor of his school’s plan to construct a new campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club property in White Plains.

Sunday, July 17
Affordable housing: Editorial
We comment on news that Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced in a Friday press briefing that “the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development had rejected, for the fifth time, the administration’s required analysis of impediments to fair housing choice in Westchester. That failure, according to the administration, stands to cost Westchester some $7 million in federal housing funds; the figure could surely grow, based upon fresh comments from Astorino. He excoriated HUD officials, accusing them of “unprecedented bureaucratic overreaching,” and disavowed key settlement provisions.” We continue: