A.G. Schneiderman Leads Coalition To Defend EPA Rule Protecting States From Upwind Smog Pollution

Six A.G’s File Motion To Defend EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule Against Challenge By Fossil Fuel Industry And Upwind States In The South And West 

A.G.s’ Action A Critical Safeguard Against Any Attempts By Incoming Trump Administration To Undermine Federal Environmental Protections And States’ Responsibility To Prevent Air Pollution From Spreading To Their Neighbors 

   Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today filed a motion in D.C. District Court seeking to intervene in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule, which requires power plants in 22 states to significantly reduce smog pollution that blows into downwind states like New York and threatens public health.

New York joins five other states – Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont – in the motion to defend the EPA measure, which has been challenged by fourteen energy corporations and upwind states seeking to overturn the rule.

“Smog pollution blowing in from other states threatens the health of millions of New Yorkers, particularly seniors and children,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “New York has already put in place some of the most effective air quality protections in the country, but we have no control over dirty air that pours in from other states.  The Trump administration has signaled its desire to roll back federal environmental protections, including those that protect states from out-of-state polluters.  This is why defending this sensible, fair, and crucial rule is so important.”

The importance of the rule, and the coalition’s defense of it, is underscored by President-elect Trump’s nomination of Oklahoma A.G. Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the EPA. As stated in a January 17, 2017 letter to the U.S. Senate signed by A.G. Schneiderman and eight state attorneys general, Pruitt has “sought to tear apart the very notion of cooperative federalism that forms the foundation of our federal environmental laws.” Cooperative federalism – where national, state, and local governments act collectively to solve common problems – is critical to avoiding a situation where states with inadequate pollution control measures pass this pollution and its public health and environmental impacts to neighboring states. 

The federal Clean Air Act confers dual responsibility on the EPA and the states to improve and maintain air quality both in-state and in downwind states. When states' efforts to address interstate air pollution are inadequate, the Act specifically requires EPA to address the interstate transport of air pollution.

The Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule requires power plants in 22 states to participate in a regional allowance trading program beginning in May 2017 that will reduce emissions of nitrous oxide (which contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, or “smog”) in time to assist downwind states with meeting the national ozone standards established by EPA in 2008.

Attorney General Schneiderman has made clear that he stands ready to use the full power of his office to compel enforcement of our nation’s environmental laws. In addition to opposing A.G. Pruitt’s nomination to lead the EPA, Schneiderman has led a coalition of 19 states and localities calling on President-elect Trump to continue the federal government’s defense of the Clean Power Plan and reject the “misguided” advice to discard the plan.

SCAFFOLDING CORP. PRESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY TO $1M TAX FRAUD; WILL PAY $2M IN BACK TAXES AND FEES, SERVE JAIL TIME

Three-Year Investigation By Bronx DA’s Office and NYC Department of Finance 

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that the president of two scaffolding corporations has pleaded guilty to Criminal Tax Fraud and will pay over $2 million in taxes and penalties and serve 16 weekends in jail for underreporting millions of dollars in income of his Bronx-based businesses. 

  District Attorney Clark said, “This defendant used a check-cashing scheme to avoid paying nearly $1 million dollars in taxes on income from city, state and private contracts. Together with the New York City Department of Finance, we investigated this case and the defendant pleaded guilty to felony charges and will pay $2 million to city and state coffers. Such disregard of the law is a slap in the face of hardworking taxpayers.” 

  New York City Department of Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha said, “This conviction is the result of our ongoing investigation into tax crimes that eventually impact the many New York City businesses that are law abiding. I want to thank our Tax Enforcement unit as well as our partners at the Bronx D.A. for their hard work and dedication, and I hope this serves as a strong deterrent to those who look for ways to skirt the law.” 

  District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Prabhjit Singh, 36, president of Rock Scaffolding Corporation and M.S.S. Sidewalk, Bridging and Scaffolding Corporation, pleaded guilty today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice John Carter to two counts of fourth-degree City Criminal Tax Fraud. As part of his plea, he will pay $2 million and will be sentenced on February 3, 2017, to serve weekends in jail for four months. 

  

  District Attorney Clark said that, according to the investigation, since 2008, the corporations avoided paying taxes by either not filing returns, or filing returns with understated income. The income was hidden by cashing checks payable to the firm at check-cashing outlets, instead of depositing them into the firms’ bank accounts where the funds would be reported. 

  The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney W. Dyer Halpern, Director of the Tax and Organizational Fraud Unit, under the supervision of William Zelenka, Chief of the Economic Crimes Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Stuart Levy, Deputy Chief of the Investigations Division and Jean T. Walsh, Chief of the Investigations Division. 

   District Attorney Clark thanked Lieutenant Frankie Brumfield and former Detective Investigator Marie D’Angelo of the Bronx District Attorney’s Detective Investigators for their work on the case.

Bronx Borough President - African American History Month

FREE RAT ACADEMY: RESIDENTS TO LEARN HOW TO RID NEIGHBORHOODS OF CITY’S MOST PESKY RODENT

Senator Jeff Klein, along with Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz , and Councilman Andrew Cohen, will sponsor a special city Department of Health workshop that will offer safe and effective methods for rat prevention on Thursday, January 26 at 3880 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The one-of-a-kind class will offer free training for homeowners, tenants, business owners, building superintendents, community garden volunteers and others who wish to drive away the four-legged critters from their buildings and neighborhoods.

The Department of Health will raffle off twenty rodent-resistant garbage cans to workshop participants.

STATE SENATOR GUSTAVO RIVERA HOSTS A DAY OF ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THE INAUGURATION OF DONALD TRUMP

    State Senator Gustavo Rivera in partnership with Planned Parenthood of New York City, Citizen Action of New York, Saint Barnabas, Montefiore Health System, the Teen Health Center and the Committee for Hispanic Children & Families, Inc. held a Day of Action this morning at the intersection of Grand Concourse and Fordham Road. This day of action is in direct response to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. 

    Senator Rivera used this Day of Action as a way to directly interact with his constituents and to have a honest conversation about the potential challenges facing our communities in the era of Trump. Additionally, 

participating organizations and his office's staff distributed important information about the variety of services and resources available to them to help address issues they may be facing, whether they concern women's reproductive and health rights to the criminal justice system, among many others.

 This Day of Action reaffirmed Senator Rivera's support towards all those organizations that provide vital services to his constituents and face an uncertain future due to the potential actions by the incoming administration and the Republican-led Congress. Senator Rivera took this opportunity to reassure his community that both as an elected official and as an American he is committed to protecting and defending the rights and dignity of his fellow Bronxites and Americans against any attempt by the federal government to infringe upon them. 

Bronx Community Board 7 Land Use Meeting.

  In what can be described as a usual bland short meeting attended normally by a handful of people, last night's CB 7 Land Use Meeting lasted several hours before a packed room at the Community Board 7 office.

  The agenda included a length;y discussion of the old Dollar Savings Bank building by the corner of  the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road. The new owner wants to build a new entrance to the building which was built in three parts over a period of years in 1938. The ten story tower has only one entrance, and another entrance must be built to accommodate new tenants in the tower that was used by the bank as a headquarters in the past. New Congressman Espiallat has taken an office on the first floor of the old bank, and there are also plans for a day care center. The building is land marked, and any alterations to a land marked building must be approved  by the NYC Landmarks Commission. The owner came to CB 7 for a letter of support which the committee approved.

  A proposed 12 story building on Creston Avenue at the corner of West 191st Street where a current parking lot is was then discussed. The building will be built over the parking lot which is to remain on the ground floor level. There was much opposition to a 12 story building in an area where currently there are buildings no higher than six stories. 174 apartments will be built ranging from studios up to three bedroom apartments. The apartments will be half affordable half market rate priced. 

  The meeting ended with a discussion about the possible down zoning of the Mosholu Parkway area that has been promoted by many area residents. some wanted to know why it was not included in the recent approved contract to survey certain areas of the community board area for possible down zoning. After a gallant try by the residents to add more neighborhood area to the survey, they were told by the Land Use Chair Ms. Jean Hill that the current survey underway could not be increased since the agreement signed stated only a limited area. She added that the consultant would not add any more area to the previously agreed upon contract. Ms. Hill said that the board would have to wait until the next fiscal year to hire another consultant for another survey of the area requested that is not being done currently.

One of the frustrated community members.

