Recently-resigned Rep. Eric Massa insists he "did nothing sexual" with his staff, but he admits he tickled them, sent them "inappropriate" text messages, and told one aide he should be "fracking" him. Just hours after news broke that Massa was under investigation for groping male aides, the former New York Congressman told Glenn Beck: "Now they are saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him. I tickled him until he couldn't breathe, and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday. It was kill the old guy. You can take anything out of context." more ›

Rep. Eric Massa says the allegations of sexual harassment that forced him to announce his resignation stem from an incident at a wedding reception in which he told a male staffer: "[W]hat I really ought to be doing is fracking you." Massa—an ardent supporter of single-payer healthcare and opponent of the current healthcare bill—admitted the statement was "inappropriate," but said Democratic leaders launched an ethics probe against him in an effort to convince him to resign before the vote on healthcare. more ›

The imminent closure of two lower Manhattan Catholic schools has gentle Christians seeing red. “Pray for our Schools” and “Save My School” said the signs wielded by students, parents and faculty at a protest rally yesterday. Some admitted that the shut-downs—decided by NY’s Archdiocese, as a result of dropping Catholic school enrollment city-wide—were pushing the limits of their faith. “I’m attempting to be a Christian, but right now I want to kill," said Stephanie Pinto, a trustee and former student of St. James School, established in 1854. more ›

"White, black and Hispanic undergraduates each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asians account for more than 15%," said CUNY Vice Chancellor Gloriana Waters recently. The school loves to boast about its Crayola box student body, but faculty members come mostly in white. At a recent hearing on staff diversity, or the lack thereof, council members complained that of the university's 7,214 faculty members, only 12.3 percent are black, 8.3 percent are Hispanic and 10.5 percent are Asian, reports the Daily News. more ›

The staff of an embattled Queens nonprofit overlaps closely with the payroll of state Sen. Malcolm Smith, one of the charity's founders. At least four workers at the New Direction Local Development Group—which is under federal investigation and allegedly fleeced Hurricane Katrina victims out of about $30,000 raised on their behalf—have also worked for Smith at a time when the politician gave the organization about $56,000 in state funds. more ›

As MTA megaprojects including the Second Avenue Subway and the 7 train expansion have fallen behind schedule and gone up in cost, salaries and staff at the department in charge of overseeing such projects have increased for five years straight. Under the guidance of the MTA Capital Construction department, the price of major developments has surged and setbacks have become commonplace—yet the department has grown from 39 employees in 2004 to 151 in 2009, and its payroll has ballooned by $10.6 million. more ›

A former deputy chief of staff to Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been fined for soliciting campaign contributions for Quinn while working for her City Hall office. City laws bar Council staffers or anyone with "substantial policy discretion" from working on their bosses campaigns, but a board found that Maura Keaney solicited contributions from union representatives for Quinn's re-election campaign in 2007. According to the Times, Keaney—who last year took a gig with Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign and landed a $150,000 bonus—was fined $2,500. Just hours after the city's Conflicts of Interest Board ruled against her, Bloomberg's school's chancellor Joel Klein announced that Keaney had been appointed as the Department of Education's executive director of external affairs for $143,000 per year. more ›

The restaurateur who sent out an obscenity-laden missive against his employees last week stands by his angry rant, which he has defended as his food industry version of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl." Vadim Ponorovsky, owner of the Meatpacking District eatery Paradou, told the Post that he has been receiving death threats because of his email to staffers, which goes something like this: more ›

More than two dozen Park Slope restaurants and cafes owe at least $910,000 in unpaid wages to more than 200 workers, the State Labor Department announced yesterday. Inspections during the spring revealed that some workers made as little as $2.75 an hour; the minimum wage for food service workers is $4.65 per hour. (Today the Daily News revealed that the restaurants include Aunt Suzie’s, Baluchi's, Sotto Voce, Olive Vine Café, and Sweet Melissa Patisserie.) Getting chiseled out of already laughably low wages is rough, but at least they didn't have the misfortune to be employed by Paradou owner Vadim Ponorovsky, who's earned some notoriety today for an incredibly nasty email he sent to staffers at his Meatpacking district restaurant. His gloriously profane and hateful missive, which makes Hunter S. Thompson's letters seem like Get Well Soon cards, is published below in its entirety: more ›

We're running out of pigs-at-the-trough jpegs! After last week's news that the City Council is giving staffers approximately $3.9 million in "cost of living" raises, the Post has learned that a dozen council members showered their staffs with tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses at the end of the last fiscal year. According to the article, each council member gets $273,000 a year for expenses like rent and office supplies, and any unspent funds are supposed to be returned to the city. But an examination of financial records found that at least twelve council members transferred the leftover loot into their personal accounts in June, the last month of FY09. Councilman Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) moved $30,000 on June 19th to give bonuses to eight to 10 staffers; he tells the Post, "Me turning back $30,000 and everybody else spending their money to give it to the staff, would that make any sense to do?" Well, if everyone else is doing it, why not? And Councilman Thomas White (D-Queens), who spread $38,000 in unused cash between five staffers, explains, "I have a very committed, dedicated staff. They work very hard." more ›

Guess some State Senators weren't doing nothing during the 5-week State Senate—they actually gave staffers big raises! According to the Daily News, "Records released by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli show that 11 top staffers have gotten pay hikes of as much as 51% since the June 8 Republican-led coup." Here's some of the raises, all to Democratic aides: "Mortimer Lawrence, special counsel to the Senate majority leader and the highest-paid Senate staffer," got an increase of "16% to $177,231," while Senate Majority Deputy Secretaries Meredith Henderson and Patricia Rubens got 30.6% raises—"their annual pay skyrocket[ed] nearly $33,000, to $140,382. Legislative Analyst Despina Moraitou's salary climbed 51.1% to $75,787 - a $25,651 bump." A Senate Democrat tells the Post, "This is one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen. Frankly, I'm ashamed of it." Senate spokesman Austin Shafran claims the raises were scheduled before the coup. more ›

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As previously mentioned, the Knitting Factory will soon be moving from its current Leonard Street location to the old Luna Lounge in Williamsburg. The change will take place early next year, and the venue will have its last Manhattan night on New Year’s Eve. The NY Press is now reporting that "the whole staff—65 people in all—is losing their jobs." Well, not all of them; "two of the 65 staff members—both managers—are being kept on. According to the bartender, the staff was told in April that they were being laid off en masse when Jared Hoffman, who took over in 2002, was still looking at a space" and "wanted to start fresh." Allegedly there were letters stapled to the employee's checks that broke the news. One old booker at the venue said that it's Hoffman who “fucked it all up." Well, Hoffman was just axed as well, so maybe the Brooklyn space really will revive the KF name? more ›

Colors, the feel-good restaurant on Lafayette Street owned and operated by Windows on the World employees who were spared on 9/11, is reportedly back from the brink of ruin. The fine dining restaurant opened two years ago as one of New York’s few cooperative restaurants, with everyone from busboys to chefs sharing ownership and a menu featuring international cuisine created by the multi-ethnic staff. more ›