There's a turf war going on in New York's hospitals, and it's not between doctors and nurses or insurance companies and hospital staffs... it's between NY State medical schools and foreign medical schools. According to the NY Times, the sixteen NY State medical schools are waging "an aggressive campaign to persuade the State Board of Regents to make it harder, if not impossible, for foreign schools to use New York hospitals as extensions of their own campuses." more ›

Yesterday, 43rd Annual West Indian American Carnival brought out millions (over two million, according to MyFoxNY) to celebrate Caribbean culture in Brooklyn. Performers showed off colorful costumes and got people dancing with music. One performer explained to NY1, "Just having one peace and one heart. It’s just uniting as one. That's what it is." more ›

This morning—after last week's admonishment for an ethics violation involving a trip to the Caribbean—Harlem representative Charlie Rangel announced he'd temporarily step down from his powerful post on the House Ways and Means Committee. Despite a bad attitude throughout the process, he claimed that from the "very very beginning" he had "offered" to give up his chairmanship, but that now he had "sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her to grant me a leave of absence." As justification, Rangel said he was taking leave in order “to avoid my colleagues having to defend me” during their campaigns. He didn't take questions. more ›

Long-time Harlem Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel said yesterday that he’ll seek reelection, amid calls to resign. Rangel joined the House in 1970, and if he wins, he’ll serve out his 21st term, reports the Daily News. But despite his long record, peers have indicated they want him to step down, at least from his post on the House Ways and Means Committee, since an ethics panel found that he took a trip to the Caribbean paid for by corporate sponsors like AT&T. "Washington must be held to the highest ethical standards. Regrettably, with the finding of ethics violations, Charlie Rangel should step down from his leadership position,” said one Democrat, Rep. Paul Hodes from North Carolina. more ›

Despite admonishment by an ethics committee for taking a corporate sponsored trip to the Caribbean, flouting House rules barring gifts worth more than $50, Congressman Charlie Rangel says he won’t resign from his powerful post on the House Ways and Means Committee. "Why don't you ask me if I'm going to stay chairman of the committee in light of the fact that we're expecting heavy snow in New York?" he quipped to reporters yesterday. Still, four fellow Dems called for him to step down and President Obama reprimanded him. According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Obama stressed that "rules are put in place for a reason and that those rules can and must apply to each and every person." more ›

After a lengthy investigation, a House ethics panel ruled that Rep. Charlie Rangel violated congressional rules by traveling to the Caribbean on corporate junkets in 2007 and 2008. The Harlem Democrat said he had been "admonished" by the committee, which has not yet announced its findings regarding allegations of improper fundraising, tax evasion on property in the Dominican Republic, and his use of four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan despite House rules barring gifts worth more than $50. more ›

Elaborate, colorful, and sometimes skimpy costumed celebrants strutted their stuff during the 42nd Annual West Indian American Carnival yesterday. The parade, which celebrates Caribbean culture, is the city's biggest parade, attracting millions to Eastern Parkway. One paradegoer told NY1, "It's very lively and it's very colorful. Multi-cultural, what can I say, it's people all over the world. Everybody gets together and just embraces each other," while one dancer explained to the Daily News, "We wine and we gyrate to the pulsating music. You're getting loose, you're feeling no hangups, nothing, no inhibitions. It's just about having a good time." more ›

The Daily News draws attention to Governor David Paterson's trip to the Caribbean next week. The agenda: On 11/5, he flies to St. Maarten for the Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference, where he is delivering the keynote on on 11/7; on 11/8, it's Puerto Rico for conference sponsored by PR's Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task force before coming back on 11/10. While Paterson's aides say he will talk with "Caribbean leaders about ways to improve trade," Assembly minority leader James Tedisco clucked, "I think the economic well-being of New York State might be more important." At any rate, Paterson is feeling proud of himself for warning abut the economy since the spring. He said, "When I asked the Legislature to come back and give me more money to try to tide us over to the next fiscal year, I was referred to in print as 'Chicken Little,' 'someone who says the sky is falling,' 'misestimating the revenues,' 'an alarmist.'" more ›