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Settlement With Drug Manufacturer For Engaging In Anticompetitive Conduct To Prevent Competition For A Life-Saving Drug For Infants

Joint Investigation Found That Mallinckrodt Illegally Acquired Rights To Competitor Drug 

Schneiderman: We Will Vigorously Enforce The Antitrust Laws To Prevent Consumers And Taxpayers From Being Saddled With The Out-Of-Control Pricing That Can Result From Unlawful Conduct

   Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a joint settlement with four other Attorneys General and the Federal Trade Commission with Mallinckrodt plc and its U.S. subsidiary, formerly known as Questcor Pharmaceuticals (“Questcor”), a drug manufacturer. The complaint and settlement, filed jointly, alleges that Questcor unlawfully acted to prevent competition for its drug H.P. Acthar Gel, which is typically used as a last resort to treat certain life-threatening diseases, including infantile spasms and multiple sclerosis.  

“This is an egregious case of a monopolist doing a deal to eliminate potential competition and keep its power over pricing. It is abhorrent that lifesaving drugs cost New Yorkers tens of thousands of dollars.” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “This settlement will restore the competition that was prevented by Questcor’s illegal actions, and my office will continue to vigorously enforce antitrust laws to prevent consumers and taxpayers from being saddled with the out-of-control drug prices that can result from unlawful conduct.” 

In 2001, Questcor bought the rights to Acthar, known as an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-based therapeutic drug, which are used to treat certain life-threatening diseases, and is the standard of care for infantile spasms. It is the only such drug sold in the United States. Since then, Questcor has increased the price of Acthar 85,000%, from $40 per vial to over $34,000 per vial. The complaint alleges that Questcor monopolized the market for ACTH drugs by purchasing the rights to Synacthen, which was being sold by Novartis Pharma A.G. in 2012. Synacthen is used to treat patients with the same life-threatening conditions as Acthar, but is sold in Europe and Canada at a fraction of the price.

The complaint alleges that three other companies had all conducted due diligence and submitted formal offers for Synacthen with plans to develop and launch Synacthen in the United States in direct competition with Questcor.  However, perceiving the threat to its U.S. monopoly if a rival drug company purchased the assets, Questcor stepped in to outbid the three other companies, offering Novartis $135 million in guaranteed payments with only vague plans for Synacthen and after very limited due diligence. Through the acquisition, Questcor sought to extinguish the most likely challenges to its Acthar monopoly. According to the complaint, this allowed Questcor to continue charging over $34,000 per vial for H.P. Acthar Gel. 

Under the settlement, Mallinckrodt will pay $100 million. The company will also be required to license a competitor to the rights it acquired from Novartis to commercialize and develop Synacthen in the United States, including the Synacthen trademark, along with clinical trial data and certain intellectual property related to manufacturing and formulation. Mallinckrodt is also prohibited from taking actions that would interfere with clinical trials or clinical plans for Synacthen. 

The defendants named in the antitrust action are Mallinckrodt ARD, Inc., formerly known as Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and its Ireland-based parent company Mallinckrodt plc. In addition to New York, the Attorneys General of Alaska, Maryland, Texas, and Washington entered into this settlement.

Bx Branch NAACP Annual Freedom Fund Dinner Dance & Honorees

Please Join

THE BRONX BRANCH NAACP

as we present our

ANNUAL FREEDOM FUND DINNER DANCE

“Our Lives Matter, Our Votes Count”

Honoring Community Leaders

2017 HONOREES:

Rella Fogliano * Bronx NABVETS Chapter #0029

Ted Jefferson * Dr. Varleton McDonald *

We McDonald* I’m My Sistah’s Keeper

* Alice Witt Smith* Ruby Williamson

Friday, April 28, 2017

 (7:00 PM - 1:00 AM)

At

The EASTWOOD MANOR CATERING HALL

3371 Eastchester Road/Bronx,  NY 10469

                Adult Tickets: $85.00 per person                                   Children $65.00

(Children 12 years & under) (NAACP Membership Included) 

For Further Information and/or Tickets

Gwendolyn Primus (718) 300-3905

    Freedom Fund Chairperson

Alice Johnson 609-923-6811

Freedom Fund Ticket Chairperson

Biarni Burke/Bronx Branch President

Origin of the Freedom Fund Banquet

“The NAACP Freedom Fund began in 1953 (on a national level) as a ten-year program to intensify efforts to complete the job of emancipation. Near the culmination of this effort, Medgar W. Evers, a heroic NAACPMississippi Field Secretary, was killed by an assassin’s bullet. This prompted the NAACP Chairman Bishop Stephen Spottswood to pay tribute to this gallant warrior at the NAACP Convention in Chicago, Illinois in July 1963. He did so by proclaiming that the NAACP Fighting Fund for Freedom will continue until the job of emancipating our people is complete.”