memeorandum: Thruway Authority executives forced out amid agency investigation (New York Post)

8:45 PM ET, January 1, 2015

Top Items:

Larry McShane / NY Daily News:

Mario Cuomo, former New York governor, dead at 82 — Ever-eloquent Mario Cuomo, a son of Queens who rode his rhetorical gifts to three terms as New York governor and tantalized Democrats by flirting with a run for President, died Thursday, two sources close to the family said. He was 82.

Discussion: New York Post, Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Mario Cuomo, New York Governor and Liberal Beacon, Dies at 82 — Mario M. Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who commanded the attention of the country with a compelling public presence, a forceful defense of liberalism and his exhaustive ruminations about whether to run for president …

Discussion: NPR

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Liberals Can't Argue, They Can Only Bully — No one expects sensible commentary on firearms from the New Yorker, but this gun control rant is worth noting because it is so typical of modern liberalism. Facts? Who needs facts? Bullying is all that the left aspires to.

Discussion: neo-neocon

Adam Gopnik / New Yorker:

The Newtown Lawsuit and the Moral Work of Gun Control — The news that the parents of the children massacred two years ago in Sandy Hook, near Newtown, Connecticut, by a young man with a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle, were undertaking a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer was at once encouraging and terribly discouraging.

Discussion: National Review

WXIA-TV:

Peachtree City police chief shoots wife — PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — The wife of Peachtree City Police Chief William E. McCollum is in critical condition after being shot by her husband Thursday morning. — Police responded to the couple's home in the 100 block of Autumn Leaf shortly after 4:15 a.m. …

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette, WGCL-TV, Liberaland and Raw Story

WSB-TV:

GBI: Peachtree City police chief shot wife — PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — The Peachtree City chief of police is on administrative leave after shooting his wife Thursday morning. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says police chief William McCollom called 911 just after 4 a.m. Thursday saying …

Discussion: Yahoo! News and abc7.com

Steve Scalise / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Steve Scalise spoke to civic association meeting, not white nationalist conference, David Duke adviser Kenny Knight says — Reports that Rep. Steve Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, gave a speech to a white nationalist conference connected with David Duke …

Discussion: NOLA River, BREITBART.COM, Power Line, The PJ Tatler and Fox News

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Dems take cautious approach with Scalise

Discussion: ThinkProgress, USA Today, msnbc.com and Chicago Tribune

Jeremy Alford / New York Times:
Much of David Duke's '91 Campaign Is Now in Louisiana Mainstream

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Hullabaloo

Annie Karni / NY Daily News:

EXCLUSIVE: Bill de Blasio's tense relationship with the NYPD casting shadow over DNC bid — Party officials are concerned the bad blood might still be an issue when the convention is held in 2016, stealing the spotlight from the party's presidential nominee, a top Democrat told the Daily News.

Discussion: Mediaite and National Review

New York Post:
De Blasio reappoints judge who freed men who threatened cops

Discussion: NY Daily News and Scared Monkeys

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:

Budget war looms for Obama, GOP — The federal budget is almost certain to be the central battleground between President Obama and the new Republican Congress in 2015. — The GOP has vowed to use control of the House and Senate to slash the size of government, with entitlement programs …

Discussion: Political Wire

David Edwards / Raw Story:

‘Listen up ladies’: Fox News kicks off New Year with absurdly sexist advice for ‘catering to your man’ — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — The hosts of Fox & Friends started the New Year on Thursday by telling women that they should “cater” to their man by stroking his ego, cooking him meals, and massaging his feet.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Slantpoint and Daily Mail

Anna Phillips / Tampa Bay Times:

Judge Hinkle says all 67 counties may issue marriage licenses to gay couples — U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle has answered one of the state's big questions about gay marriage: Can all 67 counties issue licenses to gay couples who want to marry? — Yes, they can, Hinkle wrote in an order released Thursday afternoon,

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Post:

Thruway Authority executives forced out amid agency investigation — Two top executives at the New York State Thruway Authority submitted their resignations Wednesday — ahead of a scathing investigative report on the agency's operations, sources said. — Executive Director Tom Madison …

Discussion: New York Times, WGRZ-TV, Politics on the Hudson and Capital New York

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:

Bush resigns from remaining board memberships — WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeb Bush has resigned all of his board memberships — both nonprofit and business — in a move that helps clear a path toward a 2016 presidential campaign. — The former Florida governor stepped down from his remaining board memberships …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler